“IT WONT HAPPEN TO ME”
For those of you that know me, you likely also know how strongly I believe that there is a need for Retirement Plan Specialists. Having to fulfill the fiduciary responsibilities of a retirement plan is quite complex and time consuming. Speaking of time consuming, how about when you receive the letter from the DOL saying your plan is scheduled for investigation? I have been telling anyone who will listen that DOL audits are increasing and every plan is open game. Why am I bringing this up (again)? Because yesterday I was reminded of this process and how overwhelming it can be (if not organized with the help of a specialist – yes one last plug!!!)
So… letter from the DOL comes to a local business informing them that they are scheduled for investigation. This company is under 100 employees and the plan is under $1 million in assets (the audits are not just happening to large plans). The letter instructs them to submit, within ten business days, the documents listed on the enclosed Document Request List. If you have never seen one of these letters and don’t think it is a big deal, how about this: In this case, the document request list was 37 items and for each item they had to go back for 2011 to present – remember 10 days to do this (it doesn’t matter that it is year end or that holidays are upon us – 10 days, 37 items and going back 5 years).
I believe one the most beneficial things I do as a Retirement Plan Specialist is help organize my clients Retirement Plan and Fiduciary life. We utilize a tool called Fiduciary Briefcase where we store important plan and fiduciary documents electronically. I would love to talk to you more about this valuable service/tool if you see how it would be of value to your company.