Just had an interesting question presented to me - real life case.

401(k) plan with several hundred participants had an ADP failure. Small failure - between $1,000 and $1,500 had to be distributed to 1 HCE. This was done timely in March of 2020 - BUT, 3 days after the deadline, the custodian reversed the distribution - due to some BS paperwork question. They never notified anyone of this, and the distribution was never reprocessed.

Fast forward to now, when it was just discovered.  Of course it can be corrected by a QNEC (prohibitively expensive) or the "one to one" correction method. Problem with one-to-one is that the amounts are so small that it amounts to a QNEC of just a few cents for many eligible NHCE's.

Anyone have brilliant creative thoughts? VCP is prohibitively expensive, and any solution under SCP, while possible, carries no guarantees. Many fixes, while "reasonable" by ordinary standards, might not stand up under audit. However, short of an "approved" fix, then some risk must be assumed.

Thanks for any thoughts.

I'm assisting with the 403 B plan termination for the first time, this has a GCA ( Group Custodial Agreement) how different is the termination process? What are the keys factors that I will need to look into it. 

There are participants who have outstanding loans, when a 401K plan terminated the participants will be allowed to roll over the loans into the acquiring company plan how does it work with 403 B GCA( Group Custodial Agreement)? 

• Can funds be liquidated and cashed out? 
• Can the funds be rolled over only to a retirement plan or can it be rolled over to an IRA? 
• For non-responsive participants - Generally when a 401k plan terminates participants are given at least 30 days to make/take distribution of their choice, what is the time period provided for participants with 403 B? can the funds be rolled over to an IRA if they don't respond? 

Any material that I can refer?  

I have a few clients that have a 401 (k) and Safe Harbor Match. The principals defer but the "common-law" do not. So they are participants with zero account balance.  I tried efiling a 5500-SF showing 2 active participants and 1 with an account balance.  FT William rejected the submission and their support group tells me to file an EZ.

I am not comfortable doing that.

Any suggestions and references will be greatly appreciated.

Thanking you in advance.

DPSRICH

In 2019 a participant in a profit sharing plan received the full contribution when they should of received the 3% top heavy minimum due to working less than 1,000 hours.    To correct, can it be taken back out of their account (brokerage account) or if the employer wants them to keep it, can the plan be amended to allow?  Just wondering the best way to fix.   

thank you

Facts: Plan is top-heavy; Has a 3% non-elective safe harbor contribution; Has a stated match of $0.25 for each dollar deferred up to 4% of pay for Non-HCE only – has last day/1000 hour requirement; Has a discretionary profit sharing plan, but has decided NOT to make a profit sharing contribution for 2020.

I know if they make a profit sharing contribution (which they always have in the past) that they would need to satisfy top-heavy minimums, but in 2020 they are not going to make a profit sharing contribution.

My question is if for 2020, do they have to satisfy the top-heavy minimums? I know that adding allocation req's to a match makes nondiscrimination more difficult to pass, but does the fact that the match is for non-HCE only help? 

Any insight you can provide would be much appreciated!

Thanks! 

I know this topic has been address repeatedly, however this time of year I sometimes need a refresher.

For 2020 participant over age 50 contributes $22k in deferrals.  Compensation is $270,318.33.  Match contribution is $10,812.73.  Can this participant receive a profit share allocation of $30,687.27 in order to reach a total allocation amount of $63,500? 

Years ago I used to think the participant was limited in his total allocation amount under 415 because he only contributed $2,500 over the deferral limit of $19,500.  However I was later advised that you can recharacterize the full $6,500 in catchup to compute the 415 limit.  In other words, talking about two different tests and what gets recharaterized in that particular test (415 vs ADP for example).  

Do others agree that my participant can get $30,687.27 in profit share?

Thanks in advance! 

When a Plan switches recordkeepers, are they able to remain on the same plan document, even though it may be a prototype document for the recordkeeper they're leaving? We have a plan that is moving to a recordkeeper that provides no plan document support, so does this mean the only option is for the employer to move to an individually designed document, or can they use the one they're currently on?

A retirement plan, Calendar Year Plan Year with 2/20 Vesting,  defines its "Normal Retirement Age" as the later of age 65 and 5 Years of Plan Participation, and, hired the following Eligible Employee:

Hire 3/1/2020

Birth 4/1/1957 (age 62, 11 mos at hire)

Eligible 6/1/2020

NRA based on the above definition is 1/1/2025 (1st day of plan year of 5th anniversary of participation)

Assuming works 1000+ hours in every year and is actively employed:

Q 1: this employee would not be 100% vested on his 65th birthday (4/1/2022) because he has not yet satisfied the definition of Normal Retirement Age, correct?

