Benefits and Compensation Quick Glossary Tip–Required Minimum Distribution

Posted on by

As participants get closer to retirement age, they should be aware of the rules surrounding distributions of their retirement account balances. At age 59 1/2 you may be able to withdraw funds from your retirement account and at age 70 1/2 you must begin withdrawing funds from your retirement accounts.

The following definitions of Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) and the Age 59 1/2 Rule will assist participants as they plan for their income expectations in retirement.

Continue reading.

If you have any questions, please contact the team at Moss Adams, or your accounting professional.

You may also be interested in:
How to Handle Employee Benefit Plans and Audits
Checklist for Every Responsible Plan Sponsor 

How to Handle Employee Benefit Plans and Audits

Posted on by

Bertha Minnihan, national practice leader, Employee Benefit Plan Services, was interviewed in Smart Business Network on how to handle employee benefit plans and audits.

Employee benefit plans are an important part of your company, and participating executives have just as much at stake as everyone else. With continually evolving fiduciary roles, the last thing you want is to fail in your responsibility, lose money and possibly face penalties or a lawsuit. That’s why employee benefit plan audits are conducted to identify potential problem areas. But only by closely managing the plan with fiduciary governance can you be ready for an audit.

“It’s prudent to have the board delegate to someone that is closely managing the plan—an oversight committee,” says Bertha Minnihan. “There’s so much to know, you can’t possibly know it all. It’s great to have this committee working with people who have expertise in this area to make sure they are meeting their fiduciary responsibilities.”

Continue reading.

If you have any questions, please contact the team at Moss Adams, or your accounting professional.

You may also be interested in:
Understanding Your Role as a Benefit Plan Sponsor or Fiduciary Webcast Video
Checklist for Every Responsible Plan Sponsor 

Anticipation and Taxation: Preparing for International Growth

Posted on by

Engaging in cross-border business creates both opportunity and inherent complexity. After you consider components such as the total addressable market, personnel, location, and market adaptation, initiating expansion might seem the next logical step. But often in the initial assessment, businesses underestimate the importance of evaluating tax implications. A variety of factors contribute to developing a tax structure, including tax treaties and trade agreements, whether the business will have a physical presence, and whether the offering is a service versus a tangible good. The associated costs and efforts should not be a deterrent, but they certainly should be a primary consideration. Taking a proactive approach is the most important first step to successful expansion.

Continue reading.

You may also be interested in:
How to Decide Whether to Switch to C Corporation Status
The 2013 Tax Outlook: Businesses

Gift Tax Laws When Your Spouse is a Non-U.S. Citizen

Posted on by

If you or your spouse is a non-U.S. citizen, there is a separate, stricter set of Federal gift tax laws you’ll need to follow. Gifts to a spouse in which both spouses are U.S. citizens are tax-free, meaning you can transfer assets to your wife/husband without using up any of your lifetime gift tax exemption or your generation skipping tax exemption. In contrast, there is no marital deduction for gifts to non-citizen spouses. Congress addressed the potential for an imposition of significant gift tax strain on transfers to non-citizen spouses by increasing the gift tax annual exclusion amount for gifts to non-citizen spouses to $143,000 in 2013. Only a present interest gift, or the portion of a gift consisting of a present interest, qualifies for the annual exclusion. Present interest gifts are those that the recipient can presently enjoy the use of the property (i.e. not something in a trust for future use).

Continue reading →

Not-for-Profit Accounting & Auditing Update

Posted on by
Join our annual review highlighting recent developments and new audit and accounting standards that affect not-for-profit organizations. Professionals of our Not-for-Profit practice will cover these and proposed changes on the FASB’s agenda.Specific areas of discussion will include:

  • New Audit and Accounting Guide for not-for-profit entities
  • New accounting standards
  • The new audit clarity standards and what you can expect
  • The agenda topics at the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Not-for-Profit Advisory Committee (NAC)
  • Proposed changes to OMB A-133

Thursday, May 30, 2013
9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. PT
Free Webcast | 1.5 CPE Credit

Click here for more information and to register.

