Tag Archives: ERISA Compliance

The elephant in the room for retirement plan purposes could be that “other” company

The passage of the Tax Reform and Jobs Act (“TRJA”) in 2018 made entity selection an important part of tax planning. The TRJA made fundamental changes affecting individual and entity tax rates. Combined with corporate transactions for strategic reasons and business owners acquiring interests in other companies, we’re seeing businesses and owners using multiple entities. … Continue Reading

Playing the game of 401(k) audit roulette: the odds are getting shorter.

If you’re in the retirement plan business, you’ve heard the term “audit roulette”.  It refers to the belief by some employers that the odds of their retirement plan getting audited by the IRS are in their favor. Well, those odds are getting worse. The IRS is taking technology to the next level using  “data driven … Continue Reading

Red flags on Form 5500 alert Internal Revenue Service and Department of Labor to plan issues

For calendar year ERISA plans, today is the due date for filing their 2016 Form 5500 unless extended. While the vast majority of employers will meet that deadline, some will have red flags on their returns that could pique the interest of the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) and the Department of Labor (“DOL”).… Continue Reading

The cost of ERISA non-compliance just got more expensive

The Department of Labor (“DOL”) will be increasing penalties, in some cases substantially, for violations of ERISA. Here’s why and how it will impact ERISA plans that are not in compliance. Background In 2015, Congress passed the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of  2015 as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of … Continue Reading

Miss the April 30, 2016 PPA Restatement Deadline? Use Plan B.

The deadline for restating a 401(k), profit sharing, or money purchase pension plan to a pre-approved Pension Protection Act document has come and gone. So what’s a fiduciary to do? It was, after all, a responsibility of the plan fiduciary to ensure that the plan was updated and signed by the April 30, 2016 deadline. … Continue Reading
LexBlog