New Book From CCH Has Latest Compliance Strategies For Benefit Plan Sponsors

New resource helps sponsors of qualified retirement plans,
tax-sheltered annuities avoid costly audits, penalties, sanctions

(Riverwoods, ILL., October 25, 1998) -- U.S. companies are getting more guidance than ever before from the IRS about how to ensure employee retirement plans meet the agency’s requirements for favorable tax treatment, according to CCH INCORPORATED, a leading provider of tax, pension and benefits law and information. However, the result is fewer excuses for noncompliance, so CCH is publishing IRS Employee Plans Administrative Enforcement and Voluntary Compliance Programs for pension and benefit professionals.

This essential new book, by Steven Leventhal, JD, LLM, will help plan sponsors and practitioners bring their plans into compliance and avoid the risk of costly audits, loss of tax-deferred status, hefty penalties, sanctions of up to 100% of liability and outright plan disqualification.

To aid those responsible for qualified plans fulfill their responsibilities, CCH’s authoritative new book provides expert guidance on all aspects of complying with qualified plan and tax-sheltered annuity requirements and dealing with the IRS. Included is critical information on how to upgrade your administrative practices and procedures, correct plans with or without IRS approval and negotiate effectively to minimize sanctions.

"In many instances, the IRS has given plan administrators great leeway for self-correction -- identifying and correcting problems they find -- and also for working closely, effectively and successfully with the IRS," said author and CCH Executive Editor Steve Leventhal. "IRS Employee Plans Administrative Enforcement and Voluntary Compliance Programs provides them with the expertise and guidance they need to do this."

IRS Initiatives

In recent years, the IRS has been searching for methods to help plans comply with the incredibly complex rules set out in the Internal Revenue Code for qualified plans -- especially since the main enforcement mechanism is disqualification and the loss of all tax-related benefits.

In a series of initiatives -- most recently the issuance of Revenue Procedure 98-22, which sets forth the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS) -- the Service has offered relief for all parties involved, including the employer, trust and plan participants, promoting self-correction of eligible qualification failures before they are identified in an IRS audit. And, the new procedures also help plan sponsors salvage a plan after it’s picked up for audit.

Self-Correction Is Best

Qualified plan professionals and the IRS agree that the better a plan is administrated, the more favorable its chances of surviving an audit. And, even if a plan is audited, the IRS will be more favorably inclined to minimize sanctions if the sponsor already has initiated the self-correction process.

IRS Employee Plans Administrative Enforcement and Voluntary Compliance Programs provides expert guidance on all aspects of complying with qualified plan and tax-sheltered annuity requirements and dealing with the IRS, including how to upgrade your administrative practices and procedures, correct plans with or without IRS approval, and negotiate effectively to minimize sanctions.

Understanding the IRS’ Response, Strategies

In addition to providing step-by-step explanations to ensure compliance under the latest IRS programs and regulations, IRS Employee Plans Administrative Enforcement and Voluntary Compliance Programs also details IRS litigation strategies for the past decade, so sponsors can better prepare their negotiating strategies when preparing to meet with the IRS.

Finally, the book offers invaluable insight into the thinking behind IRS initiatives through exclusive interviews with the IRS personnel who wrote them and will enforce them. Readers will learn what the IRS is looking for, what it will accept and, just as important, what it will not accept.

Comprehensive Coverage

IRS Employee Plans Administrative Enforcement and Voluntary Compliance Programs provides in-depth coverage of everything you need to know about qualified plans in a single reference. Topics include:

Historical Development of IRS Programs
Consequences of Disqualification
Types of Qualification Failures
Plans Under Examination
Choosing the Right Program
Administrative Policy Regarding Self-Correction (APRSC)
Voluntary Compliance Resolution (VCR) Program
Standardized VCR Procedure (SVP)
Walk-in Closing Agreement Program (Walk-in CAP)
Employee Plans Closing Agreement Program (Audit CAP)
Correcting Your Qualified Plan
Administrative Plan Procedures: Cleaning House
Delegation Order 97 and Reduced Excise Tax
Tax-Sheltered Annuity Voluntary Correction Program (TVC)
Code Sec. 7005 (b) Relief
Discrepancy Adjustment Program (DAP)
Remedial Amendment

The book also provides full-text IRS and non-IRS documents, including recommended methods of correcting qualification failures, as well as every significant CCH/IRS interview on voluntary compliance since 1991.

About the Author

Author Steve Leventhal is an acknowledged national expert and speaker on legal and employee benefits issues. He frequently speaks on compliance programs and tax-sheltered annuities before national professional associations, as well as local tax and business organizations.

As a former senior attorney and Group Chief with the IRS National Office Employee Plans Division, Leventhal initiated development in 1989 of the voluntary compliance programs for employee plans and began drafting APRS and Audit Cap Programs. He conducted exclusive interviews with the IRS on the Tax-Sheltered Annuity Voluntary Correction (TVC) Program, as well as on all the EPCRS programs.

Availability and Pricing

For more information or to order IRS Employee Plans Administrative Enforcement and Voluntary Compliance Programs, call 1-800-248-3248. Single copy price is $89 plus applicable tax, shipping and handling; quantity discounts are available.

About CCH INCORPORATED

CCH INCORPORATED, headquartered in Riverwoods, Ill., was founded in 1913 and has served four generations of business professionals and their clients. The company produces more than 700 electronic and print products for the tax, legal, securities, human resources, health care and small business markets. CCH is a wholly owned subsidiary of Wolters Kluwer U.S.

Editor’s Note:

Complimentary editorial review copies of IRS Employee Plans Administrative Enforcement and Voluntary Compliance Programs are available to members of the press by contacting Leslie Bonacum, 847-267-7153 or bonacuml@cch.com.

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