So suppose a S-corporation has an ESOP that owns 100% of the stock. The employer is considering implementing a "SAR's" plan. Does this SAR's plan have any impact on the ESOP? What little I know about a SAR's plan is that under some circumstances, it MAY(?) be possible that they would be considered a retirement plan, and therefore issues with 404, 415, etc.? Let's assume for the moment that this isn't a problem. Seems like this could be considered compensation, which might indirectly affect the ESOP? I guess what I'm getting at is that it doesn't seem like there is a DIRECT effect on the ESOP, but that depending upon the status as to whether it represents currently taxable W-2 income or not could have indirect effects?

Would love to hear any thoughts - I'm frankly not familiar with Stock Appreciation Rights programs. Thanks.

How many times can you amend Form 5500 for a single plan year?

Are there amending timing issues?

Facts:

A client 2016 form 5500 was resubmitted in 2018 because DOL required the Independent Auditor to fix his audit report to follow certain GAAP guidelines.

Some months later in 2018 DOL send a letter to the client requesting to apply for VFCP to properly correct the late employee deferral contribution remittance that was reported on the 2015 and 2016 plan year?

The 2016 plan year Form 5500 that was filed with DOL had the total late contribution for 2016 plan year only.

VFC program requires to report the total of both the 2015 and 2016 late employee deferral contributions on the 2016 Form 5500 until such year the plan applied for VFCP.

is this okay to amend the 2016 Form 5500 for the second time in 2018?

Hello. I'm new to these message boards and have a question.  I work for a small TPA firm in the Midwest. One of the financial advisors on one of my plans only allows participants to make deferrals in dollar amounts, not percentages to make it easier for the CPA who does payroll and enters the contributions into the investment house's website.  Is this an issue, or is restricting them to a dollar amount not ethical.

I am fairly inexperienced when it comes to Control Groups.  I have a company (A) who has been bought by a bigger company (B).

The bigger company is Belgium owned company who has two subsidiaries here in Michigan.  

Company A currently offers a Safe Harbor Non Elective 3% contribution as well as an additional match of  up to 4% of compensation dependant on the employees contribution rate.  They have 10 Employees.

Company B currently offers a Safe Harbor Non Elective 3% contribution with no additional ER contributions.  They have 80 Employees.

I am under the understanding that I will need to test these plans together.  

1. Are the plans allowed to offer different ER contributions or do they need to be the same.

2. Will these plans pass testing when combined?  I am assuming as long as 70% of the employees are covered the answer is yes.

What am I missing?

Thank you!

nic

Participant has requested a hardship distribution for tombstone monument for husband who died over a year ago.  She did supply copy of death certificate and estimate from monument company. Does this apply to burial or funeral expenses?

A HCE makes a deferral and is matched. 

Because of a complete ADP and ACP failure (HCE only deferrer for first year of 401(k)), the deferral and match are refunded.  Match was only ER contribution during the year. 

Plan is Top-Heavy.  Do all Non-keys get a contribution (% of match/HCE comp) even though the contribution for the HCE, after refund, is $0?

Can a group of employees who voluntarily choose to irrevocably waive eligibility to participate in the company's 401(k) plan for the duration of their employment be considered an excluded class (assuming they pass coverage)?  Is it acceptable for the company to even allow employees to irrevocably waive 401(k) benefits?  Any thoughts/feedback would be appreciated.  Thanks!  

A sole proprietor and a partnership sponsor both a DB & a DC plan.  The DB plan was frozen in 2017.  One last contribution is being made to the DB plan.   The entire DB contribution is being allocated to the sole proprietor and not the partnership. 

• Is there any issue with that? 
• if that is permissible than the entire DB is just used to reduce net income of the sole proprietor when I'm figuring the calculations the DC plan?

I'm sure this is an easy question; I just don't really handle DB plans and want to make sure I'm not screwing up the DC plan.  I am aware of how the deduction limits work with the combo plans, but a little uneasy about the decision to allocate the entire DB contrib to the sole proprietor.

Thanks for any guidance.

