pixiebear

We have a client with an existing 401(k) plan with an EACA. The plan currently states that all eligible employees will be subject to the 3% automatic deferral each year so an employee will need to make an affirmative election to opt out or defer a different percentage. The Plan Sponsor wants to have the recordkeeper handle the automatic enrollment going forward. The recordkeeper cannot provide notices and automatically enroll all eligible employees each year, their system is only setup to automatically enroll newly eligible employees or employees with no deferral election. Can we amend the plan as of 10/1 to change the automatic enrollment under the EACA to newly eligible employees or employees with no election or do we have to wait until 1/1/2025?

Employee was hired 8/22/2022 and terminated 1/31/2023 and worked over 1000 hours in that period. Employee was rehired 8/15/2024. The document states the following eligibility: Each Eligible Employee shall become a Participant eligible to make Elective Deferrals on the first day of the calendar month coincident with or next following the date he attains age 21 and he completes 6 consecutive month(s) of service; provided that he is an Eligible Employee on such date. If the service requirement is not met in the first consecutive period of months, each successive period shall begin immediately after the preceding period and shall end on or before the first Eligibility Computation Period after which time the Plan will revert to 1,000 Hours of Service in an Eligibility Computation Period. The service requirement under this Subsection shall be deemed met no later than the end of an Eligibility Computation Period during which the Employee completes 1,000 Hours of Service; provided that the individual is an Eligible Employee on the applicable entry date. Service taken into account for purposes of this Section shall be determined under the terms and conditions as is specified for determining a Year of Eligibility Service. The Eligibility Computation Period is the first 12 months from commencement of employment to the anniversary of commencement of employment. Then it switches to the plan year of January 1 to December 31. Since the employee did not work 6 consecutive months but did work 1000 hours in his first period of employment, would the employee be eligible upon rehire? Am I determining this correctly?

We have a 401(k) plan in which we need to make a corrective distribution to an employee who made 401(k) deferrals in 2021, 2022 and 2023 but we have now determined was not eligible to make the 401(k) deferrals to the plan in those years. I understand that we have to calculate the gains on those deferrals and include them in the distribution but does each year's correction need to be reported on a separate 1099-R for that year or would the entire corrective distribution be reported on a 2023 1099-R?

We have a client with a 401(k) plan and a participant wants to take a $50,000 loan which he is eligible to do. He also has a second job that is totally unrelated to this client and that job has a 401(b) plan that allows loans. Can he also take a $50,000 loan from the 403(b) plan? I cannot find anything that says he can't but I might be missing it.

We are terminating a defined benefit plan with many former employees. We used a locator service to find addresses for all of the former employees and have learned that several of the former employees are now deceased. What do we have to do to determine if they were married and to find the spouse since the plan has a QJSA payable to the spouse?

We have a client who wants to add a discretionary match to their existing 401(k) plan. They want to make the match on a payroll basis and then do a true up at the end of the year. Do they have to adopt the amendment before the first payroll with the match or can they wait to the end of the year?

We have a defined benefit plan with 21 retirees and no active participants. The employer wants to purchase annuities for the retirees now however we feel they should go through the PBGC plan termination process first. Can they purchase the annuities now, pay out the retirees and then file with the PBGC with 0 participants and $0 assets? The employer has not initiated any formal plan termination process.

No, there is no provision limiting the choice of testing compensation however when using Compensation as a participant for allocation purposes and full year compensation for testing, it fails the testing so it doesn't make sense to use the part year compensation for the allocation.

We have a Cash Balance Plan and a Profit Sharing Plan that we are combining for testing. The Profit Sharing Plan defines Compensation as Compensation from date of Participation. We have several employees who became eligible 7/1/2021 so we would use their Compensation from 7/1/2021 to 12/31/2021 for allocation. The Cash Balance Plan defines Compensation as full year compensation. Can we use the two different definitions of Compensation for the 401(a)(4) testing? Is this allowed or do we have to use full year Compensation for testing?

They are actively employed participants. They have no accrued benefit because participation was not frozen when the benefits were frozen so they were eligible for the plan but didn't accrue any benefit.

We are terminating a defined benefit plan and have some participants with $0 accrued benefit. The Plan Sponsor has decided to file for approval with the IRS and we are filing with the PBGC. When do we consider the participant with no accrued benefits paid out of the plan? Would it be on the termination date or once we get approval from the IRS and pay out the participants with accrued benefits?

I have a client with a DB plan who has decided to delay their contribution until 1/1/2021. Since there is an unpaid minimum contribution on line 11a, how would I answer line 11b about the reporting of missed contributions to the PBGC? I cannot find anything that provides an answer.

We have a defined benefit plan that is a lawyer and his employee. They are not covered by the PBGC. Do we have to file the standard termination process in the PBGC instructions for terminating the plan including the 60-90 day notice prior to the termination date? If not, what is the timeline? Thanks!