Audit Requirements

[Guest lforesz]

We have a multiple employer plan. The plan in total has over 100 participants, but each participating employer has less than 100 participants. Is an audit required for the Plan or is it exempt since none of the employers in the multiple employer plan has exceeded the 100 participant rule? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Guest galdridge]

When determining if a plan has an audit requirement, the number of eligible participants for a plan should be determined based on the number of eligible participants for the entire plan not on the number of eligible participants for each participating employer. See the instructions for Form 5500 under Setion 5, Page 6 for possible exceptions to the audit requirement (i.e., 80-120 Participant Rule; Short Plan Year Rule)

Glenn Aldridge, CPA

Audit Manager

Bennett Thrasher PC

Atlanta, GA

[GBurns]

The frequency of questions of this nature makes me curious.

Are you a service provider to this plan?

Are you one of the employers?

Were there any filings for previous years?

If this is a new plan, therefore no previous filings, what sort of due diligence or legal advice did you get before joining this plan?

What is the benefit of being in this plan?

[Guest lforesz]

We are a service provider to the Plan. This is a first year audit. Although we have serviced multiple-employer plans in the past, they were very large plans, so the audit issue never came up. It is interesting, but the CPA for the Plan asked us whether an audit was required. Since I couldn't find any specific exception, I also assumed an audit was required, but since I'm not a CPA, I thought I might use a lifeline.

That's all.