The end of year is approaching—it’s a great time to review your employee benefit plans to ensure they’re compliant and up to date. Below are our top ten strategies:
- Is your plan on track to require an audit? Generally, most existing benefit plans require an audit once the number of eligible employees exceeds 120 on the first day of the plan year. Review the “80-120” rules if you need help determining your eligibility.
- Verify that your plan is properly making automatic cash-outs for participants that are no longer active and are within the thresholds set by the plan document. Eliminating these non-active accounts could reduce your number of eligible employees below the audit threshold.
- Does your plan have a balance in a forfeiture account? The IRS requires that such funds be used on an annual basis and not be permitted to accumulate. Refer to your plan document regarding how the forfeitures should be used. For instance, should they be used to reduce employer contributions or pay plan expenses?
- Review your plan’s participant deferral remittance procedures and verify that the funds are being transferred into the plan as soon as administratively possible. If late deferral remittances are identified, notify and work with your third-party administrator to make necessary corrections.
- Is it time for your plan to adopt auto-enrollment or an auto-escalation feature? These are great ways to encourage your employees to start saving for retirement.
- Will your company be paying a year-end bonus to its employees? Refer to your plan document to determine if bonuses are considered eligible compensation.
- Part of a plan administrator’s fiduciary duty is the continual monitoring of investments offered by the plan. Schedule a review of the plan’s investments with your independent investment advisor and confirm that the plan is in compliance with the investment policy statement.
- If your plan document is other than a prototype plan document, verify that the document has been amended to conform with current IRS regulations.
- Some of the contribution limits for 2022 are changing. The deferral contribution limit is increasing to $20,500, while eligible employees may be able to make catch-up contributions up to $6,500 in 2022. Additionally, the compensation limit is increasing to $305,000 for benefit plans. For 2021, consider whether the maximum contributions have been made by the sponsor, or if there are additional contributions that could be made for 2021.
- Prepare for your plan’s annual non-discrimination testing. Review compensation, employee deferral, and employer contribution data to ensure that year-end reports are accurate and complete. Once this information has been reviewed, share the data with your third-party service providers to ensure testing is completed in a timely fashion.
If you have questions about any of the above items or need assistance, contact your CSH Employee Benefit Plan advisor. We’re happy to help!