Reporting — Articles

IRS Reminds Businesses of SECURE 2.0 Impacts on Form W-2

The IRS is reminding businesses who sponsor a retirement plan that certain provisions of SECURE 2.0 that became effective in 2023 may impact their Form W-2 reporting requirements.

Reduce Form 5498 Reporting Errors with this Simple Step

As you’re preparing to send your Form 5498 files to your vendor for printing, you’ve probably caught some reporting errors as you audit the files. But mistakes happen. And those errors that inevitably slip through are likely those that keep you up at night. It’s not fun getting a phone call or visits from upset clients after they received an incorrect Form 5498.

IRAAscensusApril 18, 2024IRA, Business Insights, Reporting, Regulations, Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, Form 5498

Is Your Organization on Track to Meet These IRA, HSA, and Coverdell ESA Deadlines?

It's a brand-new year filled with fresh reporting deadlines, and perhaps a good time to take note on whether your financial organization is on track to meet these obligations—or to refresh your memory on when specific deadlines occur. First quarter is always a busy reporting season.

IRA Reporting for the Year of Death

January is rapidly approaching and with it comes the deadline for fair market value (FMV) statements. One of the most challenging IRA reporting requirements is FMV statement reporting for the IRA owner’s year of death.

Common Compliance Testing Questions

If you’re new to qualified retirement plans, or simply need a refresher on these common terms in the retirement plan industry, we’ve got you covered.

Understanding the Details of IRA Rollover Restrictions

IRA-to-IRA rollovers are subject to the “one-per-12-month” restriction. Meaning that individuals may roll over only one IRA distribution during a 12-month period.

expert, IRAAscensusNovember 16, 2023Rollover, IRA, Business Insights, Reporting, Roth IRA, Traditional IRA

Q is for Qualified Coverdell ESA Distributions: Helping Your Clients Pay for Education Expenses

If it’s been a while since you’ve worked with Coverdell ESAs, here’s a refresher on the rules and your responsibilities when processing ESA distributions.

ESAAscensusOctober 19, 2023Coverdell ESAs, Coverdell ESA, Regulations, Reporting

IRA Compliance — Are You Prepared for an IRS Audit?

Compliance is a critical concern for financial organizations that serve as IRA trustees, custodians, and issuers—and for good reason. IRS penalties for noncompliance and violation of IRA rules can be costly. If the IRS finds compliance issues with your IRA program, it could lead to further scrutiny of your organization.

IRAAscensusSeptember 21, 2023Regulations, IRS, IRA, Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, Reporting, Business Insights, Compliance & Operations

Deadline Approaches for 2022 IRA Recharacterizations and Excess Contribution Removals

The deadline for IRA owners to recharacterize or remove their 2022 excess contributions is fast approaching. Typically, the federal tax return extension deadline is October 15. But this year that date falls on a Sunday, so the deadline has been moved to October 16, 2023.

expert, IRAAscensusSeptember 21, 2023IRS, IRA, Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, Reporting, Recharacterization, Excess Contribution

What You’ll Need Before Opening an HSA

Employers are now preparing for benefits enrollment season, and chances are likely that you’ll soon experience an uptick in potential clients who want to set up new health savings accounts (HSAs) for next year.

HSAAscensusAugust 17, 2023Compliance & Operations, HSA, Reporting

Now is the Perfect Time to Review Your Record Retention Procedures

Summer is typically a slower part of the year for most financial organizations, so organizations often use this “downtime” to review their operational policies and procedures. During this time of the year, our consultants on the Ascensus 800 Consulting Lines receive frequent calls about IRA record retention—including “How long should our financial organization keep IRA documents?”

Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plan Rollovers: What Are My Client’s Options?

When individuals retire or leave their employer, they must decide what to do with the accumulated savings in their retirement plan. Typically, they will roll over the assets to another qualified retirement plan or an IRA in order to keep the assets in a tax-deferred account. If they decide to withdraw the assets, they may end up having to include the distribution amount in their taxable income for the year.

The ABCs of HSAs: Your Common HSA Questions Answered

Health savings accounts (HSAs) continue to grow in popularity. And as they become more popular, you should expect an increase in HSA-related questions from clients. This article provides answers to some of the more common HSA questions that your clients may have.

HSA, expertAscensusJuly 20, 2023Compliance & Operations, HSA, Business Insights, Q&A, Reporting

Demystifying Forfeiture and Suspense Accounts

Certain events in the life of a retirement plan may lead to some assets being temporarily allocated to special unallocated accounts, rather than being credited to a specific plan participant. This is the case with both forfeiture accounts and suspense accounts, which—perhaps not surprisingly—are sometimes confused with one another.

IRS Provides Additional RMD Transition Relief Under SECURE/SECURE 2.0

The IRS on July 14, 2023, issued Notice 2023-54 to provide transition relief for required minimum distributions (RMDs) in connection with the change in required beginning date (RBD) to age 73 under SECURE 2.0, and guidance for certain specified RMDs for 2023.

Our Client Says That We’ve Incorrectly Reported His SEP Contribution—What Do We Do?

There can be confusion surrounding how to report SEP contributions. Our ERISA consultants receive frequent calls about this topic on our 800 Consulting lines. A common scenario involves a self-employed business owner receiving a Form 5498, IRA Contribution Information, and noticing that the SEP contribution that he made wasn’t reported for the tax year in which he reported the contribution on his federal tax return.

IRAAscensusMay 18, 2023SEP Plan, SIMPLE IRA Plan, Reporting, Regulations, Contribution

Agencies Update Form 5500

Plan sponsors have watched for updates to the process of filing Form 5500 over the past three years as the Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) Employee Benefits Security Administration, the IRS, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (“the Agencies”) released changes to the form to comply with provisions in the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (SECURE 1.0).

Agencies Change Form 5500 Schedules

The third phase of updates to Form 5500, Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan, was recently released. This guidance addresses changes related to provisions in the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (SECURE 1.0).