Federal law generally requires employee benefit plans with 100 or more participants to have an audit as part of their obligation to file an annual return/report, the Form 5500. Some pension plans with fewer than 100 participants may also be required to have an audit if they fail to meet certain…

Do you own a business but haven’t gotten around to setting up a tax-advantaged retirement plan? Fortunately, it’s not too late to establish one and reduce your 2019 tax bill. A Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) can still be set up for 2019, and you can make contributions to it that you can…

An array of tax-related limits that affect businesses are annually indexed for inflation, and many have increased for 2020. Here are some that may be important to you and your business.

Social Security Tax

The amount of employees’ earnings that are subject to Social Security tax…

A significant law was recently passed that adds tax breaks and makes changes to employer-provided retirement plans. If your small business has a current plan for employees or if you’re thinking about adding one, you should familiarize yourself with the new rules.

The Setting Every…

As the year winds to a close, most businesses see employees taking a lot of vacation time. After all, it’s the holiday season, and workers want to enjoy it. Some businesses, however, find themselves particularly short-staffed in December because they don’t allow unused paid time off (PTO) to be…

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has proposed a historic change to its approach in establishing effective dates for new accounting standards. This proposal comes after constituents insisted that small public companies and private entities generally need more time to adopt major…

If you’re a small business owner or you’re involved in a start-up, you may want to set up a tax-favored retirement plan for yourself and any employees. Several types of plans are eligible for tax advantages.

401(k) plan

One of the best-known retirement plan options is the 401(k)…

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released a final rule that facilitates the provision of small business employee retirement plans. According to the DOL, this rule will allow more small and midsize unrelated businesses to join multiple employer plans (MEPs) and provide their employees with a…

Roth 401(k) accounts have been around for 13 years now. Studies show that more employers are offering them each year. A recent study by the Plan Sponsor Council of America (PSCA) found that Roth 401(k)s are now available at 70% of employer plans, up from 55.6% of plans in 2016.

However,…

News of commercial database hackings may seem commonplace in 2019. But while many of these stories focus on hacked bank and credit card accounts, 401(k) plan sponsors and participants probably don’t realize that their plan assets also are at risk.

Employers who offer 401(k) plans to…