Who is the employer?

[Guest sburrall]

We have an employer situation. Our client who had been operating under one name as a C Corporation with a certain EIN changed the form of operation to a Mass. business Trust utilizing the same EIN but with a new name. He then formed a new C Corporation using the old name with a new EIN.

The Business trust files a consolidated return taking the plan deduction however all the employees are paid out of the "new" Corporation.

We filed previous 5500's using the old name and the EIN which now belongs to the trust.

The question now is who do we show as the employer on the 5500 ie. which emopoyer name and EIN should we be using?

Any thoughts will be greatly appreicated.

[E as in ERISA]

I would make sure they get all their ducks in order: (a) determine who he wants to be the sponsor of the plan, (B) determine if the employees are paid by that sponsor, and, if not, make sure that entity is also an adopting employer of the plan, © make sure the plan, SPD, etc. identify the sponsor (and any adopting employers), and that they have signed on as such, (d) make sure the IRS has allowed him to re-assign an EIN to another legal entity (???), (e) make sure that the EIN of the sponsor (and any adopting employers) are properly identified in the SPD (and possibly the plan), etc., etc. etc. Once everything is properly documented, then you can figure out who to put on the 5500.