Nonprofit Blog

On April 20, 2017, the AICPA issued Exposure Draft AU-C sec. 703 entitled, “Forming an Opinion and Reporting on Financial Statements of Employee Benefit Plans Subject to ERISA.” Because the change is still in the draft stage by the AICPA Auditing Standards Board, there is an opportunity for the public to comment on the draft prior to August 21. Smith & Howard will be submitting our comments and we recommend that you do so, as well.

The IRS has declared March 31, 2020 as the last day of the remedial amendment period for 403(b) retirement plans.

When looking to manage benefits costs, employers have many ideas to consider. One in particular is whether and how to offer health care insurance to their employees’ spouses.

Tax-exempt organizations that sponsor 403(b) plans are being advised to check their plans for possible compliance issues since the IRS recently announced that these plans are on its priorities list for 2016. Below are some questions that 403(b) plan sponsors may want to ask their plan management as part of ensuring the plan is compliant before a possible IRS review:        

If your business has filed a Form 5500 with the audit of the employee benefit plan attached, you have or will receive an email or letter from the Chief Accountant of the U. S. Department of Labor (DOL). This letter discusses the importance of selecting a qualified accounting firm to perform your employee benefit plan audit.

One of the most common compliance issues for employers and plan sponsors is failure to adhere to annual retirement plan limits. In order to avoid costly penalties and administratively burdensome correction procedures, plan sponsors must remain up-to-date with respect to applicable retirement plan limits. Today, October 21, 2015, the IRS announced cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) affecting 2016 dollar limitations for retirement plans and other retirement-related items. In general, the 2016 limits remain unchanged from the retirement plan limits applicable to 2015. Below is a chart listing retirement plan (401(k) and non-401(k) plan) limits for the 2013-2016 plan years. Please note that the chart below does not include all applicable retirement plan limits, just some of the common ones.

The Supreme Court repealed Section 3, a key portion of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), on June 26, 2013. Section 3 prevented the federal government from recognizing marriages of same-sex couples. Section 3 was declared unconstitutional because it violates the Constitution’s equal protection promise. The following article from Swerdlin & Company addresses what this means for employee benefit plans.