Services | Government Compliance & Reporting
Because Compliance Matters
The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) serves to protect the benefit rights of participants and beneficiaries of employee benefit plans. ERISA imposes a variety of important reporting and disclosure requirements on sponsors of employee benefit plans, including the requirement to file the Form 5500 and related schedules each year – a time-consuming and highly specialized task. Outsourcing to service providers who do not have extensive experience with Form 5500 preparation or who bundle this important service “at no charge” can often result in errors, incomplete filings and DOL and IRS notices.
Atéssa’s team of trained specialists ensures that each of your plans is in full compliance with all ERISA reporting requirements. We make accuracy the highest priority and you can be confident of complete, accurate government filings, minimal fiduciary risk, and experienced representation in the event of IRS, DOL or PBGC correspondence.
Minimize Fiduciary Risk
In order for a qualified employee benefit plan to be in compliance, a Form 5500 must be filed with the Employee Benefit Security Administration (EBSA) every year. The information provided on Form 5500 is used to satisfy the annual reporting requirements for the Department of Labor (DOL), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). What does this mean for the plan sponsor? It means gathering data from a number of sources:
- Actuaries
- Trustees
- Record Keepers
- Accountants
- Investment Managers
- Insurance Companies
Most plan sponsors consider the Form 5500 to be a “necessary evil” of managing their benefit plans. While keeping up with demanding day-to-day HR responsibilities and with Form 5500 reporting requirements changing every year, wouldn’t it be nice to hand the job of compliance reporting off to reliable experts?
Count on Atéssa to take the burden of completing Form 5500 off your plate. Our team of compliance specialists manages the complete process by:
- Filing extensions
- Gathering information
- Completing Form 5500 and related schedules
- Sending signature-ready filings for submission to the EBSA or
- Filing electronically on behalf of the plan sponsor
- Preparing the Summary Annual Report (SAR)
- Preparing responses to DOL correspondence
Cost Effective Filing Process
By outsourcing government filings to Atéssa, your company could realize immediate savings in personnel costs and the added benefit of paying for the service from plan assets (if applicable). This could equate to a 50% realized reduction in the per-plan cost of compliance.