Checklist to determine Controlled Group Status

[MarZDoates]

Does anyone know where I might find a simple checklist or questionnaire that I can send out with my census requests for an employer to complete to determine if they may be considered a controlled group or ASG? Thank you.

[E as in ERISA]

Even a very good questionnaire will not provide you with everything that you need in order to make those determinations (unless you ask for a lot of attachments with organization charts and additional info about voting rights, familial relationships, etc.). Review and analysis of those attachments could become a project in itself.

Unless you are charging for that determination, I would put the onus on the client. I would ask the client whether it has made a determination of what companies are in its controlled group or under common control or in an ASG. I would also ask for information about what other plans are sponsored by members of the group. (The client's application for determination should include answers to those questions. You could ask for an update to the information filed in the application).