Peter Gulia

EBECatty, consider whether to suggest your client not amend the plan until applicable law becomes clearer or tax law’s remedial-amendment period soon will end, whichever happens first. (Alternatively, one might write a provision that the plan’s student exclusion does not apply to the extent that ERISA § 202(c) commands that the exclusion not apply.) Before an amendment, a plan’s administrator might interpret the plan to include (only) the provision ERISA § 202(c) commands. See, for example, Lefkowitz v. Arcadia Trading Co. Ltd. Benefit Pension Plan, 996 F.2d 600, 604 (2d Cir. 1993) (for a defined-benefit pension plan that omitted to provide for a qualified preretirement survivor annuity, the court interpreted the plan as providing a QPSA); Gallagher v. Park West Bank & Tr. Co., 921 F. Supp. 867 (D. Mass. 1996) (for an individual-account retirement plan that omitted to state any qualified preretirement survivor annuity or other survivor provision, the court interpreted the plan as providing a 50% QPSA); see also, by analogy, Laurent v. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, 945 F.3d 739 (2d Cir. 2019) (If a plan’s document states a provision contrary to ERISA’s title I, a court may reform the plan.) Remember, ERISA § 404(a)(1)(D)’s charge to administer a plan “in accordance with the documents and instruments governing the plan” applies only “insofar as such documents and instruments are consistent with the provisions of [ERISA] title [I][.]” While one administers the plan by interpolating ERISA § 202(c), that fiduciary would form prudent interpretations about what ERISA § 202(c) commands (or doesn’t). The potential exclusion would apply only for “a student who is enrolled and regularly attending classes at [the] school, college, or university[.]” I.R.C. (26 U.S.C.) § 3121(b)(10). So, if you’re seeking to compare your potential interpretations (several interpretations might be within an administrator’s discretion) to other lawyers’ interpretations, you might prefer them from one who has at least one college or university that employs students (and before 2025 excludes them elective deferrals). This is not advice to anyone.

Two further thoughts: When there is no Federal court decision, Treasury rule (final, temporary, or proposed), IRS guidance, Tax Court opinion, or other authority, “a taxpayer may have substantial authority for a position that is supported only by a well-reasoned construction of the applicable statutory provision.” 26 C.F.R. § 1.6662-4(d)(3)(ii) https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/part-1/section-1.6662-4#p-1.6662-4(d)(3)(ii). If there is no Treasury rule, a substantial-authority position is one a tax return need not disclose, and it gets a reasonable-cause excuse from an understatement penalty. That might matter to a taxpayer, or a tax preparer. Also, it might matter for the professional conduct of a practitioner who practices before the Internal Revenue Service. See 31 C.F.R. §§ 10.33, 10.37. When there is no authority beyond the statute itself, a well-reasoned interpretation of the statute might be a “more likely than not” position. See Financial Accounting Standards Board, Accounting Standards Compilation Topic 740, Income Taxes [compiling Statement No. 109, Accounting for Income Taxes (Feb. 1992), Interpretation No. 48, Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes (June 2006), and many Accounting Standards Updates]. That might matter if the plan has GAAP financial statements, or if the employer has GAAP financial statements and something depends on the plan’s or § 401(k) arrangement’s tax-qualified treatment.

If the document that established the cash-or-deferred arrangement was not made before December 29, 2022, consider also: The statute’s “small businesses” exception refers to ten employees. An employer might have “normally employed more than 10 employees[,]” yet have fewer than ten participants eligible to elect deferrals. About that exception, there is a lag: “[Internal Revenue Code § 414A](a) shall not apply to any qualified cash or deferred arrangement . . . earlier than the date that is [one] year after the close of the first taxable year with respect to which the employer maintaining the plan normally employed more than 10 employees.” I.R.C. (26 U.S.C.) § 414A(c)(4)(B) (emphasis added). If all relevant tax years are calendar years and December 31, 2026 is the close of the first year in which the employer “normally employed” more than ten employees, does § 414A(c)(4)(B) mean that the plan’s eligible automatic-contribution arrangement need not begin until 2028? Or must the EACA begin by December 31, 2027? This is not advice to anyone.