NOIT went out in December 2017 for a 1/31/18 plan term date.  Plan anniversary was March 1.  Plan has been frozen since 2006.  When the new rates went  into effect March 1 the plan was more underfunded than the client anticipated.  They took a couple months to figure out if they were going to go ahead with the plan term.  Now they want to move forward and we're past the 180 days to file the PBGC 500.  They really want to get it paid out by year end but especially by PYE.  Its not clear to me what the options are.  I see where you can change the proposed term date - but not more than 90 days.  So have we missed that window too?  Has anyone been in this situation?  Is there anything we can do at this point other than start over?

Sole proprietor wants to make contribution by contributing stock that he already owns to the retirement plan.  Without regard to the wisdom of doing so, is it even permissible?  

Thanks in advance for any guidance. 

A potential client has a DB plan in place with another TPA. They now want to start a 401k using my company as the TPA. My understanding is that the 401k plan will be for employees who were formerly contract(1099) employees and are now W-2 employees. None were ever in the DB plan. What do I have to be careful of in setting this plan up? Also. what are the testing issues involved?

If a DB plan has already been amended for PPA and is terminating now, prior to the end of the PPA restatement period, and before our document provider has the PPA documents available, does it still need to be restated for PPA?

Have you ever had a situation in which you did not want to provide your usual service of electronic submission of a client’s Form 5500 report because you believe the report your client instructs you to submit would include a false statement?  (Your draft was accurate and correct, but your client tells you to change an answer to one that is false.)

How did you handle the situation?

If you haven’t faced this situation, how would you handle it?

Does a submitter have any responsibility for whether its client makes a truthful report?

We were recently contacted by a doctor, who received a CP214 Letter in February this year.  His mother, who recently passed, took care of filing the 5500 EZ for him.  Neither the doctor or the accountant have been able to find copies of the prior filings.  Would submitting the IRS Form 4506 be the only way to obtain a copy or is there another option?

This was in the news today:

Two prominent NFL owners have a stake in a bookmaker as the first season with expanded legal sports betting in the U.S. gets ready to kick off.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones have retained their investments in DraftKings, sources confirmed to ESPN, even as the company has shifted some of its focus from daily fantasy to traditional sports betting.

Kraft's and Jones' stakes in DraftKings are said to be small: less than 5 percent, according to sources. In a court disclosure, 21st Century Fox was the only company listed as owning 10 percent or more of DraftKings.

A Cowboys spokesman said Jones' investment in DraftKings is through sports hospitality company Legends, not the team. Jones and the Steinbrenners, owners of the New York Yankees, have been described as "principal owners" of Legends.

The Patriots declined comment

See, it's ok because

I'm doing some research for one of my clients and have a couple of regulatory-related questions regarding multiple employer plans, and plan terminations and conversions. I've pored through regulations, but I'm getting dizzy and could use some help. Here goes:

1. Can you 'convert' a plan from a single employer plan to a different structure like a MEP (and eventually, when/if made legal, a PEP) and move all of the assets over without making it a distributable event?
2. When a plan terminates, it creates a distributable event, I believe. Is there a way to convert these assets to a MEP - say like a 'mass rollover'?
3. Finally, are there rules/regulations that prohibit starting a new plan within a short time window of terminating a current plan? If so, are there rules requiring 'grandfathering' of any specific provisions from the terminating plan?

Thanks for any help you might be able to provide.

Two non-profit entities are merging - Employer A (the surviving entity) has a 401(k) plan and  Employer B has a 403(b) plan. 

I'm curious what others thoughts are on whether they should terminate the 403(b) plan or adopt it and freeze it? I generally prefer the termination of a target's retirement plan prior to a merger/acquisition to reduce liability, administrative costs, etc. But do the complexities of terminating a 403(p) plan outweigh the potential benefits here? 

I believe assets are held in a group annuity contract, but there may be individual annuity contracts (I am checking). 

Looking for minimum coverage for small, non producing TPA.  Who do you use? 

So the Hartford will not do a fidelity bond for a multiple employer plan. Does anyone have any recommendations of insurers that will accept it?