Training Opportunities

IRA Institute is a training program that provides in-depth instruction on the “need-to-know” aspects of Traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, SEP plans and SIMPLE IRAs. IRA Institute integrates extensive IRA material, objective-based training methods, and practical applications of the rules to create the ideal learning environment.

This six-week online course provides the tools to build a solid IRA knowledge base and become certified as a Certified IRA Specialist (CIS) I. Topics include establishing an IRA, contributions, Traditional and Roth IRA distributions, and portability.

IRA University is also the first step in our IRA Fast Track training program, designed for you to earn two professional designations in less than 12 months.

HSA University creates an industry standard in HSA expertise with the accredited Certified Health Savings Professional (CHSP) designation. Expand your HSA knowledge in 75 minutes a week over 5 weeks in a format that is flexible to fit your busy schedule.

The SECURE Act made significant changes to IRA legislation, consequently adding a level of complexity to beneficiary payout rules. Moreover, the IRS has come out with proposed RMD regulations providing guidance with respect to beneficiary options in light of the changes brought about by the SECURE Act. This class is part one of a two-part comprehensive course covering in-depth aspects of Traditional and Roth IRA beneficiary options addressing all the changes resulting from the SECURE Act and proposed RMD regulations, as well as essential topics such as beneficiary election deadlines, distribution rules and restrictions, and reporting requirements.

IRA Institute provides in-depth instruction on the need-to-know aspects of Traditional and Roth IRAs, and small business IRA-based SEP and SIMPLE IRA retirement plans. The IRA Institute includes objective-based training methods, extensive materials, and practical applications of the rules.

Our experts will outline the top 10 IRA topics we get questions about on Ascensus’ consulting lines. Join this webinar to see what makes this year’s Top 10 list!

Diving deeper into the beneficiary options covered in IRA Beneficiary Distributions – Part 1, in this session you will take a more hands-on approach to handling certain year-of-death requirements, beneficiary portability, separate accounting rules, the beneficiary determination deadline, and beneficiary reporting requirements. For a deeper dive into advanced beneficiary issues, see IRAs: Handling Complex Death Claims and IRA Trust Beneficiary Issues and How to Handle Them.

Ascensus conducts countless compliance audits for financial organizations across the U.S., oftentimes finding issues that could result in substantial IRS penalties due to non-compliance with IRS requirements. In this course, find out about the most common “points of failure” that our auditors have found, and which aspects of your IRA program you may discover are out of compliance. The course will guide you through these compliance concerns and provide checklists to help manage the compliance process, to help you avoid common pitfalls that may end up costing you thousands of dollars in IRS penalties.

This presentation will provide answers to common industry questions related to 403(b) and 457(b) plans and plan operations. It will also address the latest trends and challenges in 403(b) and 457(b) plan administration.

This three-day course includes six or more live sessions to choose from daily with our highly-educated instructors and access to pre-recorded sessions. This virtual learning approach provides the tools to build a solid IRA and HSA knowledge base, become certified as a Certified IRA Specialist (CIS) I, CIS II, or Certified Health Savings Professional (CHSP), or earn continuing education (CE) credits without the travel expense.

Financial organizations are frequently faced with handling beneficiary death claims and may wonder how to resolve some of their more complex beneficiary issues where there may be no or limited regulatory guidance. This comprehensive course covers in-depth aspects of Traditional and Roth IRA beneficiary issues and best practices on how to handle death claims while mitigating risk. The course covers advanced aspects of IRA disclaimers, distributions to trust beneficiaries, reporting issues, disputes, minors as beneficiaries, and other compliance concerns.

IRAs A-Z gives attendees a comprehensive overview of fundamental IRA concepts.

Although financial organization personnel do not give tax advice to their clients, IRA administrators still may find themselves fielding legal questions. Generally, there is no IRS guidance on how to handle IRA legal issues. This course covers some of the more common legal issues that may arise with IRAs, such as powers of attorney, guardianships, creditors, beneficiary issues, and divorce; as well as how to handle these types of transactions to help mitigate risk for your organization.

Our highly skilled Ascensus trainers, in partnership with Minnesota Bankers Association, present an HSA workshop in Eden Prairie, MN covering both essential and advanced HSA topics.

Has your organization experienced account owner identity theft? Have retirement or other tax-favored savings plan assets been withdrawn that weren’t requested by the account owner? The DOL has issued guidance on cybersecurity. Is your organization applying the recommended best practices? In this course, we’ll provide an overview of DOL recommendations as well as how your organization can help limit fraud exposure by applying proper compliance procedures and educating account owners.

The rules and regulations governing IRAs, HSAs, and other tax favored savings accounts are constantly evolving, and can be challenging to keep up with. Rely on our industry experts to bring you up to date on recently proposed legislation and regulatory updates that may affect your organization and your clients.

Trust beneficiary questions are one of the most common topics that come into our consulting lines. Trusts can be used for many reasons, such as estate planning, avoiding probate, and maintaining control over assets. As such, designating a trust as an IRA beneficiary has become a popular estate planning strategy. During this course we’ll review current guidance for distributing IRA assets to a trust beneficiary. We also cover compliance concerns that are frequently encountered, and the risks financial organizations should be aware of in this legal grey-area.