These hyperlinks point to some BenefitsLink discussions about whether an employment classification is or isn’t a proxy for an age or service condition. https://benefitslink.com/boards/topic/71371-ltpt-proposed-regs-issued-by-irs/#comment-334692 https://benefitslink.com/boards/topic/71384-ltpt-interns/ I can’t yet share a reasoning; here’s why: Not all plans are burdened by a command or condition to let a long-term part-time employee defer. Some plans allow every employee to defer. A plan’s administrator might not decide whether a particular employment classification’s exclusion is permissible until it becomes necessary to decide. Whether “[a] condition is not a proxy for imposing an age or service condition that requires” more than what meets the LTPT condition (if the plan’s administrator considers that reasoning) is highly fact-sensitive. Different clients have different appetites for risk or caution. Different clients have different aptitudes and interests about whether it’s important to maintain an exclusion for an employment classification.

If you hope for or fear tax and ERISA legislation nearing the end of the 118th Congress, watch in mid-December. Based on Congress’s continuing resolution many expect they will enact by September 30, the next end of appropriations would be December 20. That’s the Friday before Christmas Day. In the remaining session after 2024 elections, look for Congress to turn to the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2025, and to some effort to avoid or invoke a government shutdown. Those efforts might include an appropriations or budget-reconciliation bill, which could include law changes the Senate could not vote on under a regular-order procedure.

I’m curious, which do you, or employers, fear more: That an IRS examination might look into an employer’s administration of an automatic-contribution arrangement, find errors or weaknesses, and threaten to tax-disqualify the § 401(k) arrangement? Or That employees who did not opt out will feel frustrated that one’s pay was lowered, and will blame the employer (rather than public law)?

Its fine to ask in an efficient and effective way for the employee’s choice, even if the invitation presumes the likely choice is the opt-out. What I suggest you and your clients consider is that the IRS might worry that the last sentence: “If no election is made above [that is, in the HRIS system], you will be automatically enrolled in the Plan as described in the Automatic Contribution Arrangement Notice.” Could be read to suggest that the only way an employee specifies her choice is in the HRIS system (and that she may not deliver her election by other means). Could be read to suggest that the employee, if onboarding, specifies her choice as an element of the onboarding (and lacks other ways to deliver her election). Could be read to suggest that the only choices are an election for no deferral or for the default deferral. Could be read to suggest that the new employee’s choice is concluded now, rather than by the end of the notice period. Even if the preceding EACA notice is perfect and even if there might be good arguments about why the HRIS screen does not interfere with anyone’s notice or election opportunities, one can imagine some IRS people evaluating the facts and circumstances differently. As I understand the purpose you described, it’s to use an available opportunity to capture a no-deferral election because the employer fears an employee who prefers no deferral might, without being prompted by the HRIS system, neglect to do an opt-out. To meet that purpose, the system’s collection of a no-deferral or opt-out election need not be irrevocable. An employee who in the HRIS system specifies an opt-out is unlikely, during the notice period, to change her election from an opt-out to an affirmative election specifying her (nonzero) elective-deferral percentage. And if an employee changes her mind, the employer can deal with it then. Your idea is good. Rather, it calls for a little attention to what the words say, possible meanings a reasonable reader could perceive, and how IRS people might assert possible reasons a particular notice and election regime didn’t exactly meet what tax law calls for. A little editing might make your way one that meets its purpose and helps avoid an IRS challenge. This is not advice to anyone.

Many computer systems have no function for something that looks like an old-fashioned signature. Many require typing one’s name, or just one’s name’s initials, as the electronic signature. (For example, for something Temple University asks me to sign, the system instructs me to enter the two characters “PG”, and would refuse to process anything else.) Or if an individual is already identified to the system, it might ask only for a click on an “I accept” or “I confirm” button. Likewise, the system often records the date a keystroke or click was entered or a function was processed.

