A plan that tax law classifies as a profit-sharing plan, whether it includes or omits a § 401(k) cash-or-deferred arrangement, is a pension plan if one follows ERISA title I’s definitions.
ERISA § 3(2)(A), 29 U.S.C. § 1002(2)(A) https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title29/pdf/USCODE-2023-title29-chap18-subchapI-subtitleA-sec1002.pdf.
And while tax law might not distinguish between “solo-k” and some other plan with a § 401(k) arrangement, an investment or service provider’s business classifications can matter greatly to consumers and to their intermediaries and advisers.
For example, Individual(k)Ô (Ascensus claims this as a trademark) gets a set of service agreement, trust agreement, plan documents, investment arrangements, and other provisions that’s distinct from other business lines. And differences between a “solo” and a “regular” 401(k) service arrangement can affect even a plan’s provisions. The plan-documents set Ascensus requires for an Individual(k)Ô omits some choices Ascensus allows for other business lines, and imposes some plan provisions Ascensus does not require for other business lines.
The sales or business lingo might seem awkward to a tax practitioner, but might convey meaning to consumers, intermediaries, and advisers.
For better or worse, “solo 401(k)” now has some trade-usage meaning to describe generally an arrangement a service provider designed for an individual-account (defined-contribution) retirement plan its sponsor intends as one not expected to cover any employee beyond a shareholder-employee or a self-employed deemed employee, or one’s spouse. And that trade-usage meaning includes a sense that investment and service providers offer constrained terms for those plans.