401k Plan Audit Papers

If you’re up for an audit on your 401k plan, then the Department of Labour or the Internal Revenue Service will be asking you for a list of items, that should be available at all times.

Items requested both by DOL and IRS:

• The 401k plan document and any amendment that have been made; trust agreement
• A duplicate of the most current determination letter
• Duplicates of the Form 5500/5500-C; the annual report of the Employee Benefit plan; copies of schedules including schedule A,B and schedule SSA if pertinent; copies of all attachments such as notes to the financial statements.
• Any existing endorsements and fidelity bonds
• Reports from the administrators, and trustees including journals and minutes to investment committee meetings.

The IRS will require:

• Duplicates of the Form 5500/5500-C and the Annual Report of the Employee Benefit Plan for the year successive to the years under present scrutiny.
• Duplicates of the Form 1120, the minutes to the activities that take place with the trust as well as the plan; a copy of the 7004 form.
• A duplicate of the employer’s Form W2P, a statement for the receivers of any annuities, retirement payments, pension payments or IRA payments; a duplicate of the Form 1099R; a record of the total amount distributed from profit sharing, Individual Retirement Arrangements and Retirement Plans, for the years under scrutiny.
• Any cancelled checks that verify the contributions of the years under study.
• Any schedules that demonstrate whether the 401k plan met the ADP and also the ACP tests.
• Employees’ records that specify employees’ details.
• Payroll records
• Allocation schedules of participants
• When applicable a copy of the consent declarations from spouses.

The DOL will ask for:

• A summary of the plan description
• A summary of the plan’s annual reports
• Insurance policy if held
• A list of the service providers and plan managers and their contracts
• Any correspondence that relates to the plan
• Account statements that have been recently provided for the participants
• Papers that show the contributions for the employee that are due from each payroll
• A statement of the investment policy
• All the documents relating to loans if any such as application and promissory notes
• Details and documents about all property held including vehicles, equipment, land and buildings.
• Documents that relate to any other real estate investment.


Reference: http://www.hollandhart.com/newsitem.cfm?ID=521