Plan Termination and later discover remain assets - what options?

[Guest W. Blake]

We had a company come to us. They said that their 401(k) Plan terminated in 2001 when they were bought out. They have recently discovered that there were some left over assets in the Plan (around $15,000). This money belongs to more then one participant - some HCE and some NHCE. The money as of date has not yet been paid out.

Any suggestions on how to handle this? Apparently there was a final 5500 done for year 2001.

It's a mess we are trying to determine if we should get involved in or not!

Thank you.

[WDIK]

Some of the options available to you may be affected by such factors as the size of the plan, the source of the residual assets, missing participants or terms of the buy-out. Perhaps a starting point is to look at the Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance Program.

[Ron Snyder]

You should agree to get involved but, because of the unusual situation, charge a substantial fee. You should be able to correct the situation for a fee of about $15,000.

You might consider referring them to the administrator of the plan of the acquiring company.