5 Key Takeaways | 2024 Emerging Trends: Delaware Unclaimed Property VDA and Multistate Audits
Common Scenarios Triggering False Claims Act Violations, Part 3: Claims and Investigations
Compliance Tip of the Day: Machine Learning for Internal Audit
DE Under 3: OFCCP Changes Up Important Technical Details of its Audit Selection Process in First FY 2024 CSAL
Preparing for a Government Healthcare Audit
What Can A Tax Attorney Do For You? A Podcast With Janathan Allen
Navigating GSA Audits Compliance Strategies and Best Practices
DE Under 3: US DOL Inspector General’s Office Plans to Review Effectiveness of OFCCP Compliance Evaluations
DE Under 3: What Federal Contractors Need to Know About OFCCP's New Audit Scheduling Letter
DE Under 3: What’s New in OFCCP’s Latest Audit Scheduling Letter for Supply & Service Contractors
Independent Audits of Nonprofit Organizations With Douglas Cook
DE Under 3: U.S. OPM Proposed Allowing Federal Managers To Avoid Most Qualified Candidates To Pick Those Who Offer Better “Fit”
AGG Talks: Home Health & Hospice - Reimbursement Audits and Appeals
After ALJ: Options and Opportunities in the Face of an Unfavorable ALJ Decision
The Presumption of Innocence Podcast: Episode 21 - Conservation Easement Donations: Tax Shelter or Charitable Contribution Deduction?
Compliance and Managing from the Middle
I Understood There Would Be No Math: Audits, Extrapolations, and a New Set of Rules
JONES DAY PRESENTS®: Trade Secret Audits: Enhanced Mapping, Protecting Access and Creating Understanding
Constangy Webinar - DEI Audits: Tools to Enhance Your DEI Practices
[Podcast] New Year, New PAC: Have a Successful PAC Audit in 2023
Baseball season has just started, and retirement plan auditing season will soon kick into high gear. Many plan sponsors don’t see the value of a good auditor; they just see the audit as a cost of doing business. That’s too...more
One question that often comes up is whether an expense related to an ERISA plan can be paid with plan assets. The decision of whether to use ERISA plan assets to pay an expense is an ERISA fiduciary decision. With the recent...more
As part of our ongoing series on SECURE 2.0, this post discusses three significant changes to corrections of common retirement plan errors: (1) New rules for correcting overpayments, (2) expansion of the Self-Correction...more
In January of 2021, we published two blog posts regarding Department of Labor (“DOL”) guidance on missing retirement plan participants. The first post describes DOL guidance on best practices for locating missing retirement...more
The worst thing you can do is to handle things that you can’t. The one thing that plan sponsors can’t handle and shouldn’t is when they are contacted by the Internal Revenue Service and Department of Labor for an audit of...more
In response to a request by U.S. Senators Ron Wyden (Oregon), Bernie Sanders (Vermont) and Patty Murray (Washington), the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) earlier this year completed a study and published a report...more
With calendar year-end Form 5500s due on July 31, or October 15 with an extension (and still no COVID-19 filing relief as of the date this blog was published), it’s that time of year where plan sponsors begin thinking about...more
The last two times I was in Las Vegas, I didn’t gamble a penny. I didn’t gamble because I hate to lose. Yet I see so many plan sponsors and plan providers gamble by not correcting a glaring compliance issue and play that...more
The recent U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour (WHD) investigation outcome of leading thoroughbred trainer Chad Brown has rocked the racing industry with the assessment of over $1.6 million in back wages and Civil Money...more
When you get pulled over by the police while driving, the best way to handle is to be pleasant and not be argumentative. You listen to the officer as to why he pulled over. Being belligerent and non-cooperative will only lead...more
Overview of Benefit Plan Audits (Agencies Conducting Audits) - ..Internal Revenue Service (IRS) – Reviews both health and welfare plans and qualified retirement plans – Primary jurisdiction over qualified status of retirement...more
Use of Forfeitures for Safe Harbor Contributions, QNECS and QMACS - The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued final regulations allowing forfeitures in 401(k) plans to be used to fund safe harbor contributions,...more
In July 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL), the Internal Revenue Service, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation released proposed revisions to the Form 5500 Annual Return required for certain ERISA-covered...more
When you’re filing that Form 5500, just notice that certain answers may likely lead you to an Internal Revenue Service or Department of Labor audit....more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of Labor (DOL) conduct different types of benefit plan audits, such as retirement plans and health and welfare plans, and for various reasons. In a presentation, Jeffrey...more
In a recent presentation, McDermott attorneys discussed how to prepare responses for a Department of Labor (DOL) investigative audit of a company’s health and welfare plan, including required documentation and procedures, DOL...more
Defined contribution plans such as 401(k) plans have a forfeiture provision if there are contribution in the plan that are not immediately vested. The problem with the forfeiture provision is that they are usually neglected...more
Editor's Overview - This month, we look at the implications of the two federal district court cases from California that applied the ban on discretionary clauses typically found in ERISA plans to self-insured plans. The...more
Even though the first year of the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate is in effect and fully phased-in, it has been our experience that few employers have bothered to review their employee handbooks to reflect the ACA. ...more
The Complete And Total Worthlessness Of The 401(k) Fiduciary Warranty - I am a firm believer in the idea that what you see is what you should get. If you’re promised the moon, anything short of it is wrong. Some of the...more
The IRS Employee Plans Compliance Unit (EPCU) recently announced two new projects and updated two others. In each case EPCU is using compliance checks as a tool to increase IRS enforcement presence and ensure compliance....more
Retirement Plans - IRS Issues Guidance on Benefit Suspension Voting under MPRA - As we have written in prior alerts, the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA) permits trustees of financially troubled...more
The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently released “Assessing the Quality of Employee Benefit Plan Audits,” a comprehensive report reviewing the quality of audit work...more
It’s unfortunate, but the facts are that most people don’t respond to a complaint until there is a letter from an attorney. Service providers and companies hate correspondence from attorneys because that suggests litigation....more
Just because an employer calls someone an independent contractor does not make him or her so. Because revenue-starved states have been increasingly focusing on independent contractor classification issues, challenges to the...more