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Common 401k Plan Errors and how to Avoid Them – Late Deposits

by | Jan 22, 2024

Hopefully, like us, you’ve had a few minutes to recover from last year’s October 15 401(k) audit deadline. Now it’s time to look back on how the audit process went for you. What went right or wrong? What can be done to ensure a better audit experience next year?

 

PriceKubecka performed over 400 audits in 2023. The most common error we saw was a failure to remit deposits in a timely manner.

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If your employee wants 4% of their wages to go into their retirement account, does he/she have a clear understanding of what’s considered wages? For that matter, does your payroll or HR department understand?

The most common problems arising from not following the plan’s definition of eligible compensation are overstatements or understatements in participants’ accounts due to improperly excluding or including amounts for deferrals and allocations. There is a plethora of reasons why plan rules aren’t being followed – improper pay codes, changing payroll providers, employee turnover, etc. But ultimately it comes down to how the payroll system is set up and whether administrators are aware of what’s in the plan.

Late 401(k) contributor deposits. What does that really mean?

As it relates to large 401(k) plans (100+ active participants), the Department of Labor and the IRS are strict about how long it should take your company to deposit an employee’s withholding into their 401K account. Here’s the actual rule for large plan filers: 

 Department of Labor rules require that the employer deposit deferrals to the trust as soon as the employer can; however, in no event can the deposit be later than the 15th business day of the following month. Remember that the rules about the 15th business day isn’t a safe harbor for depositing deferrals; rather, that these rules set the maximum deadline. DOL provides a 7-business-day safe harbor rule for employee contributions to plans with fewer than 100 participants. 

 All too often, our clients focus only on the second part of this rule – “however, in no event can the deposit be later than the 15th business day of the following month.” Then they’re surprised and upset when we flag late deposits they’ve made. What the client should have been doing is focusing on the first part – “require that the employer deposit deferrals to the trust as soon as the employer can” Here’s why. 

 If you have remitted funds 3 days after the payroll check date, you’ve demonstrated to PriceKubecka, the Department of Labor, and the IRS that ‘as soon as the employer can’ for your company is 3 days. That is your benchmark for the rest of the year. If next time you remit funds 10 days after payroll, that’s considered a late deposit, even though it’s sooner than the 15th business day of the following month.  

Correcting Late Deposits on 401(k) Deferrals

Your auditor flagged a few late deposits in the 401(k) audit. Now what? As the plan sponsor you must consider correcting those late deposits. If you don’t, you may be out compliance in the eyes of the Department of Labor and IRS. 

 If your plan had a deposit that was considered late – for this example, we’ll say 7 days late – the Department of Labor expects the plan sponsor to calculate what monetary amount the plan participant lost by not having those funds in the plan’s active investment accounts for those 7 days. Whatever that amount ends up being should be added to the employee’s account. As the plan sponsor, that amount is your correction, or ‘penalty.’  

 Your third party administrator or record keeper can help you with the appropriate method of correction. However, if late deposits are pervasive across the entire year or multiple years, we may advise that you also meet with an ERISA attorney to ensure everything is corrected properly.  

Fixing the Late 401(k) Deposit Permanently

What happens if you don’t correct late deposits, or if they keep happening repeatedly, year after year?   

 If you don’t make some changes, you’re possibly putting a target on your back. These errors will be reported in your 5500 and in your financial statements. All of which will get the attention of the Department of Labor. You are begging for a full-blown audit. Fortunately, this outcome is easily fixable and preventable. All you need to do is place the same importance on 401(k) deposits as you do on payroll. Just add it to the checklist as a deposit that needs to be made the same day as payroll is processed.  

 If you’re already spending the day or the week ensuring every one of your employees gets paid on time, it’s just one extra step to make sure 401(k) deposits also get made on time.  

Other ways to avoid the mistake:  

  • If deferral deposits are a week or two late because of unforeseen circumstances, keep a record of why those deposits were late. 
  • Have at lease 2 people responsible for the process so that if one person is out on vacation then the second person can continue performing the process. Train the backup payroll processor.  
  • Coordinate with your payroll provider and others who provide service to your plan, if any, to determine the earliest date you can reasonably make deferral deposits. The date and related deposit procedures should match your plan document provisions, if any, about this issue. 
  • Implement and document practices and procedures that you explain to new personnel, as turnover occurs, to ensure that they know when deposits must be made. 

PriceKubecka is your 401k audit expert.

Did this error appear in your 401(k) audit? Would you like our help in preventing these errors next year? Please CONTACT US. At PriceKubecka, it’s our mission to ensure clients have a better audit experience. Our 401(k) experts can answer your questions about late deposits, as well as any other plan error your audit identified. 

