TPApril

I am curious - what is the general usage these days of using the Consent for Electronic Disclosure for SPD's, SMM's, SAR's?

Understood that 1 person plans can file the SF and mark it as such so that it will not be accessible via efast2. The benefit is to file electronicially. My question is what about a one-person plan that would otherwise not qualify for the SF due to the composition of its assets that are not qualifying plan assets, can they still file SF (not should they, but can they)?

As a one-person (+ spouse) plan exempt from Title I, if there is no PT, could you point me in the direction of the regulations stating that this is prohibited nonetheless? Issues as I see it are loan to spouse and living in the residence that the loan is a mortgage for. I apologize but I've never had to deal with these two circumstances before.

I generally try to leave my emotions out of my postings, but this time I'm stunned. Brand new client finally sends listing of plan investments (2 weeks before 5500 is due) and included is an apparent mortgage loan by the plan to his residence, with the assurance that the loan was made in spouse's name before they were married. That is all the info I have at this time, along with the balance of the loan (no loan docs, date of loan, etc.). Husband/wife are only employees/participants. Trying to figure out what to do.....

Non profit has 403b plan with universal availability Company has contract workers who work < 8 hours/wk (< 500 hrs/yr) For tax purposes unrelated to plan, IRS has determined these contract workers s/b classified as ee's For plan purposes can these contract workers remain contract workers not eligible for the plan under universal availability?

on the same theme (almost 10 years later to the date), cpa has made minor changes to prior year categorization of assets, but no change in grand total. So opening listing of investments does not fully match closing listing from prior 5500, but matches the financial statements report. Any reason to amend prior 5500 as well?

post below related to calendar plan year example: I have understood that although there seems to be no specific mention of effective date of fidelity bond coverage in the Form 5500 instructions, that we use the fidelity bond in effect as of 1/1. In practice, data requests happen after the plan year ends and coverage reported by plan sponsor tends to be as of 12/31. Ability to purchase retroactive coverage is being advertised. When can retroactive be used? Makes me wonder if current coverage, increased after 12/31 but prior to 5500 filing date can be used on prior year's 5500? What date specifically is being looked at for the level of coverage on the 5500 - the 1/1 or the 12/31 level of assets?

For Part I item 2, is it appropriate to report negative amounts, which seem to be less than $5,000. Recordkeeper and service provider are Fidelity who completed the form on their own with an amount about $(100,000)

along similar lines, but a different situation than the beginning of this thread. 2013 Plan Year had $1000 in forfeitures to be allocated first to fees, then to participants. Fees for 2013 totaled $700. There is $300 in outstanding forfeitures that was never allocated. Meanwhile 2014 fees are another $700. Question 1: Can that $300 now be applied to later fees, or should they still be allocated to participants? Question 2: Amounts in example are pretty real. Due to small amount, would that make it okay to apply that forfeiture to current fees, if answer to Question 1 was No? Doing so would be a much less timely process.

On the $200 contribution or less exclusion - at what point is it determined that an eligible employee working over 20 hours per week but making $0 in 403(b) deferrals can be excluded for 5500 count purposes? Can it be after the end of the plan year? Plan in question has 65 participants with account balances but 200 employees working over 20 hours per week.

My understanding is that it was merged into the other Corporate plan, but documentation has not been provided to me. Would 'final' 2014 5500 then have 0 BOY participants and 0 EOY? To add to that, since no extension filed there would be a late penalty. (not currently my client)

12/31/13 - Local division files their medical plan 5500 with 1000 participants. 1/1/14 - Corporate office assumes the Medical plan and considers it part of their own welfare benefit plan Seems to me that 2013 was a Final filing, but there were over 0 participants. How would we close it out?

tpa on this particular account is new and was thinking this type of situation of family 'employees' may have happened in other cases. tpa does not as of yet have any actual full census data. intent on here was to get a general idea on how to approach what it all means in terms of plan qualification, correction, potential distribution. Initial plan is to advise plan sponsor to obtain and consult counsel with these questions.

