National Benefit Services, Inc.

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The Retirement Plan Blog

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Mark D. DeBofsky. Esq.

Latest from National Benefit Services, Inc.

Kids can certainly outgrow their clothes, and so can employers with their retirement plans. A SIMPLE-IRA may have worked in the beginning, but if you want to change to a 401(k) plan in 2019, November 2 is the deadline to take action. Employers must provide notice to their employees by that date that 2018 will be the last year for the SIMPLE; and that it will be replaced by a 401(k) plan. Why change from…
If you’re in the retirement plan business, you’ve heard the term “audit roulette”.  It refers to the belief by some employers that the odds of their retirement plan getting audited by the IRS are in their favor. Well, those odds are getting worse. The IRS is taking technology to the next level using  “data driven decisions”.…
The conventional wisdom is that you can wait until the end of the year to put a retirement plan in place since you can still get the tax benefits for the whole year. Maybe for some purposes, but not for setting up a Safe Harbor 401(k) plan. If you want to set up a new Safe Harbor 401(k) plan for 2018, it has to be done by October 1. What’s a Safe Harbor plan? It’s a special…
The July 31 due date (unless extended) to file Form 5500 for 2017 calendar year ERISA plans is creeping up on us. And if history be our guide, there will be many plan sponsors who don’t have a fidelity bond or one that is insufficient. It’s one of those check the boxes that can easily become a red flag for the Department of Labor (“DOL”) to take a closer look at the plan.…
S corporations will be one of the major beneficiaries of the new tax law, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (“TCJA”), which added a new provision to the Internal Revenue Code. Owners of certain pass-through organizations can receive a 20% deduction on taxable income. But it’s not all good for S corporations who could face increased scrutiny from the IRS. Here’s why.…
The new tax law eliminated a number of employer deductions for so-called “fringe benefits”. Starting in 2018, employers can no longer deduct the cost of providing qualified mass transit and parking benefits, except as necessary for ensuring the safety of an employee. But employee pre-tax Commuter Benefit programs are still standing. Here’s the story:…
The recently passed Tax Reform and Jobs Act made fundamental changes affecting individual and entity tax rates. As a result, tax advisors will be considering whether clients are using the appropriate form and how new entities should be structured. If it sounds complicated, it can be, and best left to the tax experts. But here’s a infographic that can give you the big picture. You can also find more infographics at Visualistan…
The recently passed Tax Reform and Jobs Act made fundamental changes affecting individual and entity tax rates. As a result, tax advisors will be considering whether clients are using the appropriate form and how new entities should be structured. If it sounds complicated, it can be, and best left to the tax experts. But here’s a infographic that can give you the big picture. You can also find more infographics at Visualistan…
Say what you will about 401(k) loans – and we have over the years – they are a fact of 401(k) life and were addressed in the recently passed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Act”). Before we get to the new rules, let’s start with the state of 401(k) plans. Recent data is difficult to come but a research report, An Empirical Analysis of 401(k) Loan Defaults, published by the Pension Research Council in 2010…
The 2016 Form 5500 deadline has come and gone for calendar year taxpayers, and a number of them revealed outdated fidelity bonds or retirement plans without bonds at all. The fidelity bond requirement is high up on the Department of Labor’s compliance priorities so it’s not a stretch to assume that the Department of Labor monitors this item on Form 5500. 2016 is history but it’s not too late to meet this important compliance requirement. Here are the basics:…