chuTzPA

I'm just looking for a recommendation on a national conference for non-attorney consultants working in the area of wrap plan documents, 5500's, notices, and other general compliance for welfare benefits topics.

ok that makes sense. perhaps then companies who do payroll internally may look for assistance, but then, if they do payroll internally they may not wanna add costs...

If answer to item 1 is No you can ignore Item 3

So do you think the payroll companies will be providing reports to have the forms completed by other consultants, or be completing the forms themselves?

So...who do you think will be taking on the task of filing these forms? I'm playing with the idea and pondering fees.

It might apply. You still have to check no if it's not a MEWA and submit the attachment.

well it wasn't an obvious question to me as i was thinking the quality of work was implicit by virtue of holding industry standard credentials as well as the ERPA in which the IRS holds us to certain standards, as well as that a good consultant takes responsibility when responsibility is due. I think errors slip through for everyone and I've never charged a fee related to an error our firm was accountable for. We have just never put that into specific words, perhaps that needs to change?

Is there a trend towards offering some sort of Compliance Guarantee or other way of guaranteeing our work as tpa's? Does such a marketing approach have substance to it, considering the commitment reflected in our credentials?

Form 5500 asks for participant counts as of the 'beginning of the plan year'. I have seen two practices in how to report this as follows: 1. Bring forward end of year count from prior year 5500. 2. Actually calculate current participant count at the first day of the plan year, including new entries. Which is really the more common practice?

Are there any standards in the tpa industry for record retention of client records? Is it different for db vs dc plans? Is there an ERISA requirement? where does the 6 yrs come from?

Employee goes off payroll due to lack of available work and does not receive income from September 2013 through end of year. Employee not terminated though. Loan payments are not made so loan is deemed distributed at 12/31/13. Since this is done in 2014, is this treated in 2013 taxes or 2014 taxes? I'm not a 1099 expert, but if its 2013 what is the late penalty?

Anyone aware of a discussion of impact of ACA on the future of welfare plan 5500 reporting?

Is there a knowledgeable person out there that may assist me with some practical applications of the changes from the doma law as it applies to both medical reimbursement accounts and dependent care accounts. There are many articles out there, but I am yet to see one that actually delves into the details I am looking for. Pls contact me directly.

slightly off topic but in response to bg5150's comment on companies scanning 5500's and sending out scare letters, I have learend that there is a tool that seems to literally scan in a 5500 and review it for inaccuracies. Can someone guide me in the direction of who provides this tool?

thanks folks. still pondering nontraditional approaches, but that helps a lot!

Are rewards or incentives for participants who defer certain rates, or increase their rates of deferral during the year, allowed outside of the plan? Inside the plan we have Match, outside could be some kind of non-(or not so)-monetary reward like a gift card of certain levels based on rates of deferral or rates of increase? Example, when analysing year end data, employees who defer as follows get the following: 6% - $100 gift card, 3-5% - $50 gift card, 1-2% - $25 gift card I admit I have not thought this through, and wonder the role of nondiscrimination testing, but I have been tasked to look at non-traditional non-plan design related ideas for boosting partipation rates without auto features.

This is just a rough idea. Are there other tpa’s that have gone out on their own in the past couple years, are up and running, and that are interested in setting up some kind of confidential group to exchange ideas on how to increase business and run an efficient practice? Ideally this would be just a handful of participants, strictly from different locations so we don’t compete, and still new to running a business. I’d be interested in sharing experiences, initiatives, and learning from each other so that we can all succeed. This would not be an anonymous group and I am fully open to ideas on what this could or should be. While I believe there are oldtimers who have quite a lot to offer, or who are looking to turn around their business in a changing economy, I am specifically interested in recent newcomers. I will disclose upfront that, one year into this, I am currently at a place professionally where I have more to learn than to offer in terms of growing business. Feel free to send me a message directly if interested, along with your location. (This has been cross posted to Small Businesses (issues unique to) since there was recent discussion about tpa practices.

This is just a rough idea. Are there other tpa’s that have gone out on their own in the past couple years, are up and running, and that are interested in setting up some kind of confidential group to exchange ideas on how to increase business and run an efficient practice? Ideally this would be just a handful of participants, strictly from different locations so we don’t compete, and still new to running a business. I’d be interested in sharing experiences, initiatives, and learning from each other so that we can all succeed. This would not be an anonymous group and I am fully open to ideas on what this could or should be. While I believe there are oldtimers who have quite a lot to offer, or who are looking to turn around their business in a changing economy, I am specifically interested in recent newcomers. I will disclose upfront that, one year into this, I am currently at a place professionally where I have more to learn than to offer in terms of growing business. Feel free to send me a message directly if interested, along with your location. (This has been cross posted to Operating a Consulting or TPA Firm.)