Among the conditions for an eligible automatic contribution arrangement, Internal Revenue Code § 414(w)(4)(B)(ii) requires: “the employee has a reasonable period of time after receipt of the notice[.]” Also, an EACA notice must mention the range of choices. One can imagine the Treasury or its IRS interpreting those concepts to say an employer ought not suggest that a participant must complete her choice any sooner than the end of the notice period. Likewise, an employer ought not to suggest that making a cash-or-deferred choice is a necessary element of completing the onboarding that confirms an employment. So, a plan’s administrator might rewrite your idea: {Your expression of a choice against elective deferrals.} If by {specify a date}, our retirement plan’s administrator has received none of: (i) your choice permitted above, (ii) your other choice to have nothing taken from your pay for retirement savings, and (iii) your choice of the percentage of your pay (no less than 1%, and no more than 92%) you want to not receive in money and defer under our retirement plan, we will take nn% from your pay each pay period and treat those amounts as your elective contributions to our retirement plan, as further explained in the preceding notice. This is not advice to anyone.

Thanks, Gina Alsdorf and justanotheradmin. I’m aware that a “cash” position or a money-market fund or account is a broker-dealer’s typical default for uninstructed amounts under a securities account. But if the plan’s administrator or trustee wants ERISA § 404(c)(5) relief for a defaulted-in participant’s deemed investment direction, wouldn’t the plan’s trustee instruct the broker-dealer to invest the account in a target-year fund or balanced fund so it can be a continuing qualified default investment alternative? Although a principal-preservation investment might be a QDIA for a first 120 days, might a fiduciary prefer a default investment that remains a QDIA if the participant continues in not communicating her affirmative investment direction? 29 C.F.R. § 2550.404c-5(e)(4)(iv)(B) https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/part-2550/section-2550.404c-5#p-2550.404c-5(e)(4)(iv)(B).

Consider that an answer might vary with whether the plan’s sponsor and administrator seek to meet only Internal Revenue Code § 403(b)(12)(A)(ii) or also seek to obey ERISA sections 202(c) and 203(b)(4). Applicable or relevant law is ambiguous. Forty comments on the Treasury’s proposed rule are available at https://www.regulations.gov/document/IRS-2023-0058-0001/comment. Some comments flag your question as an open issue the Treasury’s proposed rule does not resolve. Likewise, some comments flag a coordination between tax law conditions and ERISA’s minimum-participation and minimum-vesting provisions as an open issue the Treasury’s proposed rule does not resolve. Although some might guess the Treasury lacks power to interpret ERISA § 202(c) and 203(b)(4), the 1978 Reorganization Plan transfers that authority to the Treasury. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/laws-and-regulations/laws/executive-orders/4. But even if the Treasury publishes a final rule and no court vacates the rule, a Federal court does not defer to an executive agency’s interpretation of the statute. An ERISA-governed plan’s administrator must administer the plan according to the plan’s governing documents or, to the extent a document is inconsistent with ERISA’s title I, ERISA’s title I. That might call for an administrator’s prudent interpretations of ERISA sections 202 and 203. Different law applies for a governmental plan or for a church plan that did not elect to be ERISA-governed.

ERISA’s supersedure of States’ laws makes it unnecessary for an employee-benefit plan’s administrator to know, or even consider, any State’s law. Section 514(b)(7)’s limited exception regarding a qualified domestic relations order or qualified medical child support order might call a plan’s administrator to read an order’s text, but one need not know the State’s or Tribe’s law underlying the order. ERISA § 206(d)(3) calls a plan’s administrator to follow only a QDRO that “clearly specifies” the necessary information and instructions. An order does not “clearly specify” if the plan’s administrator cannot determine the amount to pay to, or set aside for, the alternate payee from the order’s text alone.

Some individual-account retirement plans that provide participant-directed investment lack designated investment alternatives. Instead, each participant gets a securities account with a bank or a securities broker-dealer. Trade lingo calls this a brokerage-window-only plan. According to an ERISA Advisory Council report, “BWO” is mostly with small (< 100 participants) plans, and especially plans with “fewer than 25 employees.” A brokerage-window-only plan calls the plan’s trustee to open and maintain a securities account for each participant. Although the trustee is the account’s holder, the participant instructs the broker-dealer on what securities to buy, hold, or sell. An automatic-contribution arrangement sometimes requires a plan’s administrator and trustee to act for a participant who does not communicate (other than by not counteracting an automatic-contribution notice). About a broker-dealer’s account-opening forms (or anything needed to maintain an account): Does anything require a signature from the participant? Does anything require information about a participant that the plan’s administrator lacks? Will a broker-dealer open an account if the individual’s profile information is incomplete? Did some brokerage-window-only plans have, before any I.R.C. § 414A condition, an automatic-contribution arrangement? Did it work, or have there been difficulties? If your clients include brokerage-window-only plans that have a § 401(k) arrangement (or will have one by 2025), do you expect difficulties in setting up and maintaining securities accounts for those participants who neither opt out nor affirmatively enroll?

