One of the IRS requirements for a qualified plan is that the plan must follow the terms of the written plan document(s). A plan could lose its qualified status if there is a compliance issue that is not corrected. If a plan loses its qualified status the plan participants could be required to pay taxes on the amount of money the employer contributes to the plan in the year it is contributed rather than when the participant actually receives the benefit. If you think that there may be a compliance issue please contact GMA as soon as possible. Common compliance issues include employees or elected officials being excluded from (or included in) the plan improperly, failing to properly withhold employee contributions, or failing to suspend retirement benefits if a retiree returns to service. We can help walk you through the steps to correct the error and arrange for assistance from outside tax counsel for any necessary IRS filings, if applicable.

Please alert GMA if you receive notice that a retiree or beneficiary has passed away. It is important for GMA to quickly begin payments to a beneficiary, if applicable, or to stop payments if there is no beneficiary. GMEBS is required to collect all overpayments. If GMEBS is unable to collect an overpayment to a deceased retiree from an estate, the employer will be responsible for making the trust fund whole, but will be able to pursue collection from the individual(s) who received the overpayment.