Form 5500: Tackling Compliance Risks, Understanding Applicability of IRS Paid Preparer Rules
Proactive Steps to Meet the Most Complex Requirements and Avoid IRS Penalties
IRS Section 6694 significantly expands definition of return preparer
Recording of a 110-minute CPE webinar with Q&A
This course will provide approaches to accounting professionals to improve Form 5500 compliance, with particular focus on high-risk areas under the revised IRS Sect. 6694 paid preparer penalties. The panel will review how and when those penalties can also apply to outside advisors.
Outline
- Background on IRS Sect. 6694 preparer penalties
- Latest regulatory amendments
- Applicability to information returns as well as tax returns
- Standard for “preparer”
- “More likely than not” standard and non-disclosure rules
- Penalty amounts
- Aspects of Form 5500 with greatest likelihood of drawing preparer penalties
- Highly complex sections or schedules like Schedule C
- Obtaining information or making accurate assessment is most difficult
- Early experiences with IRS oversight and audits since Form 5500 was revised
- Highly complex sections or schedules like Schedule C
- Crafting a plan to improve Form 5500 compliance
- Client experiences with most complex compliance demands
- Adjusting compliance plan in those areas and bringing new resources to task
Benefits
The panel will address these and other important topics:
- The paid preparer rules: Will an outside advisor or employee of the plan administrator be considered a "preparer"? What activities violate the rules, and how high is the penalty?
- High-risk activities: Which compliance aspects on the main Form 5500 and certain schedules raise the greatest chance of preparer penalties, given the difficulty of obtaining reliable and complete data and sensitive client relations?
- Steps to maximize accuracy: What steps can and should you take to sharpen compliance in the most troublesome aspects of Form 5500?
Faculty
Jewell Lim Esposito
Shareholder
Chamberlain Hrdlicka White Williams & Martin
She has 16 years of practice in employee benefits and tax law and emphasizes fiduciary compliance, tax qualification of... | Read More
She has 16 years of practice in employee benefits and tax law and emphasizes fiduciary compliance, tax qualification of retirement plans, executive compensation and payroll plans.
CloseAlex M. Brucker
Partner
Brucker & Morra
His firm, which he founded, has the largest exclusive ERISA and employee benefits practice in Southern California. He... | Read More
His firm, which he founded, has the largest exclusive ERISA and employee benefits practice in Southern California. He has been practicing ERISA law since 1974 and has spoken in recent months at conferences about the applicability of preparer penalties.
CloseBecky Miller
Director, National Professional Standards Group
McGladrey & Pullen
Her responsibilities include firmwide guidance on audit quality, ERISA compliance, and financial reporting issues for... | Read More
Her responsibilities include firmwide guidance on audit quality, ERISA compliance, and financial reporting issues for all employee benefit plan categories, among other areas. She has served on a number of AICPA and industry association employee benefits committees and task forces.
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