DOL Health and Welfare Plan Audit Response and Protection: Reducing Risk Exposure to Avoid Costly Penalties

This course will provide employee benefits accounting and tax professionals with a thorough and practical guide to preparing responses for a Department of Labor (DOL) investigative audit of a company's health and welfare plan. The panel will discuss required documentation and procedures for submittal to the DOL in response to audit correspondence. The panel will offer valuable tools to help make your firm's health and other benefit plans audit-ready.

The DOL substantially increased the number of ERISA health and welfare plan audits of plans of all sizes. The increased investigation activity presents a heightened compliance burden on plans and plan sponsors, and employee benefits advisers must be proactive in ensuring their firms are audit-ready.

DOL audits subject plans to burdensome documentation demands, intrusive investigations, and disruptive on-site inspections. DOL audit letters typically seek health and benefits plan documentation compliant with the ACA, MHPAEA, HIPAA, COBRA, and other ERISA requirements. DOL audits can also attract IRS scrutiny.

Penalties due to deficiencies discovered in DOL audits can be steep, and many accumulate daily. For 2021, the penalty for a late-filed Form 5500 is $2,269 per day late. Employee benefits accountants and advisers must evaluate and anticipate audit risks and preemptively remedy potential defects to avoid painful and expensive assessments.

Listen as our experienced panel provides a practical guide to proactively managing the document process to respond to a DOL health and welfare plan audit effectively.