I've looked all over the boards here and still can't seem to find a definitive answer to this question so I thought I'd take a crack.
Facts:
Company is a sole proprietorship on 1/1
On 7/1, company changes to an S-Corp. No change in ownership (the former proprietor owns 100% of the new S-Corp shares) and no change in business operations. Change in entity was done for tax purposes only
On 9/30, S-Corp adopts a 401(k) plan with effective date of 1/1
Questions:
Does service with the sole proprietorship count toward service eligibility for the plan even if the plan docs don't specifically call out the sole proprietorship as a participating employer?
Is compensation earned by participants under the sole proprietorship included in plan comp for the year?
Seems like such simple questions and common sense tells me that service time should count and comp should be included since the only change made was for technical tax reasons (i.e., no change in ownership and no change in operations). However, I've looked and looked and only find conflicting information. Any clarifying thoughts would be appreciated!