jkharvey

Thanks. We have already amended for 2014. We are just doing the administration with what we have for plan language. You are correct. Very poorly worded document.

I have a document (not our design) that has some language I'm not used to seeing. The plan does not provide for PS contributions. The plan is TH and provides that any TH minimum contribution will be a QNEC. There is one HCE who is NOT a Key EE, so he is getting this QNEC. Is this QNEC required to be used the ADP test to determine his ADR? The plan already fails ADP, so adding this QNEC to this HCE will make things much worse.

Thanks all. You have each addressed my concerns on this one. The "smelliest" factor is that the NHCEs hired within a couple of weeks of the owners. Had the timing been much different, I might have been able to make another argument, but it just seems that this was obviously done for HCE benefit, SMELLY!!! Thanks again.

does this constitute a BRF that would need to be tested (and will fail) since only the 3 owners are allowed to enter as of a date that is earlier than the 1 year of service requirement? This is a new plan and a new employer. No one was hired (or so they say anyhow) until a couple of weeks after the owners established the practice. The owners all have the same date of hire in the third quarter of 2012, so would not be eligible to enter using the standard 1 year of service. All other employees were hired after the owners and are not eligible because of the 1 year wait and they were not employed on the date being used for the "employed on date" waiver.

In the middle of 2013 we were notified by a client that they had moved the plan assets out of the current investment platform into the investment platform of a MEP. We have seen nothing in the way of documentation for this transfer. Other than a final 5500 for 2013 and "our plan" for this client, how is the testing done on this? is anything done on a partial year basis or is it all now simply done for the full 2013 by the MEP? The plan is a SH match. Would mid year calculation of match and an adp test be required? I

Profit sharing plan has an integrated formula. The doctors want to have portions of the contribution deposited during the year so that they can get those funds invested in their brokerage accounts. All employees have brokerage accounts and all employees will receive a portion of their contribution deposited during the year at the same time as the doctors.I am trying to come up with all the potential problems with this arrangement from a compliance standpoint. I understand that this would be a BRF that would need to be tested. How much has to be deposited for the NHCEs compared to the HCEs for this to pass the BRF? I understand the math of the BRF test, but how much would the NHCE have to receive to be considered "benefiting" for testing purposes? Any thoughts on this issue are appreciated. Thanks. I did search the forum and have been reading the other threads.

Yes!! Thank you so much. My search skills really need help today.

Is there any way to merge a 401(a) plan into a 403(b). Is it specifically prohibited in the regulations? I saw threads on the 403b to 401a merger.

A participant is a 1% owner and in prior years was considered a Key employee because of his compensation. His compensation last year (the determination year) and this year (the allocation year) is not sufficient to make him key. Is he now simply a non-key employee and requires the TH minimum?

Thanks. That helps explain a lot of it. I still don't understand, however, why the TPA has to "accept" these conference trips and other things. Isn't there still some room in there for integrity?

I guess I'm old school, but I miss the days when as a TPA our focus was on our client and how to help them with their retirement plan needs. It seems that has all but faded away. We deal with brokers, not clients. The platforms use participant money to pay for TPA "conferences". TPA firms use platforms as "sponsors" in their advertising and promotional and even charity events. Is it unrealistic to think I could find a firm who wants an experienced administrator who wants to work for the client and not for the platform? Thanks for letting me vent.

I am looking for an answer to a similar situation. If an owner "retired" 5 years ago, are they still considered an owner for purposes of 'selling' real estate asset to them out of the plan?

Plan terminated and we have found that one participant is currently in prison serving a 34 year term for a sexual assault. Is the plan required to send distribution paperwork to the participant in prison?

I haven't had to deal with this until now, so I need to get some clarification. An employer has both union and nonunion employees. They establish 2 401k plan. The plan for the nonunion employees excludes the union employees, but the plan for the union employees has no exclusion for the nonunion employees. I am being told by someone in my office that it isn't necessary to exclude the non union employees. Is there some language elsewhere that is required to allow this document to benefit only the union employees? Thank you

The plan is amended to excluded several HCEs. These are not key employees, however. Do they need TH minimum on comp for the entire 1/1-12/31 period if they became ineligible at 9/1?

Thanks. I agree with what you have said. The one thing I didn't explain very well is that the govt. contract specifies that the contractor (employer) won't be reimbursed for benefits. The employer, therefore, would pay for those outside of the costs being reimbursed. That is not exactly as I described it above. Sorry. That doesn't change anything as far as the plan's qualification issue, however. Thanks again.

Our client is a government contractor and several of the employees are part of a contract under the Service Contract Act. Their contract specifically does not allow them to receive benefits. I know that I need to make sure our plan document excludes them and that all testing is passed. For one year, however, our document was not correct to exclude these people. Does anyone know if DOL and/or IRS will accept that the contract did not allow for deferrals and then we can correct this under SCP?

Is it permissable to take a loan against an insurance policy that is held as a plan asset? If so, would it be treated as any other plan loan with regards to limits, repayments, default etc? Seems to me it would.

I am trying to determine if this would be an item the Plan needs to disclose in 408(b)(2) notification. We are third party administrators for the 401k plan and are a CSP. We have referred the plan sponsor to a firm that does physician practice management. These services would NOT be related to the plan at all. The practice management company will pay us a "referral" or "finder's" fee as a percentage what they bill our 401k client for consulting fees. None of these are plan related fees.

I was wondering if anyone has seen an employer who participates in a student co-op program. These are apparently students who receive college credit for the work they perform at the employer. The employer is paying them on a W2, but is telling us that they are not "allowed" to provide them benefits, and therefore have not considered them for participation in the plan. This is a Plan that has only a 6 month eligibility requirement, so there is a chance some of these students would meet eligibility. The Plan does NOT currently have a specific exclusion for these students. Does anyone else have a Plan in this situation and how do you handle the students? Thank you

Along this same topic. I have heard of a tool (not sure who sells it or who i selling the results) that searches the 5500 database looking for signatures, so that if as a TPA we signed the return for the client (using the DOL's authorization procedure and our credentials), and those results are then being used to potentially 'poach' another TPA's clients. Am I just naieve in thinking that this is wrong somehow? Are other TPA's refusing to use the DOL's authroization procedure and not sign the 5500 on behalf of a client because of this?

The settlement is just over $12,000.00.

I saw some older threads on this topic, but thought I would see if there is any updated opinion on the matter. Do we need to file F5500 in the year we receive and distribute the settlement money? That is assuming, of course, we can distribute all of it in one calendar year. The final 5500 was just filed in 2012 for a 5/31/2012 final year.

Masteff and Calavera thank you so much. That was exactly what I was tying to ask. Each of the Schedule C's is included on the 1040 of the owner using his SSN only. So, in your opinion, each of those 5 businesses would not need to "adopt" the plan in order to allow all of the employees to participate? We have 4 of them adopting, but it doesn't seem that there is an issue with having adopting employers even when they aren't "technically" needed.

The employer has 5 locations (retail). Each is filed as a separate Schedule C for income tax purposes. What is it that determines which entities need to actually become participating employers by separately adopting the 401k plan? Is it because each has filed a separate Schedule C as opposed to combining the entities as one?