A doctor has a few people working in his office at a hospital who are paid by the hospital and have access to a 403(b) plan with the hospital, of which at least one employee contributes. The doctor operates under his own business entity and does not have any direct employees paid by that entity. The doctor also maintains a 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan and Defined Benefit Plan sponsored by his entity.

Does the doctor need to make contributions to the people who work in his office, if he accrues benefits in and contributes to both plans? I believe they qualify as employees under the common law definition but I'm not clear on the effect of their eligibility for the 403(b). Also not sure if I am asking the right questions?

Any opinions from this community are greatly appreciated.

Anyone have any info on either EFAST 3 or the DOL's project to completely revamp the 5500?

Hello, looking for some advice or thoughts...

My company had to make some cuts at the end of 2015 due to a lost contract. I was one of those cuts unfortunately.

My company's 401k plan has a 50% match up to 3%. They have a last day of plan employment stipulation. Here is the exact wording from the SPD...

"Allocation Conditions: In order to share in the matching contributions for a Plan Year, you must satisfy the following conditions:

- If you are employed on the last day of the Plan Year, you will share regardless of the amount of service you complete during the Plan Year."

The plan year is Jan 1 - Dec 31. I was employed and worked on December 31st. I worked from 7A-10P. That was my last day of service.

Was I not employed on the last day of the Plan Year? I worked the majority of the day. Should I be entitled to the 3% company match?

Thanks for your advice.

Hope someone can help me with this. I have a client with 4 partners with K-1 earnings. This year they reported "negative" earnings on 3 of the partners and positive on one. The one with positive earnings terminated from the company mid-year.

This is a Safe Harbor Plan with a 3% non-elective. Do I calculate the total earnings using the net of the 4 partners and give each of them a SH contribution based on that net number.

The three remaining partners reported -42,525 and the terminated partner reported a positive 60,300.

I looked at the document and it doesn't say anything regarding this. Can someone please let me know your thoughts.

Actuary retires from Actuarial Firm. His partner at actuarial firm takes over his cases and signs his SB’s. Does this get reported on Schedule C as a termination of actuary?

The instructions are clear that an enrolled actuary is an individual, but does not clearly define what “termination” means…

Plan was frozen back in the 90s. I'm pretty sure if something is frozen before 9/1/2005, then 436 doesn't apply. But I can't find a cite or guidance for that. I didn't make that up, did I?

Could someone point me towards what I'm looking for?

Preparing TRA'86 and GUST "late amender" documents.

What were the deadlines for the TRA'86 and GUST restatements?

And what would be the most logical entry in the "effective date of restatement" box on each Adoption Agreement?

Many thanks.

Plan originally set up as calendar year plan, when we took over, the client tells me they are a fiscal ending 10/31.

Plan has a corporate resolution changing plan year to 11/1 to 10/31 for 2015 and the 2015 5500s have not yet been filed.

Plan was restated for PPA effective 1/1/2016.

Question is the 2015 5500s - if we do a short 5500 for 1/1/- 10/31/2015, how do we handle the 5500s for 11/1/15-10/31/2016 as that would be two sets of 5500s for 2015.

Won't IRS and/or DOL send out a Notice or Letter??

So the recordkeepers always enter "Recordkeeper" on their Schedule C reports under the field for their own relationship to the Employer. I believe the DOL has said publicly that that's not what they mean - they mean something beyond their relationship as a service provider (which relationship is already obvious).

Can anyone point to something? I already checked the 2 FAQs and found nothing...

I'm hoping to get some input if I rephrase my question - as I can't find the answer anywhere. Answer must be painfully obvious to everyone but me, as I can't believe this is an uncommon scenario!

Purely non-elective deferral plan (SERP agreement) already pays benefits on a separation from service due to death, disability or normal retirement. Is an amendment to also pay benefits upon involuntary termination an impermissible acceleration of benefits under 409A? I can't determine whether that's considered a modification to the timing of benefits or not.

My interpretation is that such an amendment would be a violation of 409A. I would appreciate any and all feedback.

Thank you!

Looking for advice. A 401k plan uses prior year testing for ADP/ACP. The employer hasn't matched for 6 years. The ACP test failed and the correction method is to refund 100%to all HCEs. I believe this is because the prior year's ACP is 0%. Is it possible to use the 3% that can be used for a first year plan? Can I go back to the last ACP test from 6 years ago? Has anyone had this situation? I'm not sure where to look for the answer.

Plan admin has documents identifying husband of participant as POA. Husband submits notarized application for benefit. He signs "her name by his name" but doesn't indicate "POA" or "attorney in fact." Is it OK to accept this notarized signature and process the application for benefits?

Hi. We have been advised that we should apply for a Trust ID for all of our plans that currently use their EIN as the TIN.

Is there a good reason to be doing this? Is there a requirements that a plan have a separate TIN? We had stopped as we had confusion in the past with TIN's being deactivated after non-use.

Thank you!

Non safe harbor 401k plan...

Plan was terminated and the assets were distributed during 2015. Later, it was discovered that one participant did not receive a profit sharing/matching contribution (between $1,000-$2,000).

The participant's account balance was rolled over to a new employer's 401k plan upon plan termination.

What is the best way to provide the missing contribution to the participant? I think it is best to have the plan sponsor write a check directly to the participant's new employer's plan as a rollover. The contract between the plan sponsor and the financial institution where the plan's assets were invested was completely terminated upon asset liquidation. So, there is no way to physically deposit the contribution to the participant's old 401k account.

Also, how should it be reported on the final 5500-SF (or maybe it is not final 5500 because it will have a receivable/ending balance for the amount of the missing contribution)?

Lastly, would the earnings calculation be required? Profit sharing was a discretionary (once a year deposit), and the matching was a discretionary per payroll calculation/deposit.

Thanks!

SERP currently is drafted to pay benefits upon the executive's death, disability or normal retirement. Can it be amended to also pay benefits upon an involuntary termination without violating 409A? My interpretation is No - is that correct?

We just took over the admin of a profit sharing plan that had been named "XYZ, PC 401K Profit Sharing Plan" SHNE, with the "discretionary" 3% (maybe) notice.

The plan apparently was not meant to be set up as a 401K, there have never been any employee contributions, the previous TPA prepared the document as a 401(k) with the discretionary SHNE "maybe" notice last year.

Since there have never been any employee contributions, is it possible to amend the plan currently to a profit sharing plan and not a 401(k) and remove the references to the 401K portion, which never existed in the first place?

Thoughts?

Do Medicare late enrollment penalties count as expenses paid for medical care under Code Section 213(d), or does only the standard premium fall into the definition of medical care?

We scrambled to get snap-on amendments signed and assets distributed before 4-30-16 PPA Restatement deadline. All participant accounts distributed and zero'ed out. Then, interest of $3.17 appears on 4-30-16. It gets swept to HCEs IRA on 5-2-16.

I'm about to file the final Form 5500. Can I file 4-30-16 final with a $3 payable, or include the $3 in benefits paid or file 5-2-16 final date? Is one automatically a non-amender on 5/1/16 if there's $1 left in the trust?

We have a 401(k) that allowed a person to start deferring before he was eligible, and want to retroactively amend for SCP correction. We are unclear as to the form and substance of the amendment:

1. Does the amendment name the specific individual(s) allowed in in error, or to all persons who would meet the amended eligibility criteria? (ex: change from 1 yrs svc to immediate entry is need to make that person eligible; does this apply to him, or to everyone)

2. Does the amendment apply only for those year(s) when ineligible person(s) deferred or prospectively from that time forward?

3. Using SCP, does this amendment have to be submitted to IRS for determination letter?