RatherBeGolfing

If we ignore the other parade of red flags, I would assume this would have to be prospective. Still seems like a ticking time bomb though.

Quick caution, 402g limit and 414v catch-up limits are based on the individual's taxable year, not the plan year. I have never encountered a participant with a taxable year other than 12/31, but it is possible. Check out the linked thread for more insight.

I did an M&A earlier this with a handful of entities and two plans. We probably had at least 10 calls to iron out what everyone needed in the paperwork. There were at some points 20+ lawyers on a call, with representatives from buyer, seller, third party benefits coordinator, and a couple of ERISA attys as hired guns for the transaction. Everyone made some changes to the plan merger paperwork, and nothing was signed until approved by all. It was a PITA to get done between all parties in a very short period of time, but a breath of fresh air to see the engagement in plan matters from the M&A folks.

@austin3515 If the merger effective date is already spelled out in the merger documentation, I don't see the point of using the transfer date as the effective date of the merger in the AA. I see the merger and the transfer as separate issues, and to me it is natural that the transfer date follows the merger date. Perhaps I'm missing one thing though... Do you already have plan merger documentation at this point or are you generating that documentation?

How do you treat it if you get the assets transfer on more than one day? If there is a residual a month or two later?

I prefer ASPPA. I have looked at NIPA a few times, but it doesn't offer as much as ASPPA does (my opinion). From an advocacy standpoint, ASPPA/ARA is much stronger. NIPA is less expensive, but I cant speak to the CE requirement cost. If you don't need CE to be IRS approved, you can easily get enough credits for ASPPA credential renewal with free webinars (I imagine NIPA can be satisfied free or close to it as well) What do you want to get out of it? Is it just to have a credential? Access to education and continuing education? A voice in the industry?

HA! I I think I have received one card out of all the renewals I have done. For some reason I never get them, and we have confirmed addresses several times. They sure send it to the right place if I owe money though

Adoption Agreement / Participation Agreement. Like Bill said above, I'd go by the transaction date or effective date in the merger documents. The trailing assets are not an issue as long as its done within a reasonable period following the merger.

I agree with @david rigby. Merger docs over AA/PA everyday.

The tricky part for ERPA CE is documentation. It sounds like IRS is getting more strict on CE that is not reported to the IRS directly (like ERISAPedia does). I do have some other sources that I recomend for staff or ASPPA CE where you can just self report. Nova does a decent amount of webinars https://nova401k.com/webinars/

I think @thepensionmavens issue is that they don't have a copy of the documentation for the DFVCP application, not the 5500 itself. The DOL will send a confirm to the email address you list as the contact when you apply for DFVCP. The subject line of the confirmation email is "DFVC Program Confirmation of Attempted Submission". I normally use my email as the contact email for the application for this reason. There is an agency tracking number in the email, but if you don't have that, you should still be able to call the DOL and ask. The tracking number will start with year and month of the application, followed by six digits. So if applied today, it would be 25-08-XXXXXX. There is no public database for DFVCP applications.

@Peter Gulia Who does the admin on the plan? If there is a TPA involved, they would most likely be able to make that determination. We are already working on this determination for our clients. Our RK system does not have the self-employed indicator (as far as i know), but our testing/admin system does.

Good point. You CAN do it, but that doesn't mean that you should. FWIW, Im adding Roth and IPRR to all plans that allow catch-up.

You are correct. Prior to the proposed rule, a lot of people believed that in order to allow catch-up, you would need to allow Roth. I think that's where the confusion is coming from.

I agree with Bill, you would normally have a new plan for one of the companies since the other would remain the sponsor of the original plan. If you did two new plans, the old MEP would need to terminate and file a final 5500.

I agree, and I don't like the IF in that statement. I think you can argue that if there is no interruption or distributable event for participants, no harm no foul, as you SHOULD be able to dump an underperforming service provider. Some related issues: - Will a new provider (B) allow you to open a plan mid-year if they know you have one elsewhere (A) that you will discontinue? - Will A allow you to move funds even if contributions stop? If not, Participants have two accounts until they can be consolidated - Plan limits, B likely cant account for contributions to A - 2 year distribution restriction. Will B account for time at A? I think you can do it and defend it even if its technically wrong. Sounds complicated for a dang SIMPLE though... We have been doing a lot of SIMPLE to SH conversions, just saying...

For SIMPLEs - You can start one mid-year if you don't have one - You can start one 1/1 if you already have one - You can terminate mid-year if you replace with a SH 401k - You can terminate 12/31 (with notice) without replacing it. It comes down to: If the current SIMPLE is tied to the investment provider, can you change without terminating the existing SIMPLE and starting a new one? Im leaning no because SIMPLEs are weird...

Plan and plan sponsor also have to have the same tax year to rely on the automatic extension. Best bet is still to file a 5558

5500SF Part III 8b is other income, so gains/losses/dividends/etc. How did you get to $25,300? Can you "show your work"?

From what I hear we are expecting final regs, not another delay. I don't see it on the OMB Dashboard yet, so it may be a December surprise.

Amen Brother Bill!

Sure! There are tons of GPTs in ChatGPT and other AI apps. For example, there's an excel GPT in ChatGPT that is focused on excel, so your answers are going to be tailored to excel. I'm creating a few custom ones for my own use or internal use. For example, an EPCRS GPT. I have limited it to using the current version of EPCRS and my instructions (which are expanding and help narrow answers). It's still in early stages, but so far its a good way to find answers or the correct section quickly. Another one im playing around with is a Controlled Group GPT. Instead of feeding it all the data you think it needs, it prompts you for input. In a nutshell, the CGGPT starts by asking you how many entities you are working with. Lets say you answer "3" The next question it asks is how many owners between all three entities. After you answer, it asks about each owner's equity in each entity. And so on. The basic idea is to have the GPT ask you for all the relevant data instead of you asking it to make a determination based on the data you give it. The more prompts you pre-program, the more questions are asked. You can get super detailed or very basic. It's a fun process to go through (for us pension nerds 🤓) and hopefully you get a useful tool in the end. I also have another one I have started uploading different plan documents to and building instructions in order to determine where certain provisions are and how they are similar or different by vendor. I know of at least one company put there working on a document AI to help you map from one vendor to another. It's exciting stuff as long as you have guidelines you use it properly.

A recent reply to an old thread got me curious, what do you use AI/LLM ("AI") for in your practice, if any? Are you allowed to use it all? Do you use it internally or externally (with clients)? I have had this discussion in smaller settings, and I recognize that use of AI varies greatly. I'll start us off with some easy examples from my practice: - We do not use AI for anything with PII data, even if the workspace is locked down (not used to inform the AI outside of our workspace) - We do not use it for legal or compliance questions. I have seen many benefits adjacent professionals do this and the answers can be frightening. "ChatGPT said we are not an Affiliated Service Group" is a scary sentence... - We use it to review and revise communications. Don't like how your email sounds? feed it to an AI to make it easier to read, understand, etc. - We use it as a tool to help with formulas and macros for excel. - I am playing with it as an internal Q&A tool. By creating your own GPT, you can have the AI prompt you with questions (instead of asking it questions) and limit the source material it looks at to the specific documents you provide.

If a plan is subject to mandatory auto enrollment, you have to satisfy all the requirements for MAE in S2.0.

Don't forget that LTPTEs have to be auto-enrolled (absent affirmative election) if the client is subject to AE.