Want to manage a successful HSA program more effectively? During this course, our experts teach the fundamentals of HSAs and basic HSA compliance rules. You will gain an understanding of HSA benefits, eligibility requirements, documentation and reporting requirements, contribution rules and limits, portability rules, and the difference between qualified and nonqualified distributions. For a deeper dive into HSAs, see HSAs – Advanced.

HSAs A-Z gives attendees a comprehensive overview of fundamental HSA concepts.

Ascend is the industry’s most comprehensive education conference offering basic and advanced courses on: retirement, health, and education savings plans and industry trends.

Take your knowledge of HSAs to the next level with a review of challenging HSA issues regarding eligibility requirements, employer contributions, excess contributions, prohibited transactions, mistaken distributions, and reporting. For a refresher on HSAs, see HSA Fundamentals.

For the first time in about 20 years, due to recently enacted legislation, the IRS is requiring all IRAs to be amended. Are you familiar with the amendment requirements and the process for amending your documents? To avoid IRS penalties, financial organizations must use the correct and properly amended IRA opening documents. This course provides information on how to properly establish Traditional and Roth IRAs and how to amend them.

IRA owners, employer plan participants, and financial organizations can face significant IRS fines and tax penalties as a result of a prohibited transaction. This course examines the prohibited transaction rules and common exemptions as they apply to IRAs, employer plans, and financial organizations. Join this session to learn how to identify and prevent prohibited transactions, and possible ways to resolve them once they occur.

Our highly skilled Ascensus trainers, in partnership with Nebraska Bankers Association, present virtual IRA workshops covering both essential and advanced IRA topics.

IRA Institute is a training program that provides in-depth instruction on the “need-to-know” aspects of Traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, SEP plans and SIMPLE IRAs. IRA Institute integrates extensive IRA material, objective-based training methods, and practical applications of the rules to create the ideal learning environment.

• This is a Virtual Course only

This course is a must if you are new to IRAs to help build a foundation of the most common IRA transactions and rules. Learn the fundamentals of Traditional and Roth IRAs from contributions and distributions to portability—including the rules associated with rollovers between employer plans and IRAs.

This course walks through everything you need to know about excess contributions, including handling recharacterizations. You will learn how excess contributions occur, the different excess correction methods, and how you can help an IRA owner correct an excess contribution.

IRA Essentials gives attendees a solid foundation of IRA knowledge.

Our highly skilled Ascensus trainers, in partnership with Hawaii Credit Union League, present a virtual IRA workshop, covering essential IRA topics.

Our highly skilled Ascensus trainers, in partnership with Illinois Bankers Association, present IRA workshops covering both essential and advanced IRA topics.

Advanced IRAs builds on the attendees’ basic IRA knowledge to address some of the more complex IRA issues that their financial organizations may handle.

Understanding the complex withholding and reporting requirements applicable to Traditional and Roth IRA distributions is critical to maintaining a compliant IRA program. From federal tax implications, including how the early distribution penalty tax applies to IRA owners to how IRA distributions are paid out, our experts provide the know-how to get you there.

Our highly skilled Ascensus trainers, in partnership with Tennessee Credit Union League, present virtual IRA workshops covering both essential and advanced IRA topics.

Our highly skilled Ascensus trainers, in partnership with Maine Credit Union League, present virtual IRA workshops covering both essential and advanced IRA topics.

Are you confident that you’re adhering to all federal and state withholding rules? Compliance reviews frequently performed by Ascensus show that not all financial organizations understand IRA withholding rules. The SECURE Act significantly increased penalties for improper withholding notifications, and the IRS has also recently changed withholding notices and requirements depending on the type of IRA distribution—are you using the right form today? This course explains the requirements for both federal and state withholding, how to properly notify IRA owners of their withholding rights, what to do with the withheld assets, how to handle withholding requirements for foreign individuals, and what the potential penalties are for improperly following the withholding rules.

Our highly skilled Ascensus trainers, in partnership with Iowa Bankers Association, present IRA workshops covering essentials IRA topics.

Our highly skilled Ascensus trainers, in partnership with Iowa Credit Union League, present IRA workshops in West Des Moines, IA (and delivered virtually) covering both essential and advanced IRA topics.

Our experts will outline the top 10 HSA topics we get questions about on Ascensus’ consulting lines. Join this webinar to see what makes this year’s Top 10 list!

With IRA reporting requirements constantly changing, it is vital for your financial organization to stay up to date on the latest requirements. This course provides an in-depth review of key IRA reporting topics, including required minimum distribution statements, fair market value statements, account statements, and IRS Forms 1099-R and 5498. Our experts also review the electronic reporting requirements, beneficiary reporting requirements, procedures for requesting extensions, and IRS penalties for improper reporting.

RMD rules have changed as a result of new legislation enacted and new life expectancy tables published in recent years. RMDs make up a large part of most financial organizations’ IRA administration services and will continue to increase as baby boomers age. Attend this course to ensure that your organization is handling RMDs according to the most current rules. Course topics include RMD calculations, excess accumulation penalty taxes, financial organization responsibilities, and reporting.