How to Detect, Deal, and Prevent Fraud in Your Benefit Plan Webcast – June 19

Posted on by

Did you know:

  • Fraud is a multiple-trillion dollar business
  • Preventative controls alone are not enough to prevent fraud
  • Benefit plans often lack the oversight and review given to other operational activities

The average company in the United States loses 5 percent of its revenue to fraud each year. That’s an annual median loss of $120,000. On a national level the total cost of business fraud reaches nearly $3.5 trillion a year. Benefit plans are no stranger to fraud schemes. Individuals have been known to falsify physician records, pay distributions to terminated employees, skim from distributions, or even create fictitious plan participants.

In this webinar you will learn how to detect fraud, how to deal with it, and how to develop and deploy strong internal controls that plug the holes a criminal might try to exploit.

Wednesday, June 19
10:00 a.m.-11:00 am. PT
Free Webcast | 1 CPE Credit

Click here for more information and to register.

What Are Your Benefit Plan Fees Buying You?

Posted on by

When it comes to employee benefit plans, many accounting firms struggle to balance competitive audit fees with the service level needed for you to stay in compliance with all regulations.

In the Spring edition of our Benefit Plan Services Newsletter, we explore why this is the case as well as how you can prepare for the Affordable Care Act’s employer mandate and the latest news from the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

Continue reading.

If you have any questions, please contact the team at Moss Adams, or your accounting professional.

You may also be interested in:
Understanding Your Role as a Benefit Plan Sponsor or Fiduciary Webcast Video
Checklist for Every Responsible Plan Sponsor 

Optimized Your Retirement Savings with a Cash Balance Plan

Posted on by

If you are currently contributing money to a Simplified Employee Pension (SEP), 401(k) or profit sharing plan, your company could be paying more taxes than necessary. Defined benefit plans offer a way for companies to decrease taxable income and allow individuals to increase their retirement contributions. Contributing to a defined benefit plan, particularly a cash balance plan, allows for the ability to make additional contributions of pre-tax dollars to optimize your retirement savings and reduce your taxable income each year.

Cash balance plans are a type of defined benefit plan. Your benefit is defined as a Hypothetical Account Balance (HAB). You fund the account with “cash credits,” which could be a percentage of pay, a flat dollar amount, or a percentage of the maximum allowed by law. You then get a return on the balance in the plan; typically plans return a flat rate of no more than 5%. The plan promises to pay the HAB regardless of actual investment returns, so that means if assets underperform, the sponsor must contribute additional amounts to fund the shortfall. Participants in a cash balance plan receive their balance as a lump sum or the balance can be paid in one of several annuity options.

Continue reading →

Understanding Your Role as a Benefit Plan Sponsor or Fiduciary Webcast Video

Posted on by

The IRS, the Department of Labor, ERISA—when you’re a sponsor or fiduciary of an employee benefit plan, many eyes are watching. How best to comply with their standards while still performing your role efficiently and effectively?

We recently hosted an interactive webinar covering plan compliance, fiduciary governance, and investment oversight. We shared real-world examples and give you best practices to take back to your organization to help strengthen your plan operations. If you missed it, you can watch the presentation by clicking here.

If you have any questions, please contact the team at Moss Adams, or your accounting professional.

You may also be interested in:
Checklist for Every Responsible Plan Sponsor
Participant-Directed Investments in Defined Contribution Plans

Checklist for Every Responsible Plan Sponsor

Posted on by

Companies have a responsibility to serve their employees by protecting their retirement benefits as best as they can. This responsibility is the main role of a retirement plan fiduciary. Fiduciaries are obliged to act according to prudent financial standards, and there are penalties associated with negligence. This is especially true in today’s environment, one in which fiduciaries are closely scrutinized on a daily basis by government agencies such as the IRS and the Department of Labor.

The following checklist will help you operate your plan in accordance with the terms of the plan documents, reduce opportunities for operational defects, and fulfill your fiduciary responsibilities to your employees.

Continue reading.

If you have any questions, please contact the team at Moss Adams, or your accounting professional.

You may also be interested in:
Participant-directed Investments in Defined Contribution Plans
Benefits and Compensation Quick Glossary Tip: Market Capitalization