A Fresh Look at Your Form 5500 Filing

If your firm has a profit sharing plan, a 401(k) plan or some other tax-qualified retirement plan, then you have been given a Form 5500 to sign and file every year since your business adopted the plan. While the form looks like most other IRS forms, the information reported on the filing is automatically provided to the Department of Labor (DOL), the IRS and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) by the electronic system that captures the data. This system is known as the ERISA Filing Acceptance System (EFAST2) and is funded and managed by the DOL.

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Part-Time Employees in 401(k) Plans

Unfortunately, many 401(k) plan sponsors are under the misconception that all part-time employees can automatically be excluded from participation in their plans when, in fact, the Internal Revenue Code does not permit a plan to include a blanket exclusion of part-time employees.
This newsletter will describe the minimum service requirements for 401(k) plans and the effects of improperly excluding part-time employees.

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