steve-o

I am working on a 5500 and am having trouble with the active participant rules for Lines 6 and 7 of the form. At BOY, the company had 105 employees with account balances - I assume this is the number of participants at BOY. At EOY, there were 76 employees listed as active with account balances, 28 listed as terminated and 1 retired. 13 of the terminateds/retirees had a zero balance at EOY. Does this mean I am now down to 92 for EOY count on Line 7g? What about the other 16 terminateds who are to get their money? The instructions to the 5500 say not to include "any individual to whom an insurance company has made an irrevocable commitment to pay all the benefits to which the individual is entitled under the plan". Does that exclude the group of terminateds who will get their money but haven't done so yet? As long as the total for the beginning of next year is under 100, that is the main goal here. Thanks for the help.

When does a spouse have to give consent for someone other than the spouse to be a beneficiary of a 401(k) plan? I have a situation where the couple is in the process of a lengthy divorce and the husband wants his two daughters to be the beneficiary of his interest in his company's 401(k) plan. It is fairly certain the wife would not want this to take place if she can help it. Does the wife get first crack at the money while she is still married? And what happens once the divorce is finalized?

What are the deferral limits for a person over age 50 who was in a SEP for the first 6 months of 2003 and then moved to a 401(k) plan effective July 1? Is it the $12,000 plus $2,000 catchup for the 401(k) or must that limit be prorated along with the SEP limits?