Bill Presson

What a neat idea! That there is a user fee specified for something suggests that the thing can be done.

To answer a) - See Appendix A., Schedule of User Fees in Rev. Proc. 2024-4, .05. There is a user fee of $300 for "(2) Assumption of sponsorship of a pre-approved plan, without any amendment to the plan document, by a new entity, as evidenced by a change of employer identification number, per basic plan document." I haven't done it, but I would guess you'd submit an application using IRS Form 4461 and answer Yes to 9.d. This is not advice as I haven't done it, but perhaps it will point you in the right direction. 
To answer b) - I don't know that most employers even know there is a list unless their advisers tell them, although it might be incumbent on the provider in this case to disclose that.

As CuseFan points out if the Plan allows for ROTh and in-Plan conversions of ROTH, then sure he could do that.
If by recharaterize he means go back and change each year from pre-tax to ROTH retroactively, no.

Congratulations Dave & Ms Lois! It's been an incredible benefit. I'm very proud of my December 3, 1999 join date with BenefitsLink.

Congratulations Dave & Ms Lois! It's been an incredible benefit. I'm very proud of my December 3, 1999 join date with BenefitsLink.

It is a fantastic resource, and has been run so well, for so many years. A rarity these days. Thanks so much for all your hard work!!

Belgarath --I've had one experience years ago when TIAA pushed back and actually called participants at dinner time to try to influence them not to cash out. And the biggest problem was there was a nine-year lagging cashout of the annuities if they did decide to cash out. Don't have a name but our client was treated IMHO very rudely by the vendor as we even flew to their HQ in Charlotte to discuss this issue. There should be some legislation addressing this problem with old participant-signed annuities tied to the vendor.
BOB
 
 
 

I still have some of the stone tablets somewhere.
 

You should be justly proud of the great community you created.

Curious why how this is a possible resolution. The contributions were late, regardless of who was at fault. Assume the worst - amending the 5500 flags the plan for an IRS audit. The IRS auditors find that the original 5500 was correct (with late contributions) and the amended 5500 was incorrect. It would appear that the Sponsor were trying to hide the late contributions. 
VFCP is a hassle, but not nearly comparable to a Plan audit. 

The Form 5500 Instructions tell a plan’s administrator to report a late contribution until the first plan-accounting year that begins “after the violation has been fully corrected by payment of the late contributions and reimbursement of the plan for lost earnings or profits.”
The Instructions call for reporting even if the late contribution and the correction happen in the same plan year.

Agree - either get the distribution back, contribute enough to make the plan 110% funded, or satisfy one of the other exceptions (which I have actually rarely seen in practice).

Short of clawing it back, I don't think there is anything you can do to "fix" it, but you could take action to mitigate the issues.
Is if possible to make a contribution so that the plan is 110% funded?  
Would they sign a letter of credit now.
You could pressure them to assist with some correction by threating to report is as an improper distribution that was not eligible for rollover.

Imagine how joyful things will be here if the "tribe of Guardians" comes through in October just one time, too!

CONGRATULATIONS, Thank You So VERY MUCH!  Wishing you ANOTHER 25 YEARS!
DPS RICH

Thanks, Dave. Your webpage was one of the first bookmarks I ever saved (prior to 1999).

IMHO, BenefitsLink has changed, for the better, the way benefits professionals do their jobs.
Attaboy Dave!

Much thanks to you and Lois - it certainly makes all of our lives much easier.  You guys can't retire EVER!

OMG - thank you SO much for creating and maintaining this forum which has proved invaluable for many practitioners, not to mention entertaining at times! Echoing Peter, you should be very proud and never hesitant to promote the impact you've had on our industry.
Doing the math (it's much of what we do LOL), that makes you a young and not ready to retire age 66 so we can all rest assured BL will continue for years to come, right?
Truly, thanks for all you and Lois have done and continue to do, it is greatly appreciated.

David, many thanks for this great publication.  I read it every day although sometimes I only have time for the headlines.  Remember you fondly from your Orlando days.  Thanks a bunch!   Love the comment "ERISA and an eraser"!  Too funny!

This is to share with you the happy news that today is the 25th anniversary of the first day on which the BenefitsLink Newsletter began daily publication. I didn't see this coming when I decided to go daily in 1999, at age 41.
(The newletters had begun four years earlier, but they weren't being published every day.)
The free information must be helping employee benefits practitioners to help their clients, which translates to the ability of employers to effectively run and fund programs that improve the lives of so many millions of working people (and retirees, and beneficiaries), even if most of them wouldn't know (or want to know) the difference between an ERISA and an eraser. What a noble endeavor, to be an employee benefits practitioner!

Some lawyers and TPAs and other benefits practitioners have found work through our job board that's been running since 1996, which means they've gone to new workplaces and sometimes new cities, which means some of them have met people they wouldn't have met otherwise, which means some of them have fallen in love and then had children... which means there are people walking around on the planet now who wouldn't be here but for this "web site" thingie that started in 1995, and then the idea of sending "newsletters" by "email." None of that would have been possible without readers.

The existence of "BenefitsLink babies" didn't occur to me until one day about 10 years ago, but I kept it quiet -- at that time, they were still teenagers!

True to form, I and my business partner and wife Lois Baker (formerly an employee benefits lawyer, whom I met on CompuServe in 1990 while trading ERISA questions using dial-up modems) have failed to do any marketing of this happy day. But as I sat here at the keyboard today I had the idea that we would get so much joy by celebrating the occasion with readers. I hope this hasn't come across as a commercial but instead is the lifting of an E-flute of cyber-champagne -- here's to employee benefits practitioners everywhere! It's a wonderful community, and for 25 years now and still counting, we are so happy to be a part of it.

Frankly, in this scenario, I would recommend the client do the VFCP and the payroll company pay the costs. 

Frankly, in this scenario, I would recommend the client do the VFCP and the payroll company pay the costs. 

@Peter Gulia if I can't rant on message boards, where shall I rant?

Well the V stands for Voluntary so you don't have to, but if you get the invite from the DOL and don't take advantage of the program, you do have a higher risk of DOL Audit, or so I've been led to believe from other threads on Benefitslink.
But it sounds like you have properly reported late contributions, so I'm not sure under what theory you would file amended returns to remove them from the filings.