C. B. Zeller

I have made the (not all all difficult) decision to retire at the end of this year. I have agreed to work a couple of days a week during the early part of next year to help out my employer while they hire a replacement, but it's a limited engagement. I'll be lurking on these boards for a while yet.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Dave and Lois for providing this magnificent resource - it has been a tremendous asset! I'd also like to thank all of you folks, past and present, for the invaluable assistance you have given to me over the years. I've certainly taken more than I've given, and your time, generosity, and expertise is appreciated more than you can ever know. It's not just the technical expertise, but the sounding board for discussions, sometimes griping (misery loves company) and humor in the face of statutory and regulatory foolishness that makes this such a great community.
I wish you all the best in your future endeavors (I'm trying hard not to gloat) as you continue in this business, and I hope you all have a great Holiday season! Take care, and again, a heartfelt thanks!!!

Cuse is correct. If your client needs proof, you can point them to IRC sec. 401(k)(12) which requires that the contribution be made to "each employee who is not a highly compensated employee and who is eligible to participate in the arrangement." Also see Example 4 in 1.401(k)-3(c)(7) of the regulations which is exactly on point that you can not impose a last day requirement on a safe harbor contribution.

Cuse is correct. If your client needs proof, you can point them to IRC sec. 401(k)(12) which requires that the contribution be made to "each employee who is not a highly compensated employee and who is eligible to participate in the arrangement." Also see Example 4 in 1.401(k)-3(c)(7) of the regulations which is exactly on point that you can not impose a last day requirement on a safe harbor contribution.

I hope your seventh book will be the music notation and lyrics of your songs about the law of retirement plans.

Derrin, I’m so very grateful for everything you’ve done for the retirement community and, especially for me. 
 
Without you (and Doug Jolley), I can’t imagine having survived the early difficulties in what became my career. Starting my own business way before it was rational to do so, I leaned rather heavily on PIX just to keep my head above water. 
 
Thank you, though that is woefully inadequate. 

@S Derrin Watson, you have been a trusted advisor, teacher, lecturer, and author for my entire career in the industry.  I can easily say that you, @Ilene Ferenczy, and Sal have shaped me into the practitioner I am today.  I wish you the best as you start this new chapter of your life!

In 1977, as I began law school, I started working as a law clerk and was quickly given responsibility for the firm’s qualified plan practice. When I passed the bar in 1980, I stepped fully into a career that has now spanned more than four decades. As I begin to slowly wind down those years as an ERISA attorney, I am deeply grateful for the opportunities that have come my way and for the encouragement and help of so many good men and women.
I never dreamed, in the ’70s and ’80s, where this practice would take me. As this year began, my ERISA work fell into six main roles:
I’m an author. I have written or co-authored five books dealing with retirement plans, and am nearly done with my sixth—the ERISA Fiduciary Navigator eSource—all published by ERISApedia.com. I head the ERISApedia ASK service, where my protégé, Adriana Starr, and I answer questions from ERISA practitioners. I present webcasts and live seminars on retirement topics. I draft plan documents and interim amendments on behalf of the Relius division of FIS. I serve as of counsel to the Ferenczy Benefit Law Center. I assist some clients in a private practice. One of the observations that has struck me over the years about the Employee Retirement Income Security Act is that it never defines “retirement.” My own working definition has been “separating from service once you’re old.” But the older I get, the older “old” gets. Still, as I near RMD age (even after SECURE 2.0), it's time to start thinking about saddling up and riding into the sunset.
I envision retirement as gradually dropping things out of the saddlebags. So, with mixed emotions, I announce that I will no longer be acting as of counsel to the Ferenczy Benefit Law Center or conducting a private practice. I will consult on special cases, but otherwise, for now, my professional endeavors will focus on writing, teaching, FIS, and the ASK service.
Planning for the financial side of retirement has been the easy part. The emotional and professional side is more challenging. My hope is that a slow and gentle ride toward tomorrow will make that transition easier. I am profoundly grateful to the colleagues, clients, and friends who have shared this journey with me—and I look forward to continuing to write, teach, and cheer you on from slightly lighter saddlebags.

Passage of time typically means that the participant becomes eligible after a period of time without regard to any service or breaks in service. It's similar to elapsed time, but without the service spanning rules - or rather, if the service spanning period were forever, instead of 12 months.
Say an employee was hired on 11/6/2025, works for 2 months and quits on 1/6/2026. Then they show up again a year later and are re-hired on 3/1/2027. They are in the plan immediately on 3/1/2027, because more than 6 months have passed since their original date of hire. Contrast that to elapsed time, where they wouldn't get credit for their period of severance (because it was more than 12 months) and would have to work another 4 months after being re-hired in order to have earned a total of 6 months of elapsed time.
It's probably a good idea to keep the 1000 hours failsafe in the document. While I can't think of a situation where it would override a 6 month passage-of-time requirement, maybe there are some class exclusions that it would be needed for. It also gives you some assurance, because it sounds like this passage-of-time provision is custom language added to the document. So, on the off chance that the IRS finds issue with it on audit, then at least you have the standard language to fall back on.
As far as applying break-in-service rules, I don't think they would apply. But ultimately the interpretation of the plan document is up to the Plan Administrator, so they should abide by their best judgement, taking into account what has been communicated to participants about the rule, and probably with they lawyer's advice.

The 1-rollover-per-year rule only applies to distributions from IRAs, which are rolled over to another IRA. They can roll over as many distributions from plans as they like. They could also roll over multiple IRA distributions to plans without violating the rule.

The 1-rollover-per-year rule only applies to distributions from IRAs, which are rolled over to another IRA. They can roll over as many distributions from plans as they like. They could also roll over multiple IRA distributions to plans without violating the rule.

