VICKI NORTHROP

vnorthrop @ doeren . com

The three most common retirement plan mistakes we often see include :

Missed deferral opportunity . Ensure you are providing employees with their enrollment materials and summary plan description before they are eligible to participate . If an

Yes , beginning with the 2023 plan year , the retirement plan filing requirements for plan sponsors include these key changes to the Form 5500 and Form 5500-F :

A change in the participant counting methodology . Moving forward , the defined contribution plans will be based on the number of participants with account balances . Currently , the participant count includes individuals eligible to participate , but have not elected to make contributions and have no account balance . Additionally , large plans ( 100 or

employee is not given the opportunity to make retirement plan contributions until after their entry date , you must take corrective action to correct the missed deferral opportunity .

Correct compensation definition . Review your retirement plan document to determine if the correct definition of compensation is being used to calculate employee deferrals , employer-matching contributions and employer profit-sharing contributions . Some plan documents exclude specific types of compensation . This definition should be provided to your third-party administrator and recordkeeper for compliance testing and contribution allocations .

more participants ) are required to have a financial statement audit attached to the Form 5500 . However , this may also eliminate the plan ’ s audit requirement .

A new IRS compliance section . This new section has been added to the 2023 Form 5500 series , which includes questions on coverage and non-discrimination testing . The IRS opinion letter date and serial number must also be provided for pre-approved plan documents .

An option to file electronically . The Form 5558 – Application for Extension of Time to File Certain Employee Plan Returns can be filed electronically using the EFAST2 filing system . The IRS will continue to send extension approvals and denials by paper .

Late deposits . Work with your third-party administrator and recordkeeper to establish procedures so employee deferrals , loan payments and employer contributions are deposited into retirement plans on a timely basis . The deposit due date for these contributions varies depending on the number of participants in the plan and type of contribution . If contributions are deposited late , you must take corrective action to keep the retirement plan in compliance .

If you ’ re unsure whether your retirement plan is compliant , we encourage you to work with a third-party administrator to conduct a compliance review .

mboisvert @ doeren . com

MELISSA BOISVERT

Beyond the Form 5500 series filing requirements , the SECURE Acts of 2019 and 2022 included a significant number of changes impacting retirement plan sponsors ’ responsibilities . Count on our retirement plan services group to help you navigate them .