Does a Fiscal-Year 401(k) Plan Still Need an Audit?

Potentially, yes.

Operating on a fiscal year does not eliminate or change the basic requirement for an independent employee benefit plan audit. Whether a defined contribution plan requires an audit generally depends on its Form 5500 filing status and the applicable participant-count rules—not whether its plan year ends December 31.

For defined contribution plans, the relevant participant count now focuses on participants and beneficiaries who have account balances at the beginning of the plan year, rather than everyone merely eligible to participate.

So an off-cycle plan sponsor should answer two separate questions:

Do we have an audit requirement?

And, if so:

When must that audit be completed so our Form 5500 can be filed on time?

Those are related questions, but they aren’t the same question.

When Should a Fiscal-Year 401(k) Audit Start?

The Form 5500 deadline should be the end of your audit timeline—not the beginning of it. The safest approach is to work backward from your actual filing deadline and establish the audit schedule well in advance.

If an independent audit is required, the auditor’s report generally accompanies the Form 5500 filing. That means the audit needs to be substantially complete before your filing deadline arrives.

There isn’t one audit-start date that works for every plan. The amount of time needed depends on factors such as plan size, the availability of records, the complexity of the plan and whether testing identifies issues requiring follow-up.

A practical timeline should allow time for:

Data collection: Your team may need to gather census information, payroll data, contribution records, recordkeeper reports, participant files and plan documents.

Audit testing: Your auditor will perform required procedures and may select participants or transactions for additional documentation.

Follow-up questions: Missing information and discrepancies often require responses from HR, payroll, the recordkeeper, TPA or other providers.

Resolving exceptions: Eligibility errors, contribution discrepancies, participant loans, distributions, compensation issues and other findings can require additional investigation.

Final review and issuance: The audit team still needs time to complete its review and issue the auditor’s report before the Form 5500 is finalized.

Example: A 401(k) Plan With a March 31 Year-End

Suppose your plan year ends March 31.

Your normal Form 5500 deadline is generally October 31.

With a timely Form 5558 extension, the deadline can generally be extended to January 15.

That does not mean January should become your target date for beginning the audit.

Instead, the plan sponsor and auditor should establish a timeline that leaves enough time before the applicable deadline to obtain records, complete testing and address any unexpected issues.

In other words:

March 31 plan year-end → October 31 normal deadline → January 15 extended deadline

Your audit calendar should be built backward from whichever filing deadline applies.

Example: A 401(k) Plan With a June 30 Year-End

A June 30 plan operates on a very different schedule.

Its Form 5500 would generally be due January 31 of the following year.

With a timely Form 5558 extension, the deadline would generally move to April 15.

For that employer, traditional summer 401(k) “audit season” may be largely irrelevant. Its audit preparation and testing may instead take place during the fall and winter.

That is why a plan with a non-calendar-year end should work with an auditor that maintains employee benefit plan audit capabilities throughout the year.

What Can Delay an Off-Cycle 401(k) Audit?

Having a different deadline doesn’t protect a plan from the same issues that slow down calendar-year audits.

Some common audit roadblocks include:

  • Missing or inaccurate census information
  • Eligibility and plan entry-date errors
  • Incorrect employer contribution or match calculations
  • Incorrect application of the plan’s compensation definition
  • Late participant contributions
  • Participant loan problems
  • Vesting or forfeiture discrepancies
  • Distribution documentation issues
  • Differences between payroll and recordkeeper data
  • Delays obtaining information from outside service providers

One of the advantages of starting early is having time to resolve those issues before they become filing-deadline problems.

What If Your Fiscal-Year Form 5500 Deadline Falls on a Weekend or Holiday?

There is an important exception to the dates in the chart.

If a Form 5500 filing deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday or federal holiday, the filing can generally be made on the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday or federal holiday. U.S. Department of Labor

That means sponsors should verify the precise deadline for the applicable filing year rather than relying solely on a recurring calendar.

The month-by-month chart is best used as a planning guide.

What About Short Plan Years?

A short plan year can occur when, for example, a plan changes its plan-year end or terminates and completes the distribution of plan assets.

The general Form 5500 timing rule still applies: the filing is generally due by the last day of the seventh calendar month after the short plan year ends, subject to an authorized extension. U.S. Department of Labor

Short plan years can introduce additional reporting and audit considerations, so sponsors should coordinate the filing timeline with their TPA, auditor and other advisors rather than assuming the normal annual schedule applies.

Don’t Build Your Audit Around October 15 If October 15 Isn’t Your Deadline

October 15 gets enormous attention in the 401(k) industry because it is the extended Form 5500 deadline for many calendar-year plans.

But it’s only one deadline.

For a non-calendar-year plan, your filing date could fall in January, April, June, November—or virtually any other month.