But what about “[e]xpenses for the repair of damage to the employee’s principal residence that would qualify for the casualty deduction under section 165 (determined without regard to section 165(h)(5) and whether the loss exceeds 10% of adjusted gross income)[?]” 26 C.F.R. § 1.401(k)-1(d)(3)(ii)(B)(6) https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-26/part-1/section-1.401(k)-1#p-1.401(k)-1(d)(3)(ii)(B)(6).

As QDROphile mentions, some securities law exemptions regarding a single-employer retirement plan do not apply regarding a multiple-employer plan. Securities Act of 1933 § 3(a)(2), 15 U.S.C. § 77c(a)(2); Employee Benefit Plans; Interpretations of Statute, SEC Securities Act Release No. 33-6188 (Feb. 1. 1980), 45 Fed. Reg. 8960-8979 (Feb. 11, 1980), available at https://www.sec.gov/files/rules/interp/33-6188.pdf. See also SEC No-Action Letters: Honeywell International Inc. Savings Plan Trust (Oct. 7, 2002); Samaritan Health System (Dec. 14, 1993); Sunkist Master Trust (June 5, 1992); Eli Lilly and Co. (Dec. 31, 1991); Nat’l Ass’n of Home Builders of the United States (Nov. 10, 1980 & April 1, 1981); Harvard University Pension Plans and Trusts (July 7, 1980 & July 23, 1980). If a church plan delivered disclosures regarding the plan’s securities law exemptions, participants and other investors in a church plan’s § 403(b)(9) retirement income accounts do not enjoy the protections (or bear the expenses) of Federal securities laws registrations. Securities Act of 1933 § 3(a)(13), 15 U.S.C. § 77c(a)(13); Securities Exchange Act of 1934 § 3(a)(12)(A)(vi), 3(g), 15 U.S.C. § 78c(a)(12)(A)(vi), 78c(g); Investment Company Act of 1940 §§ 3(c)(14), 30(i)–(j), 15 U.S.C. §§ 80a-3(c)(14), 80a-29(i)–(j).

The plan’s administrator might first evaluate whether the order is a qualified domestic relations order. To be a QDRO, an order must “clearly specif[y] . . . the amount . . . to be paid by the plan to each such alternate payee, or the manner in which such amount . . . is to be determined[.]” If an order sets an amount but also mentions a past “date of segregation” and does so without stating that the alternate payee neither benefits from nor is burdened by investment change after that date, that sets up an ambiguity. Or that two intelligent people read the order and are uncertain about what it provides or doesn’t might suggest an ambiguity. If the plan’s administrator has already instructed you that it found the order is a QDRO, require the administrator to instruct you about what amount to set aside for the alternate payee. If you use discretion and either the participant or the might-be alternate payee understands the order differently than you see it, you invite blowback and a liability exposure (even if small). This is not advice to anyone.

A church plan might have participating employers somewhat beyond the church, mosque, synagogue, temple, or other body but sufficiently tied to the church’s mission and control. Suggest your client lawyer-up to design all relationships with the other charitable organization so the plan stays within both ERISA’s and the Internal Revenue Code’s church plan definitions. It can’t be so that the church has 100% “ownership” of the other charitable organization because a § 501(c)(3) charity has no owner. Rather, all the details, including about governance, matter. And look for whether the charity’s functions are something that’s a logical extension of the church’s mission. This is not advice to anyone.

Might the employer have paid the amounts under a mistake of fact so that the plan's administrator and trustee might return to the employer the amounts mistakenly paid? This is not advice to anyone.

