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In general, I agree that it will fail ACP. But there are plans with no HC (certain non-profits, for example) or plans ONLY with HC, such as only family, or sole props, whatever. So it can work in very limited situations. Problem is that most of the "buzz" out there neglects to mention the ACP problem.

Well, the anecdotal evidence is piling up. Good to know.

All great points. Thank you, I think we'll stick to education!

same with us, on large plans we have never had the independent auditors question the change. Looking further at the specific instructions I do not even see where it says you have to be consistent from year to year, simply you have to be consistent when filling out the specific parts. In other words, don't use accrued gains on some parts and not on others, or I'm going to use accrued match but the accrued profit sharing is not included this year 5500 instructions: Note. The cash, modified cash, or accrual basis may be used for recognition of transactions in Parts I and II, as long as you use one method consistently

I fall back on the rule of thumb Sal Tripodi sets forth in the EOB. Imagine the public policy position of disallowing an amendment that expands coverage. It's ridiculous. So Employer A excludes Class B from the Plan, but desires to provide Class B with retirement benefits. IRS disqualifies the Plan or penalizes Employer A merely for providing retirement benefits to a class of people it was previously denying such benefits. It is too hard to imagine even for the IRS. According to Sal, disallowing such an amendment that so clearly contradicts established public policy is "ridiculous" (I think in one version of his book he actually uses the word ridiculous).

No one has mentioned the ACP Test yet. In my experience, after-tax is generally DOA in a qualified plan because a) you should obviously max out Roth before doing after-tax, and b) most NHCE's will never do that. So now you have HCE's who presumably have already maxed out their Roth who wish to contribute even more on an after-tax basis. But that will never pass the ACP test.