Your Fiduciary File: What Plan Sponsors Should Keep

With tax season in full swing, lists of “What records to keep at tax time” or “How long to keep my tax records” are always plentiful on financial and lifestyle blogs and websites. But last week, the Strategic Retirement Partners blog published a helpful checklist that deals specifically with which records to keep (and for how long) in a Fiduciary File.

This checklist for keeping and organizing Plan Records is helpful for Plan Sponsors, not just at tax time, but throughout the year.

We are pleased to share this update from our friends at Strategic Retirement Partners, SRP, with you.

Records and Their Expiration Dates

“What records should I keep? How long should I keep them? How should I organize my files?”

Advisors have been asked these questions time and time again by plan sponsors looking for a general guideline for record expiration dates.

Record retention doesn’t need to be a mystery, and the filing system doesn’t need to become a tomb. For audits, remember the following requirements.*

Organizing Your Fiduciary File

As for organizing your fiduciary file, we suggest a format that includes the following sections:

1. Documents with all plan documents, amendments, tax filings and so on.
2. Administrative for all audit results, contribution records, Fiduciary Plan Review meeting minutes, fee benchmarkings, participant complaints.
3. Participant Communication containing copies of enrollment materials, communications and memos, and meeting sign-in sheets.
4. Investments with a listing of fund menu with expenses, Fiduciary Investment Review meeting minutes.

If a participant, auditor, or DOL agent requested plan information, could you find it quickly? The key is twofold: keep the things you need and store them so you can find them easily.

Of course, these are only general guidelines. For questions about your specific case, contact your plan advisor to discuss best practices for keeping records.

*For litigation purposes, we recommend that documents be retained indefinitely.