I'm sooooo glad I found this forum! Thank you in advance for any help you guys can give. Very timely indeed!

Just this month, I have changed jobs from an employee (W2) to an independent contractor (1099).

With my former employer (Company X), the following was contributed to my 2015 401k:

Employee (tax-deferred) contribution: $12,838.56

EmployER Safe Harbor contribution: $5,646.70

As an independent contractor, I have elected to open a individual (solo) 401k for my small business (single employee - myself). I chose the solo 401k route because I can rollover my SEP-IRA into the solo 401k... which will allow me to make backdoor RothIRA contributions in the future.

Question:

I understand that my employEE (tax-deferred) contribution limit is maxed at $17,500 $18,000 across ALL plans. However, what is my solo 401k employER contribution limit for 2015? Is it $40,500 $35,500? Does the Company X Safe Harbor contribution count toward my solo 401k employER contribution?

(corrected errors above)

Thanks everybody!

Received a call from CFO of a client with 300 employees, 260 eligible,40 deferring...CFO filed 5500's 2009-2014 -- thought that plan did not need an audit.

Hired a new CPA who asked about copies of audits. Nada!

Frankly, I've never had anything but late audits...with no meaningful consequences.

4 questions:

Is this similar to a DFVC event [since I was always told that the DOL considers a failure to attach the audit as a non-filing]?

Can they get just one massive audit that covers all years and just refile the 2014 5500 + 2009-2014 audit attached, as an amended 2014 return, with DFVC and amended return boxes checked? -- or--

Must they refile every separate 5500 and have separate audits, year by year?

Does the CFO need to commit hari-kari, kamikaze or "It's a Good Life" type action???

Thanks in advance.

Any guidance or opinions on whether offering an in-plan Roth rollover/conversion/transfer becomes a protected benefit that will be difficult to remove once added?

Anybody keeping a list of which recordkeeping platforms are now capable of doing the recordkeeping? We're concerned about adding the feature in the document without confirming the recordkeeping capabilities.

I have a plan that has a current set match. They would like to add an additional disc match with a vesting schedule. I have never had this come up. Is this possible?

The vast majority of DOL guidance about when it may be appropriate to pass through eligible administrative expenses to the participant directly affected by the administrative action is limited to defined contribution plans. Question has come up whether you could do the same under a cash balance plan (assuming the expense is reasonable, it's reasonable to assess it to the particular person involved, etc.), which is, of course, a defined benefit plan but does have individual accounts. The only thing I can find on whether you could pass through expenses in a DB Plan is an informal DOL staff comment saying yes, specifically for the expense of QDRO administration, but would need DOL and IRS guidance on the issue. Has anyone seen any other guidance or comments on the issue?

I am currently assisting an auditor in reviewing another TPAs ACP testing for a large 401(k) plan with a discretionary match. The employer decided to give a match for the 2014 plan year after 3/15/15. They told the TPA what they would like to do (100% match on up to 6% deferrals), but also said they did not want to have a failed test with refunds. This original formula was failing ACP by a long shot, so they then told the TPA that they wanted to spend a total of $200,000, and they wanted the TPA to figure out a match formula that would pass ACP testing. Through what the TPA called "trial and error" they ended up giving all eligible NHCEs a match of 95.4% on deferrals up to 6%. The 10 HCEs on the other hand received various matching percentages from as low as 37.5% up to 82.5% on deferrals up to 6%.

Does anyone see a problem with this? We have never done anything like this at our firm before. As long as you give the NHCEs a better matching rate, is it okay to adjust individual HCEs in whatever way the TPA... oh, wait, I mean "plan sponsor" decides, and then declare that as their discretionary match?

New Comparability Plan:

Comp from date of participation.

Employee enters on 7/1/2015, and comp is exactly half of his full year. let's say full year is 20,000, partial is 10,000.

Can the participant receive an allocation of 20k and therefore have an allocation % of 200%?

Can a participant name a non-for-profit company as their beneficiary?

Plan was set up in 2014 with an age 21 and 6 mo of service entry requirement, monthly entry dates.

