Leaderboard

2% Shareholder premiums are generally already included in the box 1 figure. This is one reason why it is good to cross check comp on payroll reports against the actual W-2. Payroll reports through out the year do not usually include the 2% shareholder premium, it is tacked onto the final income reporting at year end and reflected on the W-2. An aggregated payroll report for the year may not include it, which it often is needed information to correctly determine Plan Compensation. The amount in box 14 is for informational purposes, not tax reporting purposes. So if the plan definition of compensation is gross W2 with no exclusions, usually you would take Box1 + pre-tax amounts in box 12. If there are pre-tax amounts NOT reported anywhere on the W-2, such as §125 or employee HSA contributions, those get added as well, because absent the employee's election to put money into those buckets they would have appeared on the W-2. Box 3 - I pretty much only use it for HPI determinations unless your plan doc has some interesting definition of compensation. Box 5 - this almost always means nothing for plan purposes unless the plan doc has an interesting definition of compensation

As always, much turns on the plan’s definition of benefit compensation. Does the plan’s definition include the employer’s payment for health insurance? If so, is compensation $116,293.22 [$99,999.90 + $16,293.32]? The difference between the $20,150 § 401(k) non-Roth elective deferral and a $16,293.32 income recognition for the employer’s payment for health insurance seems to be the $3,856.68 difference between box 3&5 wages [$99,999.90] and box 1 Federal income tax wages [$96,143.22].

Whether § 414(v)(7) restricts age-based catch-up deferrals to Roth contributions turns on the participant’s Social Security wages for the preceding year. Nothing in Internal Revenue Code § 414(v)(7)(A) aggregates another person’s wages with the participant’s wages, even if other tax law might do so. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title26/html/USCODE-2023-title26-subtitleA-chap1-subchapD-partI-subpartB-sec414.htm

Correct, family aggregation went away with SBJPA '96. (but for real, no attribution there)