Being a retirement plan sponsor involves juggling many tasks, one of the more important being to make sure your plan complies with all pertinent federal and local regulations. A compliance calendar keeps track of your company’s required filings, their due dates and related details so you can avoid incurring any fines or other penalties for late filings or missing information. For more information, click here to see what’s expected.
What follows is intended to alert plan sponsors to some of the significant regulatory dates for the third quarter of 2019.
JULY
- Conduct a review of second quarter payroll and plan deposit dates to ensure compliance with the Department of Labor’s rules regarding timely deposit of participant contributions and loan repayments.
- Verify that employees who became eligible for the plan between April 1 and June 30 received and returned an enrollment form. Follow up for forms that were not returned.
- Ensure that the plan’s Form 5500 is submitted by July 31, unless an extension of time to file applies (calendar-year plans).
AUGUST
- Begin preparing for the distribution of the plan’s Summary Annual Report to participants and beneficiaries by
September 30, unless a Form 5500 extension of time to file applies (calendar-year plans). - Submit employee census and payroll data to the plan’s recordkeeper for mid-year compliance testing (calendar-
year plans). - Confirm that participants who terminated employment between January 1 and June 30 elected a distribution option for their plan account balance and returned their election form. Contact those whose forms were not received.
SEPTEMBER
- Begin preparing the applicable safe harbor notices to employees, and plan for distribution of the notices between October 2 and December 2 (calendar-year plans).
- Distribute the plan’s Summary Annual Report by September 30 to participants and beneficiaries, unless an extension of time to file Form 5500 applies (calendar-year plans).
- Send a reminder memo or email to all employees to encourage them to review and update, if necessary, their beneficiary designations for all benefit plans.
Consult your plan’s financial, legal, or tax advisor regarding these and other items that may apply to your plan.
