Apologies for the 100 level questions as my first time doing this.

Client made the 2019 deferral deposits pretty much 15-30 days after the payroll dates.

Assuming 7th business day as the safe harbor deposit date. Document is silent on when the deposits need to be made. This seems to be the standard. I am aware of the "as soon as feasible" clause which varies from employer to employer.

My understanding from the VFCP section 5(b) and the questions based on the "online calculator" page

• Principal amount is the per payroll deduction e.g. 3/1/19 for $200
• Loss date is the 7th business date from payroll date 3/11/19 (included 3/1 as the first business date)
• Recovery date is the date of the deposit 3/18/19 i.e. 6th business days from loss date
• Final payment date - assuming the same as Recovery date - I could not find anything on this as a definition.

Questions:

•  Are the dates correct as calculated above?
• The interest added by the employer to make up the missed dates, are they deductible. If yes which year (assume 2019 tax return not yet done)
•  As this additional interest correction added to the assets, for which plan year's 5500 filing should reflect them? Assume 2019 5500 filing is not yet completed.
•  What if during 2019 assets had a negative return or 25% return, does it matter how the assets perfomed? 

Any comments/suggestions are appreciated.

Thank you,

I have noticed that some plan administrators have been approaching employers about PEPs that they are planning to make available in time for the 2021 effective date. Does anyone have an idea of how flexible or inflexible the PEPs are likely to be regarding an employer’s preferences concerning eligibility, vesting, contribution formulas, loans, in- service distributions, etc.? None of the literature I have found on PEPs discusses this issue but flexibility in plan design would seem to be very important to an employer considering a move from a single employer VSP to a PEP.

Any ideas and/or guesses? Thanks.

Hi

Client files the LLC (single member - schedule c) tax return on 4/15 with no extension but the actual return was extended to 7/15/2020.

I just got the info and found out that additional contributions will be required for 2019. 

As the filing was extended to 7/15/2020 with no extension filing requirements, I believe the client can make the additional contribution and deduct for 2019 i.e. redo the tax return.

Thank you for your comments.

Hi all

My apologies if this was discussed before.

The normal 5500 filing was due by 4/30/2020 which was automatically extended to 7/15/2020 (if 5558 was filed, would have been the same deadline).

What is the deadline to certify AFTAP 6/30/2020 or 7/15/2020?

Have a great weekend and be safe.

plan document specifies subaccounts that contains pre-tax earnings or contributions, can be in-plan converted by eligible rollover distributions, into designated roth subaccounts. 

voluntary after-tax contributions go into a separate subaccount, than elective deferrals and employer contributions. Does a subaccount still count as pre-tax, if it does not actually contain any pre-tax earning or contributions, but otherwise can potentially contain pre-tax earnings? It is clearly not a designated roth subaccount.

inservice distributions otherwise not permitted.

If I am a 5500-SF filer, and my plan invests in the Pooled Separate Accounts of an insurance company, is the insurance company required to provide my TPA with Schedule A information?  I understand that I'm not filing a Schedule A as part of my 5500-SF, however, should the insurance company be providing full Schedule A information, or just information regarding commissions? 

Thanks very much to @Bill Presson for bringing this matter to everybody's attention recently (DOL says we should not include participant names and other "Personal Identifiable Information (PII)" on the Schedule 8955-SAA, for example)  -- here's a link to an article by Nevin Adams with details:

https://www.asppa-net.org/news/dol-stop-including-pii-form-5500-filings

Hello. I hope this post finds you and your loved ones healthy. I currently have a balance forward 401(k) plan, and I'm looking for a recordkeeper that has a platform which would permit participants to select a risk-reward portfolio instead of individual mutual funds. The plan sponsor would construct the portfolios using the recordkeeper's mutual funds. The participants wouldn’t direct the investment of their separate account, but rather they would select a portfolio. Participants's accounts would be updated daily. Thank you.

Plan sponsor would like to use PPP loan proceeds to pay a portion of the administration expense. Expenses are billed quarterly, so there would be an amount due during the 8 week period. They would like to know if it would qualify for forgiveness if they use the money that way. 

I haven't looked into it much, but I'm leaning towards it wouldn't qualify since it seems to be limited to retirement plan contributions, not expenses. But i'm hoping one of you that has done all the reading and paid attention to the SBA information can confirm, or tell me if I'm mistaken. 

