Tailored to Your Company
In today’s marketplace, employers need a competitive employee benefits package to attract and retain top talent. Based in Los Angeles, Long Beach, and Orange County, Windes’ Employee Benefits Service (EBS) can partner with you to ensure that your employee benefit plans are designed to be cost-effective, remain in compliance with IRS, Department of Labor, and ERISA rules and regulations, and support your business objectives. Our professionals provide consulting and third-party administrative services for employer-sponsored qualified retirement and welfare employee benefit plans. Our employee benefits services include plan design and administration, annual reporting and disclosure to plan participants and the government, and specialized benefit packages such as distribution planning and compliance reviews.
Is your qualified retirement plan and other employee benefit plans compliant?
Windes Employee Benefit Services Experience
The combined resources of our firm and the experience of our Employee Benefit Service professionals make Windes uniquely qualified to provide our clients with technical benefit package expertise and superior service. All EBS professionals are members of the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (ASPPA) and the National Institute of Pension Administrators (NIPA) and, as such, have earned nationally recognized professional designations. Annual continuing education keeps us current on the latest developments within the employee benefits field.
Windes is dedicated to providing quality benefit plan services to help you maintain your competitive edge and meet your retirement goals. You will have direct contact with your benefits package administrator and receive personalized service from experienced professionals who are directly responsible for your employee benefits plan.
EBS Solutions
Our EBS professionals provide extensive consulting on qualified plan issues, including comprehensive compliance reviews of existing plans. We can assist employers in analyzing existing plan features, determining the cost of plan termination, and preparing for audits. We can help plan participants decide on the best distribution options for their individual situations. We are also experienced in using the many governmental programs available to address plan operational or design defects, or missed filings.
We offer advanced plan designs for employers who wish to make greater contributions or allocate contributions in a specialized manner not generally available under traditional profit sharing plans. Defined benefit plans frequently allow older plan participants the ability to accumulate a large retirement asset over a short period of time. These plans are ideal for sole proprietors or small business owners with a need for larger deductions above the profit sharing plan limitations. Cross-tested profit sharing plans allow employers to designate different levels of contributions for specific groups of employees and are best suited to situations where the business owners wish to maximize contributions for certain participants. These plans may be used in combination with other qualified plans and, in certain instances, may also be used with a 401(k) plan.
For over 40 years, Windes has offered the employee benefit plan audit expertise, commitment, and professional excellence plan sponsors need to comply with complex regulations imposed by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS). We are a select member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center, a membership center for eligible CPA firms that perform employee benefit plan audits, and attend the annual AICPA Employee Benefit Plan Conference to remain current in our field.
We provide design and administration services to traditional profit sharing plans as well as plans with 401(k) features. Profit sharing plans offer the sponsoring employer full discretion on the amount of annual contributions (subject to limits). A 401(k) plan is a profit sharing plan that also provides participants with the ability to defer part of their pay into the plan on a pre-tax basis. Some of these plans may be designed with safe harbor contributions to avoid annual testing requirements. The investment of the accounts in these plans can be either trustee or participant directed. Although we have no direct involvement with plan investments, we partner with a wide variety of investment providers who present the participant level features that make these plans popular and a valuable benefit for employees
We provide design, administration, and compliance consulting services to tax-exempt sponsors of salary deferral plans. We can help determine whether an employer’s plan is subject to ERISA and what steps are necessary to comply with the extensive regulations issued in 2009. While fundamentally different from 401(k) plans, many of the same rules and regulations apply to tax-exempt plans, including nondiscrimination testing, employee notice requirements, and annual governmental reporting. The Internal Revenue Service and Department of Labor are increasing their oversight of these plans. We can assist with the evaluation of a sponsor’s current plan and are experts in the various compliance programs available to correct any plan deficiencies or defects. We also offer services related to non-profit entity accounting and 403(b) plan audits. We are ready to assist sponsors to protect their fiduciary liabilities and to promote a valuable benefit to their employees.
We want to provide you with the latest developments within the employee benefits arena and the resources you need to make informed decisions and operate successfully.
- Administrative Election for CARES Act
- Census Form This Excel form will appear at the bottom of your screen, as a downloaded file.
- Plan Administrator Distribution Request Form
- Hardship Distribution Request Form
- Loan Request Form
- 2016 Annual Plan Questionnaire
