Company A (surviving plan) acquires Company B and the plans will be merged effective 1/1/2017. For the company match, Company A (surviving plan) has a 1-5 year graded vesting schedule and Company B has a 4 year graded schedule.

Can Company B increase the existing matching vesting schedule to 100% vesting for existing participants and then be on the same vesting schedule as Company B for any new matching contributions effective 1/1/2017?

Or does the merged plan need to keep the Company B employees who were eligible before 1/1/2017 on the more favorable 4 year graded vesting schedule?

Got a government entity that wants to start a 401(a) plan that matches contributions to their existing 457 plan. They want to do a match formula of 0% for the first 4% and then match 100% of the next 4%. Are there any issues there?

Can you amend the plan retroactively, say for 6 weeks, to add a new trustee and remove the old one? Small SH 401(k) had a change in ownership and new trustee took over fiduciary responsibilities technically before the sale of the business was finalized. The retroactive amendment would be back dated to the date of the sale of the business.

It was recently discovered on a plan that we recently took over administration (not our error, so please don't judge), the Owner/Participant took out a loan in 2009 and has never made a payment. In addition, the loan was never reported as a "deemed distribution".

Now that the maximum repayment period (5 years) has expired, per EPCRS, Section 6.07, the sponsor is not eligible for correction methods under Section 6.07 (3) Defaulted Loans and therefore the loan is to be considered a deemed distribution in the year of the failure and the employer is responsible for the withholding.

What if the employer and the participant are one in the same? Does the employer still pay the withholding (the company assets vs the participant)?

Would it be an option for apply under VCP and ask for relief anyway?

In addition since the issue is to an owner/participant there is of course a prohibited transaction too. Can one apply for relief under the DOL's VFCP for the excise tax under 7975(a) if one cannot apply for relief under VCP?

Any experience or advice on this issue would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

12/31/15 PYE: Test was run and corrected by 3/15

We discovered an error which resulted in rerunning the test. Unfortunately, the test failed an additional $462 in ROEs is necessary. It is approximately, $51 per HCE.

Is there a de minimis amount that would permit the plan not to make an additional correction?

Does anyone know of a good resource that gives detailed statistical data regarding participation in 401(k) plans - perhaps participation in micro market 401k plans vs. large market plans or 401k participation by industry - i.e. x% of participants on average in manufacturing make 401k contributions while y% of participants on average in medical make 401k contributions...

it seems like these statistics s/b somewhere, but i'm just not unearthing them... i've checked our Bureau of Labor Statistics, DOL, PSCA (which has some but not quite the detail i was looking for)

Any suggestions would be appreciated... trying to see how participation rates in the plans our firm manages stack up again national averages - but comparable ones.... not so generic that it's not really an apples to apples comparison

Thank you!

A 401k client has Paychex do their payroll.

Their plan document does not exclude bonuses or any irregular pay from withholding deferrals.

A participant got a small bonus check of about $30 - Paychex withheld his medical insurance premium first - and this resulted in a zero net check. (the premium is obviously more than $30)

Should they have withheld his deferral first and deducted the remainder for insurance premium? Is this something the employer can dictate? Paychex told them that was how their system did it. If the check has been large enough to deduct both - then that would have happened. Is there a pecking order by law?

Thoughts? Thanks!

Multiemployer defined contribution plan qualified under 401(a). Unmarried participant dies. A proper beneficiary designation form was completed naming the participant's sister as beneficiary.

Can the plan have provision stating that the beneficiary can leave the money in the plan and elect any distribution (other than a QJSA) that the participant could have chosen? For example, lump sum, periodic installments, non-periodic installments.

Or, does ERISA or the Code require that the plan state that the beneficiary must receive a lump sum or roll the money over to his/her own IRA?

I have recently heard conflicting advice on this. One very large investment house remains adamant that the plan MUST distribute the money in a lump sum to the beneficiary. They said that the plan is there for participants and alternate payees only.

I had another person say that, no, the beneficiary can leave the money in the plan.

Have any of you ever dealt with this?

Thanks.

Service provider failed to file an extension for a calendar year plan. Plan sponsor is a fiscal year taxpayer (3/31 year end). Can plan sponsor still rely on the corporate tax extension to extend 5500 deadline to 10/17?

Thanks for any guidance.

Hi,

I have a 12/31 plan that has 2 match formulas. 50% to 6% and 100% to 6%. The 100% to 6% is failing BRF.