Your audit calendar should therefore begin with three questions:

When does our 401(k) plan year end?

When is our Form 5500 due?

When does the audit need to begin to comfortably meet that deadline?

Once those dates are established, your organization can build a recurring compliance calendar around its own plan rather than someone else’s audit season.

Looking for a 401(k) Auditor for a Fiscal-Year Plan?

PriceKubecka performs employee benefit plan audits throughout the year for both calendar-year and non-calendar-year 401(k) plans.

Our employee benefit plan specialists perform more than 400 EBP audits annually, including 401(k), 403(b) and ESOP audits. Because employee benefit plan auditing is a significant part of our audit practice, we can work with plan sponsors whose audit and Form 5500 deadlines fall throughout the year.

Whether your plan ends March 31, June 30, September 30 or another date, your audit should be built around your plan year and your deadline.

[Talk to a 401(k) Auditor]

Example: A 401(k) Plan With a March 31 Year-End

Suppose your plan year ends March 31. Your normal Form 5500 deadline is generally October 31.

With a timely Form 5558 extension, the deadline can generally be extended to January 15.

That does not mean January should become your target date for beginning the audit.

Instead, the plan sponsor and auditor should establish a timeline that leaves enough time before the applicable deadline to obtain records, complete testing and address any unexpected issues.

In other words:

March 31 plan year-end → October 31 normal deadline → January 15 extended deadline

Example: A 401(k) Plan With a June 30 Year-End

A June 30 plan operates on a very different schedule.

This plan’s Form 5500 would generally be due January 31 of the following year. With a timely Form 5558 extension, the deadline would generally move to April 15.

For that employer, traditional summer 401(k) “audit season” may be largely irrelevant. Its audit prep and testing may instead take place during the fall and winter.

That’s why a plan with a non-calendar-year end should work with an auditor that maintains EBP audit capabilities throughout the year.

In other words:

June 30 plan year-end → January 31 normal deadline → April 15 extended deadline

What Can Delay an Off-Cycle 401(k) Audit?

Having a different deadline doesn’t protect a plan from the same issues that slow down calendar-year audits. Some common audit roadblocks include:

  • Missing or inaccurate census information
  • Eligibility and plan entry-date errors
  • Incorrect employer contribution or match calculations
  • Incorrect application of the plan’s compensation definition
  • Late participant contributions
  • Participant loan problems
  • Vesting or forfeiture discrepancies
  • Distribution documentation issues
  • Differences between payroll and recordkeeper data
  • Delays obtaining information from outside service providers

One of the advantages of starting early is having time to resolve those issues before they become filing-deadline problems.

What If Your Fiscal-Year Form 5500 Deadline Falls on a Weekend or Holiday?

There is an important exception to the dates in the chart. If a Form 5500 filing deadline falls on a Saturday, Sunday or federal holiday, the filing can generally be made on the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or federal holiday. 

That means sponsors should verify the precise deadline for the applicable filing year rather than relying solely on a recurring calendar. The month-by-month chart is best used as a planning guide.

What About Short Plan Years?

A short plan year can occur when, for example, a plan changes its plan-year end or terminates and completes the distribution of plan assets.

In this case, the general Form 5500 timing rule still applies: the filing is generally due by the last day of the seventh calendar month after the short plan year ends, subject to an authorized extension. 

Short plan years can introduce additional reporting and audit considerations, so sponsors should coordinate the filing timeline with their TPA, auditor, and other advisors rather than assuming the normal annual schedule applies.

Don’t Build Your Audit Around October 15 if it isn’t Your Deadline

October 15 gets enormous attention in the 401(k) industry because it is the extended Form 5500 deadline for many calendar-year plans. But it’s only one deadline.

For a non-calendar-year plan, your filing date could fall in January, April, June, November—or virtually any other month. Your audit calendar should therefore begin with three questions:

  1. When does our 401(k) plan year end?
  2. When is our Form 5500 due?
  3. When does the audit need to begin to comfortably meet that deadline?

Once those dates are established, your organization can build a recurring compliance calendar around its own plan rather than someone else’s audit season.

Looking for a 401(k) Auditor for a Fiscal-Year Plan?

PriceKubecka performs employee benefit plan audits throughout the year for both calendar-year and non-calendar-year 401(k) plans.

Our EBP specialists perform more than 400 audits annually, including 401(k), 403(b) and ESOP audits. Because employee benefit plan auditing is a significant part of our audit practice, we can work with plan sponsors whose audit and Form 5500 deadlines fall throughout the year.

Whether your plan ends March 31, June 30, September 30, or another date, your audit should be built around your plan year and your deadline.

[Talk to a 401(k) Auditor]

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