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The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act that was signed into law in late 2019 included a number of provisions designed to expand retirement plan coverage to more employees. One of these provisions requires employers to let certain part-time employees participate in the company’s 401(k) plan starting in 2024.

If your company is involved in a merger or spinoff, you’ll need to plan carefully for how your qualified retirement plan will be affected. Failure to plan ahead for the impact of a merger or spinoff on your plan could lead to unintended consequences.

When they hear the term “employee compensation,” most business owners think about base salary. But there are also other types of compensation that businesses may use as employee payment, such as bonuses, commissions, tips, overtime, car allowances, and even non-cash wages like gift cards and company stock.

Companies that sponsor qualified retirement plans have a fiduciary duty to prudently select and monitor the investment options offered in their plan. Failure to meet this fiduciary standard can expose plan sponsors to costly litigation in which they could face personal liability.

In recent years, regulators have intensified their focus on and scrutiny over retirement plan controls. Given this, it’s critical to ensure that the proper procedures and controls are in place for your qualified plan.

When it comes to determining whether an employee benefit plan is a “large” or a “small” plan, nothing seems to cause more confusion among plan sponsors than the so-called 80-120 Participant Rule.

Employee benefit plans with 100 or more participants are required to have an independent audit each year. Yet, ERISA is unique in that it allows plan administrators to opt for a limited scope audit of their financial statements.

Plan sponsors have long been held responsible for correcting elective deferral failures. These failures can occur when an employee is improperly excluded from the plan and is not provided the opportunity to make an affirmative election. But failures can also occur with deferrals based on a plan’s automatic contribution features (including automatic escalation).

Plan sponsors certainly create their employee benefit plans with good intent: to protect their employees’ financial well-being. But those good intentions can be for naught if employees don’t participate.