Being a plan sponsor comes with a good bit of responsibility. You’ve taken the important step of hiring a third-party administration firm to help you navigate the myriad of processes that are required to keep your plan in compliance with applicable regulations. Below are a few helpful hints to keep your plan in compliance, avoid unnecessary corrections, and help to better serve your participants.
Many American workers participate in company retirement plans, methodically contributing to their accounts over time to fund for life after work. Beyond benefiting from employer-funded plans, retirees commonly draw from additional savings tucked away in IRAs or after-tax savings accounts as well. Add Social Security payments to the mix and it should be a recipe for a secure retirement, right? While many retirees thoroughly plan for their retirement, the rising cost of living and unforeseen expenses can mean the retirement income may fall short of anticipated needs. The difference between your retirement income and actual expenses is known as your Retirement Income Gap.
With the reporting deadline for employee benefit plans rapidly approaching, it is important to be familiar with the 401(k) audit compliance rules and to know the difference between an annual 401(k) audit performed by a CPA firm and an IRS or DOL 401(k) plan audit.
As a financial advisor, you will need to decide which TPA (third-party administrator) to partner with, when managing your client's 401(k) plan. As you are determining which provider to use, it is important to understand the distinct roles within the plan and how your partnership decisions could impact your client’s experience.
RPG Consultants was founded on principles of accuracy, integrity, and exceptional client service. We are also committed to continual improvement. Our dedication to doing what is best for you, our clients, prompted us to engage CEFEX, the Centre for Fiduciary Excellence, LLC to audit our processes.
If your company has decided to offer a high deductible health plan, don’t worry, you are not alone. Recent studies show that an increasing number of employers have elected to offer high deductible health plans (HDHP) either to completely replace or be offered in conjunction with a more traditional Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)plan or Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plan. When sponsoring an HDHP, employers typically offer their employees the ability to contribute to a Health Savings Account (HSA) to help offset the increased deductible associated with the HDHP. In 2015, 24 percent of all workers were enrolled in a HDHP with an HSA savings option. This is a dramatic rise since 2009 when just 8 percent were covered under such plans.
Maintaining a retirement plan for your employees is no easy task. At various points during the year, employers and HR departments field participant questions, help with enrollments, deliver notices and statements, and participate in the distribution process. However, an additional responsibility, and one of the most important, is the collection of data that is used for compliance testing and government reporting. Though all these duties are important, one task drastically affects the outcome of your compliance testing; accurate reporting of all employee information to your third-party administrator. Sound onerous? Not really.
The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump on February 9, 2018. This piece of legislation included changes to rules of hardship withdrawals that are set to go into effect for plan years beginning after December 31, 2018.
After many rounds of negotiations, Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on December 20th, 2017. Though retirement plan limit reductions were included in many iterations of the bill, the ultimate effect on qualified plans was relatively minimal. There are two items of note that were included in the new law affecting loan repayments and IRA conversions.
The first quarter of the calendar year typically sees an uptick in the number of retirement plan distributions and participant loans. This year may be even busier than most, given the relief announced by the IRS for victims of the recent hurricanes and wildfires. Whatever the reason, participant distributions present a complex set of rules for Plan Sponsors to navigate.