Questions
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS.
Plain answers to the questions that come up first, drawn from what the two companies actually do. Each one points at the page that carries the detail.
The firm
WHAT PEOPLE ASK FIRST.
- Does Apex manage the investments?
- No, and that is deliberate. We never manage or sell the investments, and we do not give legal or tax advice. What is left is retirement plan expertise independent of the assets, the independent voice to confirm your idea, or to analyze your strategy before you commit to it, with nothing of ours riding on the answer. That work sits on the ERISA consulting page.
- Where is Apex, and how long has it been doing this?
- Atlanta, Georgia, independent since 2003. Mail goes to PO Box 88208, Atlanta, GA 30356, and the telephone is answered by the people who run your plan, not a call center. There are two companies, Apex Pension Strategies, Inc. and Apex Fiduciary Services, LLC, led by the same owner since day one, supported by a dedicated and experienced team. The people are on the about page.
- What is the difference between the two practices?
- Apex Pension Strategies is the third-party administrator. It designs the plan, runs it and keeps it compliant, while the employer stays the named plan administrator and signs. Apex Fiduciary Services is appointed by name instead, as independent ESOP trustee, or as the 3(16) plan administrator, and then the signature is ours.
- Who is Apex set up to serve?
- Small and mid-sized companies, in the firm’s own words those “that may not be able to operate within the confines of an ever-changing set of requirements,” and the clients turned away by service providers who continually raise their minimum asset levels. Big-firm standards at a lower cost; a plan does not have to be large to be run properly, as the Pension Strategies page sets out.
Apex Pension Strategies, Inc.
RUNNING THE PLAN.
- What does a third-party administrator do?
- Apex Pension Strategies, Inc. is the third-party administrator: the firm that designs your company’s retirement plan, supports it day to day, and keeps it compliant with the IRS, the DOL and ERISA. Across a year that means eligibility and vesting tracked, contributions reconciled against payroll, distributions checked against the plan document, notices sent and the Form 5500 prepared, in coordination with your recordkeeper, payroll provider, advisor and auditor. The full list is on the plan administration page.
- Which retirement plans does Apex design?
- 401(k) and Roth, 403(b), 457, profit sharing, defined benefit pension, cash balance and ESOP plans, and combinations of them: a cash balance plan over a 401(k), a profit sharing formula over a match, an ESOP alongside the plan that covers everybody else. Each design is modeled against your census before anything is signed. The plan types are set out one line each, and the plan design page covers how a design is chosen.
- Who signs the Form 5500?
- The plan administrator. Unless the plan document names somebody else, that is the employer: Apex Pension Strategies, Inc. prepares the Form 5500 from reconciled data, ready for signature, and the employer signs it. When the document names Apex Fiduciary Services, LLC as the 3(16) plan administrator, the signature and the responsibility for the filing’s accuracy are ours. Where the plan also requires a plan sponsor signature, that one stays yours. The 3(16) plan administrator page sets out what else moves with the role.
- What happens when a compliance test fails?
- A failed ADP or ACP test has two dates attached to it, not one, and the distance between them is the difference between a measured correction and a panicked one. Send the testing results and the plan document, and we will tell you which correction options exist, what each one costs relative to the others, and which deadline you are actually working to. Sometimes a failure that keeps recurring is a design problem in disguise. The compliance and testing page covers both.
Apex Fiduciary Services, LLC
WHEN APEX IS NAMED THE FIDUCIARY.
- What does a 3(16) plan administrator take on?
- An ERISA 3(16) fiduciary is the plan administrator named in the plan document, legally responsible for the plan’s day-to-day operations: approving distributions, delivering the required participant notices, and signing and filing the Form 5500. Unless somebody has changed it, the document names the employer. When it names Apex Fiduciary Services, LLC, we take those duties on in writing, and the service agreement lists each duty that moves and each one that stays. The full scope is on the 3(16) plan administrator page.
- If we appoint a 3(16), is the employer still a fiduciary?
- Yes. Choosing an appointee is itself a fiduciary act, so you remain responsible for having selected prudently and for monitoring the work. The employer also keeps the decision to sponsor the plan, what the company contributes, amending the plan and ending it, accurate payroll data, and getting participant contributions into the trust on time. Selecting and monitoring the investments is a separate role under ERISA 3(21) or 3(38), which Apex does not provide. The fiduciary services page sets out three misconceptions about liability relief.
- What does an independent ESOP trustee do in a transaction?
- It acts for the participants, which in a sale puts it opposite the seller. The trustee reviews the valuation, challenges the assumptions behind it, and negotiates price and terms on behalf of the ESOP. Apex takes full independent discretionary authority on behalf of the trust. The valuation itself belongs to an independent appraiser the trust engages; the trustee oversees that work and approves the value the plan will use. Declining a term, or the deal, is part of the appointment, as the independent ESOP trustee page explains.
- Does the trustee’s role end when the transaction closes?
- No. The trustee holds the shares, oversees the annual valuation, votes the ESOP stock, monitors how the plan is administered, and documents the decisions made along the way. It also sees the repurchase obligation coming and raises it early; funding it is the company’s decision. The case study series The trustee’s role doesn’t end at the transaction follows six areas of that oversight, from the annual valuation to participant outcomes.
Before the first plan
STARTING A PLAN.
- Why would a smaller company offer a 401(k)?
- The one-page brief from Apex Pension Strategies, Inc. gives six reasons: attracting and retaining talent, a savings tool for owners, potential tax savings, tax credits that may help offset startup costs, helping employees build financial security, and compliance with the state mandates spreading around you. Each one rests on a decision written into the plan; the 401(k) brief takes them one at a time.
- Are there tax credits for starting a retirement plan?
- Four federal tax credits can lower what an eligible small employer pays to start and run a retirement plan: retirement plan startup costs, employer contributions, automatic enrollment and military spouse participation. The startup credit is worth up to $5,000 a year for up to three years, for employers with 100 or fewer employees that meet IRS eligibility requirements. Whether a credit applies to your organization is a question for your tax professional; whether the plan is built to carry it is one for us. The SECURE 2.0 tax credits brief sets out all four.
Reach the office
Tell us What You Need.
The question about your own plan is the one worth a call. You will speak with the people who would do the work. The fax line and the mailing address are on the contact page, and the people behind both companies are on the about page.