The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has primary jurisdiction over the qualified status of retirement plans, and this jurisdiction includes examining plans. An IRS agent can notify a plan sponsor at any time that its plan has been selected for audit. A plan sponsor should thus consider a compliance self-review to minimize the pain of audit and ensure that the plan is operating correctly, that its plan documents comport with plan operation, and that plan records are complete and organized before the IRS comes knocking. Please see our recent LawFlash detailing the top 10 issues of IRS focus in its audit of qualified plans. Also, please see our prior LawFlash addressing the top 10 areas of focus in US Department of Labor (DOL) investigations of retirement plans.
If you have questions about IRS or DOL investigations of retirement plans, please reach out to the LawFlash authors or your Morgan Lewis contacts.