A full-service third party administrator is a type of TPA that provides comprehensive plan administration services for 403(b) plans including:
- Common remitter services
- Recordkeeping services
- Overall compliance at the plan level regarding loans, hardship withdrawals, tracking suspensions and reinstatement, exchanges and transfers, distributions and monitors required minimum distributions
- No fiduciary responsibility
- Coordination of various vendor activities
- Maintenance of Employer plan website (optional)
- Central point of contact for plan level information
- Drafting and maintaining plan document (optional)
- Administrative forms maintenance
- Employer manual or instructions to Employer
- Eligibility and participation requirements
- Employer support, such as the universal availability rule
Editor’s Note: This is an occasional feature in the NTSA Advisor. This tip is taken from the 403(b) Plan Sponsor Guide, which is being made available to school districts nationally to assist them in understanding how to improve 403(b) plan participation and savings rates to help employees achieve a comfortable and timely retirement.
The 403(b) Plan Sponsor Guide is part of the content contained in the NTSA Certified Retirement Education Specialist (CRES) materials. The NTSA Certified Retirement Education Specialist (CRES) program and designation has been developed in order to equip advisors to be qualified and available to teach the NTSA educational program, which is designed to provide teachers with the basics of planning for retirement and improve their retirement readiness. More information about CRES is available here.
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