Q 2: on 12/31/2024 this employee is 80% vested; on 1/1/2025, this employee's vesting would be accelerated to 100% Vesting upon reaching Normal Retirement Age, correct?

Thank you!

I'm just discovering the "signature" feature in my pdf software (I use Kofax f/k/a Nuance).  I am curious to know if we can tell clients it is ok to sign plan documents using this feature.  From my brief readings what I am finding is that it is actually much more secure than a regular ink signature because the signature itself is able to tied back directly to the signers own credentials (some crazy encryption-like key).

I'm curious to know if anyone has ever researched this or has found an article about its use in legal documents, whether the IRS will accept it, etc.

So, small client has benefits through a large, national PEO.  Things are not going well for the company and it is facing bankruptcy.  Unclear at present if that will be a Chapter 7 or Chapter 11 and whether some employees will remain on staff to wind things down for a short period, etc. but likely to involve terminating most employees in a few days.  Client asked PEO about COBRA in the event of bankruptcy and was told that "PEO is willing to offer COBRA for a company in bankruptcy if the fees are all paid upfront.  Fees would be $500 per employee as a set up fee (presumably for all current employees whether or not they elect COBRA) and then $75 per month per employee.  All amounts to be paid up front with any unused amounts returned if someone doesn't sign up for COBRA (or takes less than 18 months).  Again, all of this appears to be by way of COBRA / administration fees just to get to point of employee being able to pay regular COBRA premiums.

Does this make sense.  I suppose at one level it might be generous if we assume some complete liquidation and this envisions allowing employees to participate in the PEO's multiple employer plan even though client no longer exists and no longer participates in the group health plan.  On the other hand, it seems strange to me for the PEO to be saying it is "willing" to permit COBRA coverage and then to assess some employer administration fees to make that happen.  What if they are trying to reorganize and a handful of employees stay on to help and the company continues the group health plan participation but just for those few employees.  Wouldn't the terminated employees have a legal right to participate in COBRA?

Three partners get together and form a business.  They start meeting and discussing the business in April 2020, they start working on organizing the business, writing a business plan, researching customers and suppliers, etc in June 2020.  In September 2020 they engage an attorney to create an operating agreement and form an LLC, which is registered with the state in November 2020.   In November and December 2020 they interview and hire employees to start working in January.  They "officially" begin operations in January 2021. 

For purposes of plan eligibility, what is the partners' date of hire?   Under DOL regs it is typically the date an employee first performs an hour of service for the employer for which the employee is entitle to payment.   The partners clearly started working on this in April of 2020, they clearly expect to earn a profit, but they didn't have a formal employer entity until November.   

A.  April 2020
B.  June 2020
C.  November 2020
D.  January 2021
E.  Other________________________

Thanks. 

I recently took over the admin of a pooled profit sharing only plan.  And as it seems with every plan I start to work on, there's an issue.  It looks like once a participant terminates, they stop sharing in the gain/loss.  For an example, there's a term whose balance hasn't changed since the PYE 6/30/2014.  I looked through the doc (it's the lovely Datair IDP) and I couldn't find any language confirming either right or wrong.

If the plan sponsor is consistent, is it ok to NOT allocate earnings to terms with balances?

Thanks!    

A participant submitted a CARES distribution request in November 2020. The request was valid and in good order, however the recordkeeper did not process it. The recordkeeper is a large national bundled provider.  The plan sponsor was upset and has been in an argument with the recordkeeper since it was not processed timely. The solution from the recordkeeper is to process the CRD today and issue a 2020 1099R and call it a CRD. The recordkeeper will file a VCP submission asking the IRS to approve a 2021 distribution based a procedure error since the paperwork was received in good order and the recordkeeper failed to process it. Apparently, this happened with multiple plan sponsors because the recordkeeper is filing a VCP submission of behalf of multiple plan sponsors. (note - the participant does not qualify for any other type of in-service distribution).

Does the IRS have authority to approve a VCP submission to treat a 2021 distribution as a CRD due to the recordkeepers error?

Thank you

We're doing testing on a takeover plan and found an issue - comp is not being capped for match.  So, for their match formula of 50% of 6% deferrals, someone deferring $26k with $500k comp got a match of $15k rather than $8550.  (We're right, right?  That the comp must be limited, regardless of whether they're matching per payroll or annually?)

