Bill Presson

https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/consequences-to-a-participant-who-makes-excess-annual-salary-deferrals

Going forward, they need to fix the payroll because that's where 402g excess issues are fixed (excluding issues with the participant in two plans) before they happen.

My experience of almost 40 years is that the check date is most often used. Otherwise, the administrative work is a mess.

Agree with @Lou S.. When you have 2 people, the greater of (40% or 2) is 2.

I'm wondering if by "back dating" the op means crediting the deferrals "as of" the correct deposit date so that future earnings are correct.

https://www.asppa-net.org/news/browse-topics/another-erroneous-8955-ssa-notice-issue-and-what-do-about-it Covered in an ASPPA daily email.

Not if they enter under the LTPTE regs.

Well done.

Election form has to be signed by 12/31/2023 and after-tax contributions deposited by 30 days after the end of the plan year to be counted for 415. Obviously can be done within the plan year as well, but deposit deadline is not the tax filing deadline. Not sure what you mean in (2), but the 1099 should be created for the plan year in which the conversion occurs.

For plans that aren't at recordkeepers, the trust for that plan quite often DOES get an EIN to use to identify assets and to use when paying people out for tax deposits and 1099 reporting. With independent paying entities providing distribution services, it's becoming less common but we still use it pretty frequently.

For this to work, the OP would have to completely understand what they're saying and I doubt that would be the case. OP, you need to bite the bullet and hire an ERISA attorney or an experienced TPA to fix the error. This isn't a minor error. It's a big error that potentially involved a lot of tax deductions and you screwed it up by trying to DIY.

And if they don't track hours, there is typically a provision in the plan to allocate hours to those people via an equivalency.

Generally it's real estate or a limited partnership as well. Often it's difficult to hold in an IRA with a regular custodian. I would recommend just finding one of those specialty IRA custodians rather than opening a plan.

I assume you mean 12/31/2023, but yes.

You don't need a 60 day notice, just 30 days for a SH plan and no time frame for a non-safe harbor plan but we try to do 15 days at least. You will need to give notice for starting the SIMPLE. At this point, I would terminate the 401(k) 12/31/2023, pay it out in 2024 and start the SIMPLE 1/1/2024.

When a plan is being terminated due to a sale, there is no requirement for a 30 day notice. I'm pretty sure it's covered in 1.401(k)-3(e)(4) but didn't have time to look and make sure that's the right cite. But it's for a 410(b)(6)(c) transaction.

Correct. There's no requirement of which I'm aware. We have some plans, sponsored by a couple of related, but not controlled, entities and the name is a unique descriptor of the relationship. I've also worked with some that wanted to keep as much anonymity as possible and merely named the plan "401(k) Plan" without anything else. I've never had any pushback from any IRS or DOL person. The one thing I do try to encourage is brevity in the name choice. "and Trust" at the end burns me up.

Way back in the day, I shared office space with a wonderful CPA. One day he asked me what my collection rate was. I told him I collected 100% of what I billed. He said "then your rates aren't high enough." I increased my rates 100% and only lost one client. He also told me to never fire a client, but raise your rates to where they leave. He said having someone say "they are too expensive" isn't really a negative. Now, I haven't kept that faithfully and we do let clients go on occasion. But the lesson stuck and I don't think I (or any firm I've owned or worked with) have ever been much below market except for the rare exception.

There may be other parts of the document that you didn't show that would be relevant. You should contact FTW for guidance.

I've been an ASPPA member since 1989 and I'm very partial to them. I've been active in a lot of different areas. I was also a NIPA member from 1990 through 2022. Never felt I got as much from it.

Well, I'm going to argue until I'm forced into submission.

I spoke with Ms Kelsey about that because I don't agree with her interpretation. the rule says three "consecutive years" for 500 hours. It doesn't say overlapping years.

FWIW, Ms Kelsey Mayo spoke on this at ASPPA yesterday and she said that she believes a class exclusion can be used if it's legitimate and not just a cover for everyone that works 500-1000 hours. The examples she used were job description and location.

This is quite different. It's not really pooled because everyone has their own account. Just out of curiosity, I would be interested to know if the trustee is actually managing the accounts differently for each participant based on age or other criteria. It's closer to them all having an outside manager and effective X date, they're on their own. I would be shocked if a blackout notice is needed, though some kind of notice would be wise.

IMHO, this is the hardest thing to grasp when first dealing with DB/CB plans, however once it's clear, it's always clear. But it's then extremely important to help the client learn. And that's one of the toughest parts of client service with DB/CB plans.