Basic IRAs

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.

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.

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.

To prepare you for the often-hectic IRA contribution season, this course delivers necessary understanding of Traditional and Roth IRA contribution issues such as deadlines, limits, possible tax credits, certain extensions, and Traditional IRA deductibility rules.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

IRA Essentials gives attendees a solid foundation of IRA knowledge.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Attend this course to gain a deeper understanding of the complex issues currently affecting qualified retirement plans. During this course, we’ll discuss multiple topics—including the new Roth provisions, RMD rules, and eligibility requirements.