I found out this week that the census I was provided was not all employees, just those who participate, even though our form requests all info.

1 part timer apparently went full time this month and the client asked me if she has to wait 6 months to get in since she was hired in January 2014. This is how I discovered this problem. The annual val and 5500 is complete and filed.

We are waiting for a corrected census from the client. Isn't the correction for the ER to fund a 3% deferral for those ees that were not offered the plan timely? This is a deferral only plan.

We have a 0% MPPP where the owner and his spouse have rollover money. There are no other funds in the plan. The plan document should have been drafted to exclude all other employees but was not. The plan would like to file 5500-EZ rather than 5500-SF.

Can the document be amended retroactively as of 1/1/14 excluding all other employees (without filing under (VCP)? Seems that it should be okay as no employee is losing their 0% "accrued benefit."

Thanks!

I have a plan sponsor who is a non-amender and needs to go through VCP. The last document we found is a "Super Simplified Profit Sharing Plan" Adoption Agreement signed in 2002 provided by Oppenheimer Funds. Does anyone have access to the Basic Plan Document for this Adoption Agreement? I know this is a long shot!

Plan permits participants to take out participant loans at 0% interest. Is this commercially reasonable? If not, are the loans prohibited transactions? If so, do the participants have to repay the entire amount of the loans back to the Plan before the prohibited transaction can be treated as corrected? Or can the interest rate on the loan be renegotiated without the participants having to actually repay their loans?

A recordkeeper has just set up an excess revenue account for a client, but is including a one-time deposit that represents excess revenue from 2014 that was collected but not credited to the plan until now.

The client has already paid their 2014 invoices but would like to be reimbursed for 2014 fees they paid for qualified plan expenses (i.e, to auditor, accountant, etc.).

What are your thoughts, is this doable?

Hello,

We have a couple employees that have contributed over their allowable amounts for the FSA as they have been classified as Highly Compensated Employees. I understand the refund must pass through payroll. Should the amount be taxed as a supplemental payment or as a regular payment that is taxed through the tax tables?

Thank you,

I need some help/confirmation that I will be doing coverage and nondiscrimination testing correctly for the following situation:

3 DC plans - all plans cover all employees.

1. PS/K 21 & 1

2. MP 21 & 2

3. PS 21 & 2

Plan 1 meets coverage on it's own and the PS contribution is that same % for all.

Plans 2 & 3 combined and x-tested.

For 2 & 3 the combined plans pass the ratio percent test but need the ABT to pass rate group testing.

Questions re plans 2 & 3 testing:

1. Can all employees with less than the 2 year eligibility be excluded from both the ABT and the a4 tests? (In other words, someone that has 1 YOS but less than 2 YOS will be "excludable" rather than "not benefiting".)

2. Should the ABT benefit % include the K & PS benefits from Plan 1?

Thank you to anyone that replies.

I have encountered a multiemployer welfare plan which only offers a one-size-fits-all coverage option; in other words, there is no "self-only" coverage option. I assume this means I must consider the employee contributions toward the cost of the one-size-fits-all coverage option when determining ACA affordability (if so, the plan is VERY unaffordable - employees pay around 30% of wages for coverage)?

Certainly, employers/plans can't circumvent the ACA affordability standard by eliminating the self-only coverage option, right? I checked regulations, etc. and didn't find anything that addressed this situation.

Would appreciate any thoughts, etc. Thanks!

Has anyone been successful at correcting a 401(k) plan for violating the contingent benefit rule? If so, what was the applicable correction?

Bunker Hill

Watergate and the alert Frank Wills

OJ and the slow moving white Bronco (aka John Elway Day)

.. OK, back to work.

A participant filled out an election form and elected 10% to be withheld while another participant filled out the EF electing 0% withholding. The employer switched the participants deductions so the 0% participant had 10% withheld.

Is a refund necessary to the 0% participant or is there a different solution for this?

Every year we are required to send a list of assets to Participants. It is supposed to have a Diversification notice attached.

My question is, "Is there a requirement to have any plan provisions on this notice?"