The Form 5500: What All Employers and Plan Administrators Need to Know and How to Avoid Costly Fines
By July 31, employers that sponsor self-funded medical plans must report and pay their PCORI fee. By July 31, employers that sponsor calendar-year employee benefit plans that are subject to ERISA must file a Form 5500 (unless...more
I have about a half dozen corporations where I need to file a corporate tax return by March 15. Every year, I panic and get the work done. I think one year, I was on an extension. So I don’t understand when I have clients...more
I have handled more audits in the past six months, than in the past 5 years. Whether it’s the Internal Revenue Service or the Department of Labor, I’ve had many cases. Most are of the garden variety, random audits....more
I got a phone call from a broker who wanted to give me a free 401(k) analysis. I’m sure the call was from Form 5500 where I’m listed as a plan sponsor. The broker had no idea who I was or what I did for a living, but it...more
The Department of Labor (“DOL”), Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (“PBGC”) (collectively, “Agencies”) recently released the 2023 Form 5500s containing significant reporting changes...more
Employers who sponsor retirement plans for their employees face annual reporting requirements that may involve significant expenses. One of these is the requirement that a plan be audited annually by an independent qualified...more
I would have this recurring nightmare when I was younger, when I would dream that I was back in school, didn’t attend class all semester, and the final for the class was that day. I later learned that this was a fear of...more
I’ve been long in this business to remember no participant websites, so I’m amazed by technological breakthroughs. Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools BenchMine is billed as the first-ever AI 401(k) comparative analysis...more
The Department of Labor, Internal Revenue Service, and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation recently issued final rules on employee benefit plan annual reporting requirements that are effective for plan years beginning on or...more
How to determine whether a plan sponsor is paying way too much? Like Justice Potter Stewart would say, I know it when I see it. I have seen the information shown on Form 5500 or a fee disclosure form. Whether it’s the plan...more
The 2023 Form 5500, which will be filed beginning in mid-2024, includes the following changes...more
On February 24th, the Employee Benefits Security Administration, Internal Revenue Service, Treasury, and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (together, “the Agencies”) released Final forms revisions and Final Rules related...more
I think the Solo 401(k) plan is one of the great treats for sole proprietors. I have been using it for years. The problem is that there is so little help, that sponsors of these plans fall into a trap when they forget that...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) announced changes to Form 5500. For Multiple Employer Plans (MEPs), new codes have been added to Line 8a of Part II to identify different types of MEPs, such as pooled employer plans,...more
While working as an ERISA attorney with a national practice (cough, cough), it’s clear to me that the biggest compliance issue that my plan sponsors clients to have these days is the late deposit of deferrals....more
We are just past the “official” start of summer, which means it is time for sponsors of retirement plans and many health and welfare plans to think about preparing and submitting Form 5500. In this post on the All Things HR...more
The auditing business for retirement plans has been cleaned up over the years, and quite a few auditors who have no business conducting audits were moved aside by the Department of Labor (DOL), and further changes for the...more
In today’s episode of “Just Compensation,” hosts Megan Monson, Taryn E. Cannataro, and Batool T. Banker of Lowenstein’s Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation practice examine the Form 5500, which must be filed by all...more
Since 2015, federal agencies have been required to annually review the laws and regulations they enforce to adjust applicable penalties for inflation. The idea has been to provide increasingly greater incentives for plan...more
The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) released their final revisions to the Form 5500 and the Form 5500-SF Short Form Annual Return/Report of Small Employee Benefit Plan for the 2021 plan...more
On December 29, 2021, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) released a final form revisions (“Final Revisions”) modifying the Form 5500 Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan (“Form 5500”) for benefit plans. 86 Fed. Reg....more
The US Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final regulation (Final Rule) on December 29, 2021, updating the 2021 Form 5500 to reflect certain statutory changes included in the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement...more
One of the most annoying parts of being an ERISA attorney was the requirement that new retirement plans be adopted by the last day of the Plan Year, making December 31st a very busy time of year....more
Solo 401(k) plans were a great opportunity for owner-employees to offer a plan for themselves (as well as their spouse)....more