By Stacie Clifford Kitts, CPA

Are you one of the lucky employers who will receive a letter from the IRS Employee Plans Compliance Unit (EPCU) ? Well, if you have a retirement plan and you are among the 1200 employers selected to complete  the  401(k) Compliance Check Questionnaire you will receive your notice this week explaining  how to complete it.  The notice will direct you to a website asking you to respond to the following topics:

• Demographics
• Participation
• Employer and employee contributions
• Top-heavy and nondiscrimination testing
• Distributions and plan loans
• Other plan operations
• Automatic contribution arrangements
• Designated Roth features
• IRS voluntary compliance and correction programs
• Plan administration

And what if you don’t respond – Well look forward to further action including a possible audit of your plan by the EPCU.

For more information, you can check out the “Retirement News For Employers” spring 2010 newsletter.  I have included a copy of it at my Client Resource Center just look under the file named Pension Audit Resources.

If you have questions about completing the form, you should consult with your plan administrator for assistance.