Human Interest Continues to Pioneer New 401(k) Services for SMBs, including its New DOL Audit Defense Service
SAN FRANCISCO, April 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Human Interest, the fastest-growing 401(k) provider1 with the most five-star reviews2, is once again breaking new ground to make retirement programs even more accessible for small to medium-sized businesses. The company is the first to market with three new services for customers that remove even more barriers which can make providing retirement benefits costly, risky, and difficult.
Announcing Human Interest’s pioneering new services for its Concierge package customers:
- DOL Audit Defense — Provides up to $50,000 in audit expense coverage. Human Interest is the first and only provider in the industry to offer this protection.
- Tax Savings Maximizer — Simplifies the process of claiming tax credits, which may reduce or fully cover 401(k) plan costs. Human Interest is the first provider in the industry to offer an embedded tax credit tool.
- Notice Delivery Protection — Alleviates most of the burden and cost of sending paper mail notices to employees. Other 401(k) providers offer no support or charge $2.50 per envelope for paper mail delivery.
Rakesh Mahajan, Human Interest’s Chief Revenue Officer, shared, “Human Interest is focused on helping the 33.2 million small and medium-sized businesses of America provide their employees access to retirement without the stress that has historically accompanied offering this life-changing benefit. The new DOL Audit Defense service and embedded tax credit support are both the first of their kind in the industry. Our new services may save employers upwards of 100 hours of administrative and compliance work per year and tens of thousands of dollars in costly, unplanned expenses.”
Gain peace of mind with DOL Audit Defense:
Why DOL Audit Defense? The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) routinely audits 401(k) plans — resulting in hours of unexpected extra work and administrative headaches, especially for small and mid-sized businesses that don’t have in-house legal counsel with experience responding to industry regulators.
A Human Interest survey3 of nearly 500 businesses revealed that compliance monitoring and protection are two of the top three highly valued services of 401(k) plans. Combining DOL Audit Defense with Human Interest’s 360 Degree Compliance Monitoring service can help keep plans compliant and offer peace of mind by proactively alerting plans of potential issues and assisting with DOL and IRS form filing.
As part of its Concierge package, Human Interest’s DOL Audit Defense service provides access to vetted law firms specializing in supporting plans through a DOL audit and up to $50,000 to cover qualified expenses4.
Human Interest is the first 401(k) provider to offer this service to its customers.
Get the tax credits you may be eligible for with Tax Savings Maximizer:
Why Tax Savings Maximizer? Though the SECURE Act offers numerous tax credits for offering a 401(k) plan, identifying and claiming the credits you may be qualified for can be complicated. Human Interest works with thousands of CPAs and accountants who yearn for a simple way to help their customers with these credits.
Tax Savings Maximizer makes it easy for business owners to dramatically cut the cost of their 401(k) plan and helps customers proactively take advantage of these savings.
- Discover tax credit eligibility: More than 80% of Human Interest customers were eligible for tax credits in 20235
- Cover 100% of plan costs: The majority of clients eligible for credits covered 100% of employer costs5
The Tax Savings Maximizer service helps plan administrators avoid missing out on multiple tax credits including the Retirement Plan Startup Cost Tax Credit and other credits by providing reminders to file and downloadable data inputs to IRS Form 8881 that can be shared with CPAs. Notably, Human Interest provides this service without sharing any confidential information with third parties.
Stay compliant with Notification Delivery Protection:
Why Notification Delivery Protection? The DOL requires employers to physically deliver notifications if employees opt out of electronic communication or electronic delivery fails.
Employers generally meet this obligation by sending notices via paper mail, which costs time and money.
While many 401(k) providers charge transaction fees of up to $2.50 per envelope — or pass the responsibility entirely to the employer — Human Interest’s Notice Delivery Protection takes most of this burden off of employers.6 In addition to sending electronic delivery notices to plan participants, Human Interest provides paper mail coverage for legally required plan notices and disclosures.
“401(k) compliance, auditing, and administrative overhead can be just as complex for small businesses as for large enterprises,” explained Mahajan. “So, Human Interest is empowering businesses of all sizes with the tools they need to not just check the box of offering a 401(k), but actually supporting them through audits, tax alerts, and cost-effective communication solutions.”
These new services are available now. Human Interest is dedicated to pioneering new approaches to help solve America’s retirement savings crisis. To learn more about Human Interest, visit humaninterest.com.
About Human Interest
Human Interest Inc. is a full-service 401(k) and 403(b) provider that seeks to make it easy and affordable for small and medium-sized businesses to help their employees save for retirement. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in San Francisco, Human Interest has helped employees at 20,000+ companies access retirement benefits and a path to financial independence. For more information, please visit humaninterest.com.
Methodology
Findings are based on two surveys conducted in Q4 2023 to a combined 481 small business owners who offer or want to offer a 401(k). Additionally, interviews were held with a select few customers for qualitative feedback.
Media Contact
Kristina Leal
[email protected]
1 Human Interest calculations using data from “Provider Rankings” included within the Plan Sponsor 2022 and 2023 Recordkeeping Surveys.
2 On G2, Google, and BBB compared to Betterment, Guideline, Empower, Vestwell, ForUsAll, Ubiquity. All G2 Ratings of as of 03/01/24. Ratings fluctuate in real-time. View the most recent ratings here: Human Interest, Guideline, Empower, Betterment, Vestwell, ForUsAll, Ubiquity. Human Interest solicited clients for G2 reviews in exchange for nominal non-cash compensation. From 5/25/22-12/31/22, Human Interest offered gift cards as an incentive for customers to complete G2 reviews. A higher nominal value was offered for non-anonymous testimonials.
All Google Ratings of as of 03/01/24. Ratings fluctuate in real-time. View the most recent ratings here: Human Interest, Guideline, Empower, Betterment,Vestwell, ForUsAll, Ubiquity. Human Interest’s Google rating primarily based on client testimonials. Human Interest solicited clients for Google reviews in exchange for nominal non-cash compensation from 10/3/23-10/16/23.
All Better Business Bureau® (“BBB”): BBB ratings as of 03/01/24. View the most recent customer reviews, BBB rating, and accreditations here: Human Interest, Guideline, Empower, Betterment, Vestwell, ForUsAll, Ubiquity. Human Interest solicited clients to provide reviews on BBB. No cash or non-cash compensation is provided in exchange for the reviews. Please note that customer reviews are not factored into the BBB rating. For information on how the BBB rating is calculated, please visit this page. Active solicitation and non-cash compensation will make a customer more likely to portray Human Interest favorably. Testimonials may not be representative of the experience of others and past success does not guarantee future results.
3 See Methodology
4 DOL Audit Defense is available for customers on our Concierge plan. Up to $50,000 in qualified expense coverage such as attorney or CPA fees. For more information on Human Interest’s DOL Audit Defense read our Terms and Conditions.
5 Human Interest internal data as of February 28, 2024. Tax credit information is based on customer information with an average contract value (ACV) of 5k. ACV includes costs paid by the plan that are not included when calculating the tax credit. Actual tax savings may differ. Plan sponsors are responsible for calculating and claiming tax credits.
6 For more information on Human Interest’s Notice Delivery Protection and the included coverage visit our website.
