By Porter Wright on While audits of qualified retirement plans have become commonplace, audits of health and welfare plans have historically been much less common. Only a select group of “lucky” employers was subjected to health and welfare plan audits, and the scope of those audits was somewhat limited. Unfortunately, it appears that trend is ending. We are seeing a notable increase in the frequency of health and welfare plan audits, and the scope of these audits is becoming much broader.… Continue Reading
By Porter Wright on This time of year, many employers are struggling to satisfy the independent auditors of their employee benefit plans so that they can obtain opinions and file their Forms 5500 on time. For a calendar year plan that filed a Form 5558 extension, the deadline is generally October 15 (but is October 17 this year, given that the 15th is a Saturday). As the deadline nears, employers may also encounter problems with electronic filing (now in its second year) and with getting answers to their questions regarding the filing. The potential penalties for failure to timely file a Form 5500 are substantial. … Continue Reading
