Defined Contribution Plan

Given all the recent news about student loans and the impact on both individual lives and the economy as a whole, we thought it was time to review what an employer can do to assist those either currently in post-secondary or technical schools as well as those who have graduated and now have loans.

Almost every organization that sponsors employee benefit plans must file IRS Form 5500. Of course, there are different rules and requirements for 5500s based on the type of plan being reported. In today’s post, we’re going to look at a few of the common questions that we receive about 5500s.

The IRS has now released all of the 2024 benefit limits. These include both the cafeteria and health plan limits as well as all of the qualified retirement plan limits.

Earlier this year, they also released the High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) and Health Savings Account (HSA) limits.

401(k)’s and other retirement plans are extremely technical, But by working with a highly skilled Third Party Administrator (TPA), employers can be supported in these tasks, assured their plan is running smoothly, and in compliance with ERISA and IRS regulations.

On August 25, 2023, the IRS published Notice 2023-62, putting an “Administrative Transition Period” of two years on the SECURE 2.0 requirement that all participants earning $145,000 or more in the prior calendar year must make all catch-up contributions as Roth.

All 401(k) catch-up contributions must be Roth (after-tax), starting in 2024 for anyone earning $145,000+. That's only the beginning.

The IRS has new requirements for employers that utilize a fully discretionary matching contribution formula in their pre-approved plans.

The IRS has now released all of the 2021 benefit limits. Earlier this year, they also released the High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) and Health Savings Account (HSA) limits.

The same IRS Notice (2020-68) that addresses Qualified Birth or Adoption Distributions (QBADs) also deals with how to handle the SECURE Act’s inclusion of long-term part-time employees and their eligibility for 401(k) plans.

While QBADs have been permissible since January 2020 under the SECURE Act, many employers have been waiting for some IRS guidance on how these distributions would be implemented before making a decision as to whether to include a QBAD as a plan feature. IRS Notice 2020-68 does that (and a bit more).

Much has been written about the calculations necessary to compute the amount of payroll costs that must be a major component of PPP loan forgiveness. In fact, at least 60% of the forgivable amount (previously 75%) must come from allowable payroll costs. So what constitutes payroll costs?

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) was signed into law on March 27, 2020. It's a mammoth bill of over 880 pages, and contains many employee benefit-related items. This post, the second in the CARES Act series deals with the qualified retirement plan provisions in the Act.