I've always found the following requirement somewhat scary, as it is subjective on the part of the IRS:

An explanation of how the failure occurred and a demonstration of the existence at the time of practices and procedures reasonably designed to promote and facilitate overall compliance.

Obviously, even if you have great procedures, mistakes can happen, which is one reason that EPCRS exists. I'm curious if anyone has ever had a plan audited, where SCP was used, and the IRS disallowed the SCP due to a perceived defect in such "reasonable" procedures?

We have several non calendar year Plans.  A discussion recently came up as to the due date of the AFTAP certification.  One opinion is that the due date is based on the exact date of the end of the Plan Year; just nine months later.  A 3/27/2022 Plan Year End would have a due date for the AFTAP of 12/27/2022.

However, the other opinion is as such.  The instructions say that the AFTAP must be certified by the first day of the 10th month.  Could the 10th month be interpreted to be April?  In this case the AFTAP would need to be certified by 3/31/2022.

I cannot find anything specific to a non calendar year plan.  Any insights would be appreciated.

This plan has a triple stack match. If the owner doesn't defer any money for a particular year, does the triple stack match still need to be applied to the NHCE's? Or are they just given the 4% safe harbor?

I just took on a one-participant plan, the guy does not want an electronic filing and has less than 10 tax return due for the year.

From what I can tell by looking at 26 CFR § 301.6058-2, Form 5500-EZ can remain a paper form and is not mandated to be filed electronically.

I file all my plans under EFAST as the "return receipt" is immediate, so this one seems a bit odd to me.

Is anyone familiar with guidance regarding the setup of a Master Trust Investment Account (MTIA)? 

One of my main questions is - should the plan sponsor's EIN be used on the DFE 5500 filing for the MTIA?  And then, say the sponsor only has plans 001 & 002 (that will be investing in the MTIA), would the MTIA then assume plan number 003?  It would appear so, according to the Form 5500 instructions, which seem to be the only source of instruction.  If anyone is aware of specific MTIA guidance outside of the Form 5500 instructions in general, it would be much appreciated.  Thanks!    

If the rank and file employee terminates and gets paid out during 2022 leaving only the owner/sponsor as a plan participant as of 12/31/22 would the filing

for 2022 be a 5500-SF or 5500-EZ? Would it matter if the terminated participant got a contribution for 2022 thus benefiting under the plan for 2022?

We recently moved our plan to a new RK. There was one beneficiary of a former employee who was missed from the blackout mailing. Can we send a copy of the original blackout notice that was sent?  The plan just went live with the new RK last week. 

I was reviewing the Form 720 the IRS revised in March 2023 and noticed in IRS no. 133 has last year's data listed (date and fees). Has anyone else noticed this, too?  Or am I missing something?   If I am not losing it does anyone know when the IRS plans to send out an updated version?  https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f720.pdf  

From what I read the 10% penalty is still due on a hardship withdrawal unless the participant is 59 1/2.  The participant asking for the withdrawal is only 40 and it is a construction expense (he said he over-built) for his prmary residence.  This is from a qualified plan.  Is there any relief from the 10% for this participant?  

I just want some more back-up because he is relentless on the WHY?

If the participant isn't electing to withhold anything now (understanding that withholding isn't mandatory on a hardship), can the amount taken still be grossed up to include an amount to cover taxes to be paid later?  I see discussions here on how to actually figure out how much is an appropriate amount to gross up - we're going with a simple 20% of the amount requested, for better or worse.    But I don't see anything that says that if you're not electing to have the taxes withheld now, that takes away the ability to have the distribution increased for the taxes that will be due, so long as you're still under the amount that you have available under the terms of the plan.  Right?  Thanks.

Just trying to decide how many years worth of old emails to save.

Hi All.  I have searched for my answer, to no 'recent' avail.

I have a small business owner (himself, his wife, and 3 employees) in a 401(k) plan who would like to invest his balance in a Limited Partnership (which holds real estate).  This group is already in segregated accounts, but the owner's investing of almost 100% of his own balance is still way more than 5% of plan assets.

The plan would still need an independent audit, correct??  Obvious answer, I think.

Besides this question, can someone please point me into some reliable source for learning more about question #6 a & b on the 5500SF - ineligible plan assets and the subsequent plan audit requirements?

I greatly appreciate it.

Hi All.  I have searched for my answer, to no 'recent' avail.

I have a small business owner (himself, his wife, and 3 employees) in a 401(k) plan who would like to invest his balance in a Limited Partnership (which holds real estate).  This group is already in segregated accounts, but the owner's investing of almost 100% of his own balance is still way more than 5% of plan assets.

The plan would still need an independent audit, correct??  Obvious answer, I think.

Besides this question, can someone please point me into some reliable source for learning more about question #6 a & b on the 5500SF - ineligible plan assets and the subsequent plan audit requirements?

I greatly appreciate it.

We have direct seller who get a W-2 from us; the majority pf what they do for most is 100% direct sales. They are excluded from H&W & 401k benefit plans.

Must these direct sellers be counted in ACA testing?

thnaks

Alexa

Has anyone had trouble looking up a 5500-EZ filing? We filed electronically and received an acknowledgement number for a 2020 filing.

It is easy to find 5500 and 5500-SF filings on the DOL website but we get nothing when looking for the electronically filed EZs.

2 Year Old plan. First year assets were less than 250K. 2nd year they were over. Hence I'm doing the 1st year filing in the plan's 2nd year. Is my beginning balance $0 or do I use the ending balance from the previous year( that was under $250K)?

2 Year Old plan. First year assets were less than 250K. 2nd year they were over. Hence I'm doing the 1st year filing in the plan's 2nd year. Is my beginning balance $0 or do I use the ending balance from the previous year( that was under $250K)?

BenefitsLink helpfully posted the IRS’s prepublication release of Notice 2023-43 https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-23-43.pdf.

Here are my open questions for BenefitsLink neighbors’ observations:

1.    What does this IRS guidance let us do tomorrow that we couldn’t do before December 29, 2022?

2.    What were you hoping for that the IRS isn’t yet allowing?

3.    If an Eligible Inadvertent Failure is one that may be self-corrected, under what circumstances might one prefer to submit a VCP application?

For a Safe Harbor Plan that contains a Pro Rata Profit sharing element does the ADP ACP and Top Heavy testing only relate to the Pro Rata profit sharing piece or does the entire plan now need to be tested for the ADP ACP and Top Heavy even though some of the contributions were made under safe harbor? 

I have the same question for a New Comparability Plan. Does the entire plan now need to be tested for the ADP APC Top heavy and cross tested even though some of the contributions were made under safe harbor? 

Thank you as always for the insights and knowledgeable responses. A portion of a Plan's assets were discovered as unclaimed funds and returned to the plan sponsor. This was done by a company that specializes in finding unclaimed funds, and this company is charging a fee (commission) for finding these assets. Can plan assets be used to pay this fee? Is this considered a settlor  or a non settlor expense? Thank you.