I believe the correction is to forfeit the excess match, do you agree? (Also, is there an actual term used for this excess match?)  Which amount goes into the ACP test, $15k or $8550?

Now, to further complicate, this has been going on since 2015.  (Fwiw, the higher figures' testing has always passed all testing - other than whatever test would have caught the problem.)  This is such a large payroll, it would cost way too much to retro-amend the doc for a larger match.  What would be the appropriate correction path to follow here?

I appreciate any advice or suggestions so much, thank you!

Having a discussion (nicely put) that the following DC plan needs a fidelity bond - at least I insist on it:

Owner (100%), spouse and 2 adult children.

Am I wrong? On the top of your head, do you have a cite for it?

Thank you

A company started a safe harbor 401k for 2020.  They and their payroll provider misunderstood how the safe harbor match worked....They over-matched a participant who only deferred 1% - they gave him 4% so his match was way  more than his deferrals.   Should this be moved to the forfeiture account since it wasn't supposed to ever be given to this participant or can it be returned to the employer.  I have looked at their adoption agreement and don't really see a clear answer.   Thanks for any insights.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.  It's also the first day after my retirement.  After 43 years of being an actuary, I'm moving on to other things.  It has been a wonderful profession. 

Thanks to Dave Baker and BenefitsLink, and all the contributors here, for helping.   My brain will not atrophy, at least not immediately; I'll be glad to help anyone who needs anything.

Rigby out.

My Ex-Wife and I have mostly identical QDRO documents for each of our pensions.

How can I go about finding out the expected value once I start receiving payments from her pension and also how do I find out if a lump sum distribution option is available.

Will her plan administrator supply that information to me?

Hi

Having a brain freeze as I have not had a low pay out for quite sometime.

Is the relative value disclosure required for a lump sum under 5k (over 1k) and if yes, do I need to show the monthly benefit equivalences?

Thank you

Participant A retired from Company X nearly 10 years ago. He participated in X's defined benefit plan (from which he is currently receiving a pension under a joint and 100% survivor annuity) and 401(k) plan. The pension is equal to $36,000 per year, payable in monthly installments. During 2020, Participant A also received distributions of his remaining account under X's 401(k) plan (which had both Roth and non-Roth portions), rolled over the vast majority of it into traditional and Roth IRAs and later received distributions of the balance from both IRAs. During 2020, A was also laid off by Company G, which is unrelated to Company X. A would like to treat the portion of the 401(k) plan distribution which was not rolled over but otherwise subject to tax as well as the taxable portion of the traditional IRA distribution as a Coronavirus-related distribution and pay the resulting tax over the next 3 years. A would like the pension amount received to be subject to the regular tax rules, which would subject the entire $36,000 to tax during 2020 (otherwise, A would be subject to tax on the pension during 2020 on $12,000, but would have to pay tax on $48,000 ($36,000 + $12,000) in each of 2021 and 2022).

However, "If more than one distribution was made during the year, you must treat all distributions for that year the same way." Form 8915-E Instructions, page 1; IRS Notice 2020-50, Section 1. IRS Notice 2020-50, Section 4.B. ("All coronavirus-related distributions received in a taxable year must be treated consistently (either all distributions must be included in income over a 3-year period or all distributions must be included in income in the current year)."

Seemingly inconsistent with the preceding paragraph are the following: Instructions to Form 8915-E, page 2, "Types of Qualified 2020 Disaster Distributions," "Coronavirus-related Distributions," "you can generally designate any distribution (including periodic payments and required minimum distributions) from an eligible retirement plan as a coronavirus-related distribution, regardless of why the distribution was made," provided that the aggregated distributions so designated do not exceed $100,000.  Coronavirus-related distributions are permitted without regard to your need;" IRS Notice 2020-50, Section 1.C ("In general, a qualified individual is permitted to designate a distribution described in the preceding paragraph as a coronavirus-related distribution.")

Reviewing the foregoing, I am inclined to conclude that the requirement of consistency referenced in the second paragraph applies solely to determination of whether all Coronavirus-related distributions (as designated by the individual) are taxed ratably over 3-years or taxed in full in the year of distribution. Therefore, A would be permitted to designate only the portion of the 401(k) account that would have been taxable but was not rolled over as well as the taxable IRA distributions as coronavirus-related distributions and not the periodic payments A was receiving from the defined benefit plan. Does anyone have a contrary position on this?