Since it appears that there are no regs on who is a predecessor employer for purposes of the service crediting rules, does anyone have any ideas whether service must be counted under 414(a)(2)? We have a situation where an employer purchased the assets of certain corporations and hired the employees. The corporation from whom assets were bought maintained a 401(k) plan. The purchasing employer is going to establish a 401(k) plan. The new plan is not receiving a transfer of assets, although it may get rollovers. Is the previous employer a "predecessor employer"?

If the purchasing employer is not adopting the plan of the purchased employer, is not merging the plan of the purchased employer into its plan and/or is not receiving a direct trustee-to-trustee transfer from the plan of the purchased employer, there should be no requirement to count service with the purchased employer as a predecessor employer.

Note that direct rollovers do not result in predecessor treatment