the factor released for April was 244.524

the average needed to increase most of the limits is 244.5 so unless the consumer price index drops over the summer there will be increases in the comp limit and 415 limits

I suppose the crew in Washington could rewrite the regs to prevent this as well.

The Employer incorrectly reported $5,000 too much deferral for a HCE. We are removing the $5,000 plus the interest that was accumulated to make his account accurate. 

The over contribution we are using to reduce the next contribution that the Employer makes.

What options do we have for the interest.  (It's several hundred dollars)?

I had worked for a CPA firm for 17 years before taking a job in a different city.  The CPA firm recently terminated their pension plan and sent me a letter advising me of what my benefit would be and giving me the option to roll it over into or take a lump sum.  The amount was significantly smaller than I expected.  Upon talking to the actuary of the plan I was informed that my employer had frozen the pension nine years ago.  I have spoken to several employees and not one of them remembers being informed of the plan being frozen.  Does anyone know what actions we can take?

Company A just bought a bankrupt company's assets.  A new company is created out of the bankrupt assets: Company B.  Company B is a single member LLC owned by Company A.

The employer is wanting to keep Company A 401(k) separate from Company B 401(k) plan.  Easy enough to set up the new Company B 401(k) and move forward.

Both plans are going to be setup with same plan year ends and the same plan provisions.  The potential difference is profit sharing contributions per plan.  Plan A might be 5%, Plan B might be 0 or 2%, or whatever based on their own profitability.

If I understand this correctly, as long as each plan satisfies coverage (410b), each plan can do whatever they want for profit sharing.  Here are some numbers....

Company A:  Non excludeables NHCE 468, Benefiting NHC 426, Non excludable HCE 27 Benefiting HCE 25

Company B: Non excludeables NHCE 90, Benefiting NHC 80, Non excludable HCE 2 Benefiting HCE 2

Company A coverage: NHCE 426 of 558 equals 76.34, HCE 25 of 29 equals 86.21,  88.56% Passes

Company B coverage: NHCE 80 of 558 equals 14.34, HCE 2 of 29 equals 6.90.  207.89% Passes

1.  Is my math correct?

2.  If so, test separately, profit share each company separately.

Am I missing anything obvious?

An employer wants to pass along to the employees their monthly admin fee for administering an FSA.  For example, $150 annual fee per plan and $4 monthly fee per employee.  Can employees pay this fee on a pre-tax basis through premium conversion plan?  And if so, does this amount count toward any maximum pre-tax limit?

Can a money purchase pension plan be merged into a 403(b) Plan?

Firm A bought Firm B as a stock purchase.  Both had their own 401(k) Plan before the "corporate merger". It was determined that the Firm B's 401(k) Plan would be merged into the Firm A's 401(k).

The merger of plans was done in 2 stages within 2016.  First, new money (deferrals) were directed to Plan A mid-year.  Old monies (existing balances) were transferred over to Plan A before the close of that plan year Everything went smoothly except for one issue (of course).

Firm B had promised its employees matching on their deferrals for the entire year.  It was expected that deferrals under Plan B would be matched under Plan B prior to the move to Plan A.  I note this is part of the reason for "two stages".  Clean up all aspects of Plan B, including matching and testing on Plan B contributions, and then merge into Plan.  This did not happen as the match on deferrals made under Plan B was not made.

I believe one solution is that the match be done under Plan B as a receivable at plan year end, which is immediately transferred into Plan A accounts in accordance with the merger.  Of course, this raises the potential for another 5500 Filing (large plan), as well as issues that might pertain to "merger documents". Comments on this solution are appreciated.

Another solution I see would be to have Plan A match deferrals of Plan B by including them in the definition of "Matched Employee Contribution".  We would also need to make several other adjustments, such as revising the definition of Compensation and Hours of Service to include values attributable to service to Firm B. Since Firm B was owned by Firm A for the entire year, this is technically acceptable for Compensation and Hours.  My problem is can deferrals under one plan be matched under another? Timing is also a concern for the amendments. Comments on these issues are most greatly appreciated.

As always, I appreciate all comments.  Thank You!

This question is really academic at this point, but could apply to a future situation.

Suppose you have corporation A - a couple of doctors, or dentists, or lawyers, or whatever. They decide to go their separate ways. Corporation A will remain intact, no changes to the plan, etc.

