The Internal Revenue Service has begun mailing out questionnaires to 401(k) plan sponsors to assess compliance with retirement plan regulations.
The IRS is contacting a random sample of 1,200 401(k) plan sponsors that filed a Form 5500 for the 2007 plan year. Plan sponsors who receive a letter will complete the Questionnaire by accessing a special Web site.
The questionnaire categories are:
Demographics
401(k) plan participation
Employer and employee contributions
Top heavy and nondiscrimination rules
Distributions and plan loans
Other plan operations
Automatic contribution arrangements
Designated Roth features
IRS voluntary compliance programs
Plan administration
The information gathered from the questionnaire will ultimately result in a report published by the IRS describing the responses and identifying those areas where additional education, guidance, and outreach is needed; and how the IRS can focus its enforcement efforts to address or avoid non-compliance related to 401(k) plans.
The IRS emphasized that the questionnaire is a compliance check, and not an audit or investigation. However, failure to complete the questionnaire will result in further enforcement action.