I retired on 2/29/2020 after 41 years at 66 years old. The company became an ESOP 4 years before retirement.  The comptroller says I should receive a distribution this year ( 2020), after the audit is completed in September +/-.  I would prefer to defer the first distribution until January 2021 since I have already received a large deferred comp payment of $120,000, plus I have 2 month's of income and we are getting about $18,000 dollars this year from Social Security due to my wife getting her full SS and myself getting a spousal benefit while my primary grows. I am trying to stay below the IRMMA threshold for Medicare ( 174,000).   Is there a way to have the distribution deferred?   Should I ask for them to make an amendment saying that the first payout may be taken as late as April 15 of the year following retirement, similar to RMD rules? Thanks for your help.

If a plan document requires terminated participants wait 1 year before they take a distribution, would implementing the Cares Act in the plan require the plan document to be amended to shorten the time terminated participants have to wait in order to get their money sooner than 1 year? 

EDIT: I just wanted to clarify that the participant was terminated because of Covid, so they would be a qualified individual.

Group:

I did not see a specific area to post this so I've posted here.

And I may not be asking the question properly so please bear with me.

12/31 fincls/tax return reflects $400k in bank account of entity owned by ESOP.

These are funds that were just paid into account and going to be used as loans for business purpose.

I recall a discussion some time ago on a similar issue but not sure if there was a complete answer

other than "it depends".

For valuation purposes, can the appraiser make the statement and assessment that those

funds are earmarked and not part of the overall valuation?   Which will reduce the overall value.

Also, I apologize that this is off topic, but I've recently had a contractor I worked with leave

the profession and am looking for a project-based individual with experience in ERISA/ESOP

related valuations and research. I am trying the Benefits Link job posting for the first time

and thought I'd add my request here. 

Thoughts and comments appreciated.

Can anyone recommend an attorney in southern California area?  Need to correct a document flaw

Final Rule released this morning, and is scheduled to be published on 5/27/20

Happy reading!2020-10951.pdf

In recent weeks, we’ve seen many BenefitsLink discussions about ambiguities and uncertainties in what the Paycheck Protection Program pays for.

In other contexts, a businessperson might get a written opinion to show that what one did, if later found to be incorrect, relied on a reasonable interpretation.  Applied for this context, one might seek a law firm’s or accounting firm’s written opinion that a borrower’s use of PPP assistance is a reasonable interpretation of the borrower’s documents and the guidance the government had published.

Is anyone doing this? 

Came across situation where business owners have been excluding multiple employees from 401k program. Most employees (5 current employees and unknown number former)were not informed of plan.(Some for over 10 yrs) they are all eligible. I’m not even sure how to start unwrapping this barrel of worms. Most asked about 401k on hire but we’re told wasn’t available. Doesn’t mention in employee benefit package So owners feel they don’t hav to offer access

I have a client who has about 60 employees, with a small portion being classified more or less as a leased employee that they send to other corporations (roughly 10% as of today fall in this class).  I don't foresee any issues with 403(b) or any other testing, given the size of the group, but currently they are offering a 401(k) Plan with a 4% Safe Harbor Match.  What they want to do is not be required to do the match for these leased employees, but want to be able to allow them to contribute.  

My first thought is to have two separate plans setup:

1) The current plan, just amending the document to excluded these leased employees, and continue with the 401(k) + Safe Harbor Match
2) A new plan (#002), which only covers the leased employees and have a 401(k) with a discretionary contribution

I can't think of any issues that may be caused by this, but I wanted to bounce it off everyone to make sure my thinking was correct and I wasn't overlooking anything.  I don't believe I can just excluded the leased employees from the Safe Harbor Match, but allow them to participate in the 401(k).

Thanks everyone and I hope everyone is well and staying safe.

We are early in the research process but a 403(b) plan that was created in 1989 apparently has never had a plan document.  I would like to eventually get them through VCP.  Would this be acceptable since we have nothing to go on?

Thanks

Referred to a 403(b) plan that was created in 1989 and has never filed a 5500.  Well under 100 participants.  I am not sure how far back any records go and what can be obtained.  

How far back can/should we go to correct via DFVCP? Also, is the DFVCP amount capped at $750 for non-profits no matter how many late filings?

Since this is a 403(b), I know that through the 2009 plan year, the information required on the 5500 was pretty limited.  I do not believe financial data was required.  Would this make 2010 plan year an acceptable starting point?

Thank you

Because there is a higher incidence of COVID-19 positive test results for residents of a long-term care facility (i.e., a nursing home), State X mandates that all residents and staff at the facility be tested for COVID-19 by a specified date. Those individuals who test negative are required to be retested within one week to rule out a false negative on the first test. There will only be a second retest if and to the extent that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention mandate it. My question is, in light of the no cost-sharing of COVID-19 testing imposed by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, as applied to a self-funded plan, does this mean that the plan (or employer) is saddled with the cost of conducting the testing? Can the plan deny coverage for the retest as not medically necessary?