Writing as I think... Apparently the relatives never actually worked for the company, but yes they received pay for which they now have 401(k), safe harbor and profit sharing account balances. What happened on their personal tax forms I have no idea. Can they be vested if they never actually worked any hours (at least in the ps accounts)? Considering that one of the crimes convicted was paying these salaries, I don't know what happens from the IRS perspective with that money, and if it ultimately trickles down to the plan. If family members were never actually employed, then are they now considered terminated which means they can make a distribution request? Plan Administrators want to protect the plan and are wondering if they can not make such payment in the meantime, but under what legal grounds. It appears with the current internal turmoil of trying to keep the company afloat, they have limited resources and have not engaged an attorney at this time for such benefit plan issues.

Owner of a company with a large 401k plan was just convicted of many counts, including paying phony compensation to brother/sister/parents/uncle/daughter/cousins etc., many of whom never worked, or apparently never worked legitimate hours. I'm not even sure where to begin to tackle this, but initially my question is, what does this mean for contributions tied to such phony compensation and how far back would we have to track this and take action. Also, what if owner appeals would this all be on hold? It appears plan administrators are looking out for best interest of the plan.

It's not completely clear to me that you need to continue to file Form 5500 (or SF) in this case due to having >1 ee at boy but only 1 at eoy (ignoring spouse issues for this post). In a sense I thought the spirit of the EZ was that personal assets of 1 person did not have to be made public information, which would be so if only 1 person is a participant at eoy. Now if plan qualifies to file 5500-SF would seem can submit as one-person plan, but in this case if a standard 5500 is filed it would be public. Looking for confirmation that in this situation EZ can be filed.

401(k) safe harbor plan requires 1 year eligibility, Prevailing wage contributions are included in the plan, which by default means immediate eligibility for that portion, Question-for the Average Benefits Percentage Test, do these ee's who are only eligible for prevailing wage contributions have to be included? Creates a lot of zeroes for the NHCE's.

Question edited and updated on 7/15/16: In the spirit of this thread as related to prevailing wage plans and cross-testing, here's a question - Plan consists of 401k, safe harbor 3%, ps, prevailing wage. Prevailing wage is immediate eligibility, 401(k) 1 yr, profit sharing is 2 yr wait Question is about participants with less than 1 yr who receive only prevailing wage contributions - must they meet the min gateway requirements?

I am just curious if benefit plans (retirement or health & welfare) are ever penalized for filing inaccurate information (as opposed to issues related to filing late or incomplete)? examples: bad employee counts on main form or Schedule A used wrong date for asset totals wrong outstanding year end loan amount recorded expenses in the wrong field etc. etc. if so how much are such penalties?

non profit company that files Form 990 as 501c3 did not submit 5558 to extend their medical plan 5500. question is, is there such a thing as an extension on form 990 that would allow said company to check off 'automatic extension' and not file under dfvc? (case in question would be due 4/15/15)

Related to this thread, but different circumstances: Company has 2 DC plans - 401K in one and other DC money with annuity requirement. Company would like to terminate the second plan and retain only the 401K plan and have everybody take their money out of the 2nd plan period. Not interested in rollovers. Is there any reason they can't do that while there is an existing ongoing plan?

Howbout a husband/wife with 1 employee who terminates and withdraws during the year. Current bond expires during year, but after distribution date. Need to renew? Can 5500-SF show fidelity bond in effect at BOY but not at EOY? Will be filing EZ next yr.

This isn't particularly a 5500 question, but it is directly related to determining what to fill in on the 5500, specifically for Business Code. Non profit's main business is community service. To fund this service, they created a taxable entity/subsidiary which employs the bulk of the employee population at a restaurant. Question is which one takes precedence for Business Code - restaurant or non profit (813000)?

2 members of control group share benefits but have their own Life Insurance benefit plans 1 member is > 100 1 member is < 100 it seems from instructions they would file separate 5500's because of the separate Life Insurance benefits. However, since one member company is < 100 ee's, is it fair to say they do not have to file?

any thoughts?