For individuals with an HSA and soon to be eligible for Medicare, it’s critical for them to understand how enrolling in Medicare will affect their HSA. This presentation will help you gain an understanding of the crucial effect of Medicare enrollment timing on HSA contribution eligibility, and how individuals can use their HSAs to pay qualified medical expenses in retirement.

Our highly skilled Ascensus trainers, in partnership with Michigan Credit Union League, present virtual IRA workshops, covering both essential and advanced IRA topics.

Our highly skilled Ascensus trainers, in partnership with Utah Credit Union League, present IRA workshops in Salt Lake City, UT covering both essential and advanced IRA topics.

Retirement plan portability is one of the most popular topics fielded on our consulting lines. Attending this course will help ensure that you are handling these transactions properly. You will learn the difference between transfers and rollovers, and direct and indirect rollovers, as well as acquire an understanding of Roth retirement plan assets and portability with Roth IRAs.

Our highly skilled Ascensus trainers, in partnership with Kansas Bankers Association, present IRA workshops covering both essential and advanced IRA topics.

The cost of attending one of America's colleges is certainly not getting any cheaper. This course will review the various options for setting money aside to help pay for this high-cost venture. Learning objectives include discussing the concepts and benefits of Coverdell ESAs, tax benefits and allowable education expenses for ESA and 529s plans, the differences between 529 college savings plans and prepaid tuition plans and understanding how UGMA and UTMA accounts have been used to fund college education.

eLearning provides you with access to convenient and effective training through an online library of courses on qualified retirement plans, Traditional and Roth IRAs, SEP and SIMPLE IRA plans, heath savings accounts, and education savings accounts. Individual courses are available through our learning management system (LMS), Ascensus University for unlimited access for 30 days.

Ascensus University is also available for year-round access or you may license our eLearning library for use by your financial organization staff within a shared directory or installed into your LMS.

IRA Essentials OnDemand is the perfect solution if you need an introduction to IRAs but cannot attend an onsite training program. IRA reference materials, job aids, quizzes, and videos blend to create an immersive educational experience. Explore six educational tracks: Introduction to IRAs, Establishing an IRA, Funding, Portability, IRA Distributions, and Reporting.

Simplified employee pension (SEP) plans remain a popular alternative for small employers. SEP plans are easy to maintain and offer employers a chance to make deductible contributions at their discretion. This webinar provides an in-depth review of SEP plans, including information on plan documents, eligibility requirements, contribution limits, and distribution requirements.

Get the benefit of our experienced instructors and extensive curriculum without leaving the office with an on-site HSA workshop. From basic to comprehensive, our HSA Fundamentals and HSA Workshop offer flexibility and customization and give practical understanding of critical rules and operational issues.

Get the benefit of our experienced instructors and extensive curriculum without leaving the office with our on-site IRA workshops. Our IRA Essentials, Advanced IRAs, and Frontline Fundamentals curriculum offer flexibility and customization and give practical understanding of critical rules and operational issues.

For our IRA Administration subscribers, Ascensus has two IRAdirect® workshops that give general users and advanced users the foundation they need to work confidently with this software.

IRAdirect® is a registered trademark of Ascensus, LLC.

Fulfill your career, obtain IRA knowledge and skills, and become indispensable to your organization by earning two professional designations in less than 12 months.

Step 1: Register for IRA University and the CIS I exam.
Step 2: Register for Ascend and the CIS II exam.
Step 3: Participate in the IRA University and pass the CIS I exam.
Step 4: Attend Ascend and pass the CIS II exam.

Are you missing out on opportunities with small business owners who could recognize substantial tax and retirement benefits by setting up a SEP plan? Join this webinar to see why so many small business owners establish SEP plans, especially small, family-owned or independent businesses. SEP plans are easy to establish and maintain and offer business owners a chance to make deductible contributions at their discretion. The employer contribution limit is greater than the regular IRA contribution limit and does not prevent IRA owners from making regular eligible contributions to their IRAs. This course provides an in-depth review of SEP plans, required plan documents, eligibility requirements, contribution limits, and distribution rules.

SIMPLE IRA plans are ideal for small employers who are looking for an easy-to-maintain plan that allows employees to save for retirement out of their own paycheck. SIMPLE IRA plans, however, are not that simple! This course reviews what you need to know when it comes to being the trustee or custodian of SIMPLE IRA plans, while adhering to IRS requirements to remain compliant, including operational procedures, required plan documents and participant notices, eligibility requirements, contribution limits, portability and distribution rules.

This course provides answers to your clients’ rollover questions by explaining all the rollover opportunities, including evolving portability rules between IRAs and employer plans. You will learn how to capture, facilitate, and report rollovers between employer plans and IRAs, as well as become familiar with new requirements from the DOL regarding making rollover recommendations to clients.

This course explores the different types of qualified retirement plans (QRPs) and gives a general overview of QRP operations including eligibility, contributions, and portability.

Participants often have questions when it comes to taking distributions from their retirement plans. This course will focus on the various ways that plan participants can distribute their plan assets. Topics covered include in-service distributions, hardship distributions, plan loans, rollover options.