The 1-rollover-per-year rule only applies to distributions from IRAs, which are rolled over to another IRA. They can roll over as many distributions from plans as they like. They could also roll over multiple IRA distributions to plans without violating the rule.

The decision as to whether someone gets a PS contribution should be made by the EMPLOYER not the specific HCE unless it is an owner-only plan. If the EMPLOYER was smart, they would give a particular HCE a nominal amount so such HCE's compensation may be used in the deduction determination.

Whether a plan is subject to mandatory auto enrollment is based on the date the CODA is established. Presumably the CODA was established when the profit sharing plan was established, so it would be after December 2022 and therefore not exempt.

Whether a plan is subject to mandatory auto enrollment is based on the date the CODA is established. Presumably the CODA was established when the profit sharing plan was established, so it would be after December 2022 and therefore not exempt.

The proposed regulations say that you count employees using the rules of 54.4980B-2 Q&A-5. Which says...
If the half-time employees come out as 50% under this rule, then I would agree with your calculation and the plan would be exempt from automatic enrollment.

No. Elective deferrals are disregarded for purposes of the 25% limit - see IRC 404(n). Therefore a participant whose only contributions are elective deferrals is not considered to be benefiting for purposes of 404(a)(3). Therefore their compensation is not included in applying the limit. In other words, in order to count her comp towards the deductible limit, she would have to receive some profit sharing.
Is the wife over age 50? If so, give her up to $7,500 (or more, if she's 60-63) in profit sharing. Her deferrals will be reclassified as catch-up, due to exceeding the 100% of comp 415 limit, and she will have some profit sharing so her comp will count towards the deductible limit.

The rule is that a participant has to receive at least some profit sharing in order for their comp to count towards the 25% limit.
I don't know what source you are citing, but I imagine the author just meant that the definition of compensation used to apply the 25% limit includes deferrals, which is true.
You can't just reclassify deferrals as catch-up because you want to, you have to exceed a limit. That's why I suggested giving some profit sharing in order to a) intentionally exceed the 415 limit, causing some deferrals to be reclassified, and b) make her compensation eligible to be included in the 25% limit.
If she's under 50, and hasn't deferred the entire $23,000 yet, then she could also reduce her deferrals to make room for some profit sharing.

I came across this article from Verrill about implementing Roth Catch Ups when a plan has a provision to spillover deferrals to a NQDC once the 401(k) limits are reached.  The article in particular highlights a potential conflict between giving the participant an effective opportunity to elect out of a deemed Roth election and a requirement to make deferral elections before the start of the year for the NQDC.
https://www.verrill-law.com/blog/consider-nonqualified-plans-when-implementing-new-roth-catch-up-contribution-rules/
The article makes suggestions on steps to take now to be sure the operation and administration of plans with the spillover/link to a NQDC is reviewed before 2026 starts, and that everyone involved with the plan - plan administrator, plan sponsor, service providers, participants - are all informed.
This wasn't on my radar screen when discussing implementing Roth Catch Ups, so I am sharing it in case others also have plans that use these features.

Conversely, one might wonder what idiot came up with the idea of auditing something that you don't need to. Congress and the IRS have given plan administrators explicit permission to rely upon participant self-certification of hardships, unless they have actual knowledge to the contrary. So why would the plan administrator go looking for trouble when they had no duty to do so, nor liability for not doing so? There can be no good that comes from this, only problems.

You would file the 2025 5500-EZ and check the retroactive adoption box.
Of course an SB is still required to be provided to the plan sponsor, it just doesn't need to be attached or filed with the 5500-EZ.

To put some dates on the original question ... am I understanding it correctly, that you are talking about a plan adopted (say) 8/15/2025 with an initial effective plan year of 1/1/2024-12/31/2024?
If that's the case, the first Form 5500 will be the 2025 form, due 7/31/2026 or 10/15/2026 on extension. You will check the box for a retroactively adopted plan on the 2025 form. You do not file a 2024 Form 5500 at all. However you will need to attach both the 2024 and 2025 Schedule SB to the 2025 filing.

To put some dates on the original question ... am I understanding it correctly, that you are talking about a plan adopted (say) 8/15/2025 with an initial effective plan year of 1/1/2024-12/31/2024?
If that's the case, the first Form 5500 will be the 2025 form, due 7/31/2026 or 10/15/2026 on extension. You will check the box for a retroactively adopted plan on the 2025 form. You do not file a 2024 Form 5500 at all. However you will need to attach both the 2024 and 2025 Schedule SB to the 2025 filing.

Conversely, one might wonder what idiot came up with the idea of auditing something that you don't need to. Congress and the IRS have given plan administrators explicit permission to rely upon participant self-certification of hardships, unless they have actual knowledge to the contrary. So why would the plan administrator go looking for trouble when they had no duty to do so, nor liability for not doing so? There can be no good that comes from this, only problems.

To put some dates on the original question ... am I understanding it correctly, that you are talking about a plan adopted (say) 8/15/2025 with an initial effective plan year of 1/1/2024-12/31/2024?
If that's the case, the first Form 5500 will be the 2025 form, due 7/31/2026 or 10/15/2026 on extension. You will check the box for a retroactively adopted plan on the 2025 form. You do not file a 2024 Form 5500 at all. However you will need to attach both the 2024 and 2025 Schedule SB to the 2025 filing.

To put some dates on the original question ... am I understanding it correctly, that you are talking about a plan adopted (say) 8/15/2025 with an initial effective plan year of 1/1/2024-12/31/2024?
If that's the case, the first Form 5500 will be the 2025 form, due 7/31/2026 or 10/15/2026 on extension. You will check the box for a retroactively adopted plan on the 2025 form. You do not file a 2024 Form 5500 at all. However you will need to attach both the 2024 and 2025 Schedule SB to the 2025 filing.