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People who are charged with the responsibility to administer an employee benefit plan that is subject to ERISA face consequences that can affect them personally, so they should act with great care.

Defined benefit plan hidden risks. Defined benefit plan governance and internal controls can be ignored when outsourced to 3rd party service providers. In a self-audit, plan sponsors or accountants 3rd parties review the Defined benefit plan for the following.

We often hear that the employee benefit plan of an acquired entity “merges” into the plan of the acquirer, although often the acquired employees are provided distribution paperwork containing an option to rollover their accounts.

Recently, Kriste DeAngelo and Brenda DeSaro wrote an article on assessing the financial wellness of your defined contribution plan, along with compliance areas and fiduciary responsibilities to be aware of.

The Department of Labor requires employers to remit employee contributions to the plan’s trust and generally employers must also pay an excise tax and file form 5330 to the IRS. The Department of Labor website provides an online calculator as a compliance assistance tool.

Compliance with Internal Revenue Code section 409A. Failure to comply with section 409A results in expensive tax issues. More on Section 409A traps in employment agreements. The IRS is actively reviewing executive plans and agreements as part of its corporate audit process.

IRS issues final regulations on a company’s safe harbor contributions. If you have elected to have your retirement plan treated as a Safe Harbor Plan, you may have an option to suspend your contributions to that benefit plan. More info on the specifics of Safe Harbor Plan regulations.

Roth rollovers and IRS Notice 2013-74. Prior to 2013, employees were able to roll over 401k funds to a designated Roth account in the same plan only if the amounts were eligible for distribution. Plans may now allow rollovers of monies that would otherwise NOT be eligible for distribution.

In response to feedback that the definition of a business in ASC 805 is applied too broadly, the FASB recently clarified the definition of a business by adding guidance to assist entities with evaluating transactions.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued ASC Topic 842, a new lease accounting standard that fundamentally changes the accounting guidance governing substantially all leases, including equipment and real estate leases.

A recap of a recent roundtable discussion focused on the important role compensation/human capital plays in helping companies in the life sciences industry achieve their goals.

FASB recently issued ASU 2017-09, Scope of Modification Accounting, to clarify which changes to the terms or conditions of a share-based payment award require an entity to apply modification accounting under ASC 718.

The FASB recently issued ASU 2017-04 to simplify how an entity is required to test goodwill for impairment and should recognize an impairment charge for the amount by which the carrying amount exceeds the reporting unit’s fair value.

Winners at the recent TiE50 pitch competition, an annual Silicon Valley event for technology startup founders, had some fun sharing their insights on what is key to success.

A recap of “The New CFO Imperative -- ESG,” a roundtable we held focused on the importance of sound ESG policies.

A newly-mandated law will require many Chicago-area businesses to provide pretax public transit benefits—which could add a tax burden for employers. 

Generally, U.S. government employees working abroad are not required to pay foreign income taxes. However, in those situations where they do have a foreign income tax liability, claiming the foreign tax credit can result in significant U.S. tax savings.

The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes act enables qualified small businesses to claim a certain amount of its R&D credit as a payroll tax credit against its employer portion of FICA liability, rather than against its income tax liability.

The PATH Act allows certain taxpayers, such as a sole proprietorship, non-publicaly traded corporations and partnerships, to use R&D tax credits to offset the Alternative Minimum Tax AMT.

Blockchain’s potential uses in fraud and cost controls have not gone unnoticed by Wall Street. The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (“DTCC”) recently announced plans to implement a blockchain to track credit-derivative payouts between banks.