Plan Sponsor named as Participant's beneficiary

[Guest Andy]

We have come across a situation where a participant/shareholder has named his company as beneficiary of his MP/PS benefits. There is no QJ&S issue and my question is does anyone feel this prohibited by Erisa.

Any thoughts would be appreciated

[Guest Phil L]

Wow, talk about a "company man!" Anyway, I don't think there is anything that prohibits a participant from naming a natural person, a trust, an estate, or a business as a beneficiary in a qualified plan. I don't claim to be an expert on this, but I am unaware of any restrictions.

[Larry M]

This question was posed in the Q&A section of benefitslink. The answer there suggests it is a prohibited trnasaction to have the plan sponsor named, directly, as a beneficiary.