Susan L., your query does not mention whether the plan is a defined-benefit plan or an individual-account (defined-contribution) plan, nor whether the plan seeks to tax-qualify under Internal Revenue Code § 401(a), § 403(b), § 415(m), § 457(b), or something else. One or more of those and other classifications might matter to discern whether a plan provides a distribution before a participant has severed from employment and before the participant attained a specified age.

I’m not aware of Treasury or IRS having published an answer to this question. And I don’t know whether this question has even been suggested to the IRS. Not every ambiguity in tax law gets a timely publication of the Treasury’s or IRS’s interpretation. Sometimes, an employer or plan administrator must form one’s own interpretation about what tax law requires or permits. An employer might want evidence that it in good faith made a reasoned interpretation of the statute. To do so, one might want its lawyer’s or certified public accountant’s written advice. austin3515, I don’t disagree with your reading of the statute; rather, I have not formed my reading. (I have no client with a cash-or-deferred arrangement not established before December 29, 2022. And it’s unlikely I ever will have a client subject to I.R.C. § 414A.) BenefitsLink neighbors, here’s a way to gather information one could use to advise one’s client: Of those recordkeepers active in providing services to small plans, have they built their services to support automatic-contribution arrangements assuming there must be a sweep to bring in those who became eligible before 2025? Does a recordkeeper allow its customer to specify that its automatic-contribution arrangement applies only to those who become eligible after 2024? While I don’t suggest a practitioner rely on a recordkeeper’s interpretations or business practices, sometimes a plan sponsor’s or plan administrator’s decision-making might be influenced by knowing what services are or are not available from one’s recordkeeper.

That a plan existed before the first day of the reported-on year yet begins the year with assets valued at $0 might not attract unwelcome attention. If you want a practical sense about whether a BoY plan assets of $0 would attract a filing-error message or an edit check, enter the plan’s information and see what message (if any) your software turns out. Consider also that if a one-participant plan never had enough assets that a Form 5500 report was otherwise required (and all years before the final year went unreported), the plan might not be much of an examination target to which the IRS would devote scarce resources.

I have several times had clients use a recordkeeper’s software routine of the kind FishOn describes. It works from each investment alternative’s share or unit price on the should-have date and on the correction date. I’ve never seen even a moment of difficulty with such a routine.

Here’s the Labor department’s rule: “When an extension of time in which to file an annual report has been granted by the Internal Revenue Service, such furnishing shall take place within 2 months after the close of the period for which the extension was granted.” 29 C.F.R. § 2520.104b-10(c)(2) https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/part-2520/section-2520.104b-10#p-2520.104b-10(c)(2). A reader of the Form 5500 Instructions might interpret them to suggest an employer/administrator may (and perhaps should) check an extension box if either the plan’s administrator or the employer business organization filed for the extension, even if the employer/administrator has no need to rely on an extension for the Form 5500 report. BenefitsLink mavens, what do you think about a situation in which the employer corporation obtained an extension for its Federal income tax return but that fact is not shown on the Form 5500 report?

Considering Tom’s observation about who gets stuck with the work when an employer fails to pay over contributions promptly, here’s what I wonder: Does a recordkeeper or third-party administrator treat its work on correcting late contributions as an included service within the regular fee? Or does one charge, distinctly, a time-based fee, or a fixed fee quoted for the task, for one’s work on these corrections? (I don’t ask the amount of any fee. To protect the Bakers’ hosting of this website, we should avoid discussions of price information. We ask only whether there is a distinct fee.)

Listen to what austin3515 says about how your software might react to a report that would be logically internally inconsistent. Eighteen or as few as 15 business days remain before October 15. (Federal, State, NYSE, and religions’ days vary.) Most CPA firms with a capacity for employee-benefit plan audits long ago stopped accepting engagements for 2023 audits. But with a relationship plea and a rush fee, a plan’s administrator still might engage an independent qualified public accountant. About what Form 5500 report (if any) a TPA might prepare (or decline to assemble), a few suggestions: 1. Read, carefully, your service agreement to know your rights, obligations, and conditions. 2. Even if it is the plan’s administrator that must sign the report, don’t assist a false or misleading statement. 3. Be careful with anything your client might alter or misuse, especially if it has your name associated with it. 4. CYA—Cover Your Assets. This is not advice to anyone.