This match was "grandfathered" to a group of 4 participants (1 HCE, 3 NHCEs) back in 2004. They were part of a larger group and the formula worked for a bit. The plan spun out in 2013 and is now a much smaller plan. It is failed BRF that year (never corrected). For 2014, the usual HCE fell below threshold therefore was considered NHCE. Now 2015, they are failing again. By the way the plan was restated in 2013 and again in 2016.

Is there any way this would be permissible since it was a "grandfather" closed group? Or do they need to expand the group receiving the match?

Thanks for any help...We are up against the 9 1/2 month deadline which is Saturday/Monday.

I'm surprised there is no relief yet or did I miss something?

Folks can anyone point me to clear defining regulations that say a maximum amount of a new loan request has to be determined by reducing the maximum permitted loan by the highest outstanding balance in the last 12 months?

I have a situation that Ascensus is refusing to permit any loan over what they say is a 12 month look back period. I had a loan that was completely repaid on June 29, 2016. The loan since June is not outstanding.

By the Ascensus Calcs: now 95K is vested. So a maximum allowed is 8616$.

50,000-(maximum outstanding in last 12 months)=50,000-41383.71=8,616.29$ is what Ascensus says is my maximum new borrowing allowance.

From everything I read in the CFR indicates that look back should only apply when there are prior existing loans that are outstanding in that all loans cannot exceed the maximum 50K.

In my case I currently do not have any outstanding loans.

Thanks for your reply.

Ken

Our plan has quarterly enrollments. A participant wanted to begin catch-ups with the quarterly enrollment. She adjusted her deferral to accommodate for the amount, but due to some miscommunication did not realize she had to also fill out a separate form to elect that she wanted to sign up for catchups.

I feel that we can self correct this and begin her catch ups now since it only a single situation and caught right away, rather than wait until the next enrollment period in January. Is my thinking correct?

We have a new plan that has come to us. It is a one-participant plan (1 owner covered, no other eligible employees). The plan has a real estate investment as part of its assets. I say it is still eligible to file a Form 5500-EZ or one participant Form 5500-SF. A colleague thinks we need to file a Form 5500 with a Schedule I due to real estate investment.

Any thoughts?

My ex-husband lied during our divorce and said he did not have a 401k plan. He did. When we divorced after 25 years of marriage he took our 3/4 of a million dollars and dropped it off overseas two weeks before the divorce hearing, so I got nothing. I am now 62, and have no retirement funds. We divorced in Ohio-a community property state, so I was entitled to 50% of his 401k plan. How do I find out even the basics about the account? Do I contact his old employer and do they have any obligation to speak to me or provide information? What about the Department of Labor? How can I determine the existence of his 401k account so I can obtain my half? I cannot afford an attorney.

Client PC currently maintains a cross tested 401K profit sharing plan; adopting cash balance for 2016.

Accountant mentioned he should terminate existing 401k and roll over to IRAs for all and adopt new 401k in combination with cash balance DB. because sharing contributions rise dramatically each year as client only participant getting more than a money market ROR. Says the participants have chosen money market investments.

Does this make any sense?

Generally, I work on DB plans, so forgive a naive question.

A 401(k) plan with matching by pay period has turnover in their HR department and some match deposits get missed. Later the TPA notes the failed match, and wants to make corrections. The issue is not resolved until 20+ months after the due date, but finally paid, voluntarily without govt direction.

How does this get reported for IRS, DOL and 5500 purposes?

What happens to the excise tax (under $100), specifically as to paying it to IRS or to participants?

Any help would be appreciated.

I've gotten two letters in two days from the Boston Office regarding late deposits reported on the 5500. The letter specifically says "it appears that the correction was not completed before the date of the filing of this form."

That is false in both cases - the auditors schedule of late deposits disclosed that it was corrected outside of VFCP.

The letter indicates that "prior to commencing any enforcement actions, please let us know if you will be filing under VFCP."

By the way, did I mention that both plans have around $1MM of contributions a year and the late deposits disclosed were WELL below $1,000? One was just barely over $100.

Anyone getting similar letters? I think that when they pulled the query something went wrong and these were sent out in error.

I understand that SIMPLE plans are subject to the controlled group rules (i.e. all members of the controlled group are treated as a single employer for qualified plan requirements).

While as a parent company has SIMPLE 401K plan, can a subsidiary company have SIMPLE IRA in the same year? Contribution percentage will stay the same.

The most of the employees will be transferred to a subsidiary company, and parent company will be as a holding company.

I understand that filing Form 5500 begins the running of the statute of limitations for an ERISA Plan IRS audit. A governmental DB plan, however, is not subject to the Form 5500 filing requirement. Any leads on what starts the running of the SOL for a governmental DB plan?