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The Department of Labor (DOL) is auditing 401(k) plans of all sizes because of a trend they think may violate current pension laws. Many companies, especially smaller businesses, are knowingly or unknowingly shifting plan administrative expenses to plan participants. This shift of plan expenses come in the form of excessive "hidden fees" that are deducted directly from participants' savings by certain plan providers and investment providers. Because of lax reporting requirements, no one really knows how much money changes hands behind the scenes, but it is estimated that excessive fees may be as much as $1.5 billion per year, and growing. |
