Compliance

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Whether you have 1 employee or 1,000 employees, when you offer a benefits package you immediately have a list of rules and Requirements governed by the DOL, IRS, and your state laws. As your company increases in size, so does the list of requirements and regulations. 

Compliance for Companies of Any Size

Most employer's don't know that if they offer any welfare benefits plan, they must have a "Wrap" Plan Document per the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (known as ERISA) guidelines. A welfare benefits plan would include, health, dental, vision, or life insurance. It also includes disability plans, Health Reimbursement Accounts, and accidental insurance plans. 

If you offer one of these plans, you need to make sure you have a written plan document that provides the ERISA regulated required information, including a Summary Plan Description (SPD). Some brokers or  individuals may tell you that the insurance company documents 'count' as your plan document. No matter your company size, this is simply not true. 

P.O.P Plans, Cafeteria Plan, or Section 125 Plan

When your employees are paying for a portion of their benefits, these deductions should be made out of their paychecks on a pre-tax basis. This lowers their taxes and increases their take home pay, while also lowering your employer taxes as well. It is important to know that while the IRS allows you to deduct these expenses on a pre-tax basis, you must set up the appropriate documents before you are allowed to make those paycheck deductions. 

COBRA Compliance and Management

Federal COBRA applies to any company with 20 or more employees for more than 50% of their regular business days in the previous calendar year. However, most states have laws that mirror the Federal COBRA rules. Most states intend to protect all employees of all company sizes. 

ACA Compliance and Testing

If your company has 50 or more employees, you may be subject to additional rules, regulations, additional IRS filings, and major penalties if any of those guidelines are't followed. We can't stress how important it is to have a team of consultants who can make sure your company is meeting all of the ACA compliance regulations. Here are just a few of those regulations:

· 1094/1095 employee forms

· Health insurance that meet ‘Minimum Essential Coverage’ guidelines

· Employee affordability testing

· Employee variable hour testing

· Brother/sister and subsidiary controlled group testing

· And much more…

Form 5500 Reporting

Employers who have more than 100 employees participating in a welfare benefits plan must be filling their annual Form 5500 or face some heavy fines.

These are just a few of the compliance issues that apply to most business. Please keep in mind that limits and exclusions certainly apply. Some or none of these issues may apply to you. There are many more compliance issues to worry about, or you can have us do the worrying for you. 

Our team at Benecore is dedicated to making sure your company has everything it needs to always be in compliance and manage most of that compliance for you. We pride ourselves in going above and beyond for all of our clients and their compliance needs.