Mr. B will form new corporation B. Some of the employees of corporation A will come over to work for him - or of course they can quit. He'll just establish a new plan. (it could be handled as a spinoff, but for  reasons not pertinent to this discussion, probably won't, and not worth getting into!)

I don't think there's any solid argument that these terminations from corporation A are "voluntary" so it seems to me that if they weren't already 100% vested, they would need to be. Any other opinions? Also, since a new employer is being established, seems like they are entitled to distributions if they choose, (cash, rollover to IRA or new plan, etc.)

Are people processing the PBGC filings on the PBGC website or using software?  We are considering using FT for this - we currently do it on the PBGC website.

Just curious if there are features about it that make it worth the additional investment (aside from the obvious, which is the pre-filling of all of the demographic data based on the 5500, that one I know about).

Will it show filing statuses, etc?

John Doe and his spouse own 100% of corporation A. No employees. They have a qualified plan.

John Doe and his spouse, together, own 40% of Corporation B. No other attributed ownership in corporation B. Corporation B sponsors a qualified plan. There is no CG/ASG. John Doe's brother own the majority of the remaining 60% of corporation B.

John Doe wants his PLAN, Plan A, to purchase some of the stock owned by his BROTHER in corporation B. My initial reaction was that it is a PT, but now I'm not so sure. Any opinions?

just received the following:

Dear ftwilliam.com Customer:

We are pleased to announce the release of the new pre-approved volume submitter 403(b) documents.

Got a quick one -

Doctor has had a DB plan for his one-man consulting business since 1/1/2008, and he earns well over any limits to worry about.

So 2017 is going to be his tenth year of participation (nominally defined as 1000 hours), and so once he gets his full 415 limit, the idea is to terminate and have him roll over a lump sum.

The 415 regulations define a year of participation as calculated to fractions of a year.  But they also say the year is credited if the hours are worked.

Should I be interpreting that to say it's a full tenth year of participation as of the moment he gets to 1000 hours?  Or does it mean he has to actually have the twelve months in the bank?  He might get to 1000 hours in June, but if we terminate the plan right at that point, I don't want the surprise that he would only get 9.5/10ths of the $215,000 limit. 

He'd obviously rather go for the full limit, and so if it's legitimate to count 2017 as a full year 10 before the end of the year, he could terminate and distribute before December 31, thus avoiding any 2018 plan year with its additional costs.

Thanks...

--Brian Gordon

Is there any way to retrieve more than 10 digits stored in my BA II plus calculator?

We have a plan that will be terminating and has about 10 terminated participants with remaining balances.  A few of these have been gone so long their unvested money has already been forfeited.

What happens to these participants upon PLAN termination?  Do they become fully vested and get their forfeitures back in their accounts?  Recognize that these forfeitures have already been allocated to other participants.

Have a new 401(k) plan and am doing enrollments.  This question came up twice: Both employee are separated from spouse (not a legal separation), they have not spoken in 4 years, one only knows the general where abouts, the other knows the spouse is in prison (domestic violence, etc).  Neither wants to contact with ex.

Suggestions on how to name someone else as primary beneficiary?

I have a scenario I found rather odd.  I have a small business that wishes to cover insurance premiums for one NHCE, excluding all others and all HCEs.  I feel as though I could get away with an HRA not integrated with group insurance/QSEHRA, but I'm just not sure if excluding everyone else will qualify it as a "one employee" plan.  The sponsor doesn't want the employee to be taxed, hence looking into a 105 plan.

Thanks for any help in advance!  

To avoid the independent qualified public auditor opinion requirement for the Form 5500, does the fidelity bond need to cover 100% of an employer's non-publicly traded stock held within the plan, or can such stock be considered as a qualifying plan asset?

SH Match formula is 100% up to 6% of pay.  Is this okay?

Is it just a discretionary match that is capped at 4% of pay?

The plan document states the employer makes the match on a payroll basis.  A Partner taking draws makes their deferral contribution one time at year-end.  Is the Partner's match calculated on their full year's Schedule C compensation?

Profit sharing plan assets are trustee directed and held in a pooled account. Terminated participant requests a distribution of his vested balance.  Participant completes application for distribution and sends it directly to the investment house.   Investment Company makes full payment to the participant.  What is the penalty, if any, to the plan sponsor for the failure to withhold the mandatory 20% tax from a lump sum distribution to a participant?