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What type of plan? What sources of fund are in the plan? Certain sources are only eligible for in service on after age 59.5, other sources can be withdrawn earlier if the plan allows and and you meet certain conditions.

Post-severance compensation is different from severance pay. The employee would be entitled to the former if employment continued and its treatment for retirement contributions must be specified in the plan document. However, the employee is only entitled to the latter as a result of discontinued employment and such severance is NEVER considered plan compensation.

No, they should be able to provide a copy of the offer showing at least the loan value will be paid in cash. If it's financed, then almost assuredly the mortgage company will ask for a letter of explanation as to the source of the funds. And if close to closing, the closing agreement/reconciliation should show the loan as either itself as a source of funding, or the participant bringing at least that much cash. I think the PA still needs to prudently act like a commercial lender; hardship doesn't get repaid, so self-certify made sense since ability to repay is not relevant, and an employee's personal needs are not the business of the sponsor.

Years ago, had a client in CA that did not have separate EIN/TIN and CA was very aggressive in getting client to pay taxes the state felt were due from the retirement account since it had the same EIN as employer. It was painful to resolve so it would be worth getting the accounts correct IMO

If I was in your situation with both a 2021 and 2017 return on record, I would engage a professional NOW. My argument would be that I never intended to file a 2017 return, and only did so on the misguided advice of an IRS representative. I think your problem is that you need someone who speaks the same language as the IRS and knows which arguments are valid. Perhaps even more important, they know what not to argue.

I think this was the wrong thing to do. You weren't filing a 2017 return. This was bad (stupid?) advice and you were wrong to take it.

Commissioner v. Keystone Consol. Industries, Inc., 508 U.S. 152, 159-162, 16 Empl. Benefits Cas. (BL) 2121 (May 24, 1993) (The Court construed ERISA title II’s parallel text, Internal Revenue Code § 4975(f)(3), as extending, but not limiting, the reach of § 4975(c)(1)(A) [ERISA § 406(a)(1)(A)] to include as such a prohibited sale or exchange a contribution of encumbered property, even if that contribution is not used to meet a funding obligation. The Court held a contribution of property other than money—even assuming the property was unencumbered, and the contribution was valued at the property’s fair market value—was a prohibited transaction.) The Labor department’s Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration further interpreted this in Interpretive bulletin [94-3] relating to in-kind contributions to employee benefit plans (Dec. 21, 1994), 59 Fed. Reg. 66736 (Dec. 28, 1994), reprinted in 29 C.F.R. § 2509.94-3, https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/subtitle-B/chapter-XXV/subchapter-A/part-2509/section-2509.94-3.

I hear you, but I was too concerned about the negative inference of Section 4.07 of Rev. Proc. 2021-30 to risk it. Issue was that short staffing due to Covid caused lengthy delay in testing for terminated plan, and then it was too late to correct failed testing other than through EPCRS. We used VCP. Still waiting to hear from IRS.

WR_Smith, regardless of what type of plan this is, there are strong protections in the law for what is called your "accrued benefit," which is basically the amount you already had earned as of the date of the freeze and that you would have received at some point even if you had terminated employment on the same day as the freeze is effective. But assuming you are an employee of a business (public or private) or charity, and not a state or local government employee, the law does not protect your right to continue to earn the benefits you had an expectation of earning in the future if you had continued to work for this employer and it had not frozen your plan. So you will need to think about saving more in the company's 401(k) going forward or taking some other action, such as finding an employer that has a pension plan for which you would be eligible for the remainder of your working life, although depending on a variety of factors that may not be practical. The only protection for future, expected benefit accruals under U.S. pension law for nongovernmental employers are procedural, i.e. something called a "204(h) notice" that is supposed to describe the freeze. Sometimes employers don't fully meet their procedural obligations, but that is not usually the case. Some employers make higher matching or other contributions to employees' 401(k) accounts when they freeze their pensions.

If you furnish the EXACT name of the Plan we can tell you what sort of Plan you have. A "ension" Plan to many of us is a term of art meaning a defined benefit plan where you retire after a certain number of years or service or at a certain age and receive a lifely annuity based on your years of service and income history, and when you die there is a survivor annuity for a spouse or former spouse. Unless it's a cash balance plan you cannot look at a statement and know what the plan is worth. We use "retirement" plan is shorthand for a defined contribution plan like a 401(k) or a profit sharing plan or a 403(b) plan where there is a certain dollar amount in the plan that you can pay out to yourself when you leave the employ of the Plan Sponsor, for example, by rollover to an IRA account, or by direct taxable distribution, or in an annuitized payout. You can look at a periodic statement and know exactly how much is in the Plan. Since you used the word "freezing" you likely have a defined benefit plan of some sort. Here is an article explaining how it works - https://www.thebalancemoney.com/what-is-a-pension-freeze-5080121#:~:text=When a company wants to,participants may no longer grow. Here is another https://www.groom.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/33_FreezeArticle-PostPPA-Final.pdf

You do not say what type of pension plan this is - there are a few possibilities and the answers vary depending on plan type. If it is a defined benefit plan, including a cash balance plan, it is subject to ERISA minimum annual funding requirements. If the plan is frozen (no current benefits are being earned) then if the plan is well funded the employer may not need to physically contribute. My guess, by your comment that you have $250k, is that this is a cash balance pension plan. Your employer, saying they will stop contributing, was stating very generically (I assume) that they are freezing the plan and will stop adding contribution credits to your account. Your account will still be required to get credited with interest according to plan terms until it is distributed, whether after your termination of employment or the plan's termination. Regardless, the employer will need to fund the plan each year in accordance with ERISA requirements or be subject to excise taxes. Also note as a large plan (assuming over 100 employees) it is required to have an annual audit by qualified CPA. Finally, each year you are required to get an Annual Funding Notice that describes the relative health (funded status) of the plan. If this is a money purchase pension plan, then it is like a profit sharing 401(k) except with required annual contribution obligations. Employers may amend these plans to cease future contributions but your account continues to be invested as before but w/o those future contributions. I encourage you to review your Summary Plan Description(s), or request them if you can't locate. The industry trend for larger companies has certainly been away from pension plans and emphasizing 401(k) plans. Regarding your individual retirement outlook, I suggest consulting a qualified and trusted advisor. Maybe your employer has resources (financial wellness plan?), the advisor to the 401(k) plan, your accountant? Good luck.