Aggregating plans for testing?

[Guest KRS401k]

We have 4 companies with common ownership, each with their own 401(k) plan. Which of these plans do we need to aggregate for testing purposes?

Company #1 - 51% owned by Employee A, 25% by B and 24% by C

Company #2 - 25.5% by A's son, 25.5% by A's daughter, 25% by B and 24% by C

Company #3 - 51% by trust owned by B, 25% by D, 12% by E, 12% by D's kid

Company #4 - 22% by A, 11% by A's kids, 11% by B, 11% by B's trust, 16% by C, 3% by D, 3% by E, 23% between 6 other people.

A, B, C, D & E are not related to each other.

We have never had to work with this kind of testing. Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks!

[Mike Preston]

At first blush it appears that none of these must be aggregated. Of course, you haven't given any information about whether a potential affiliated service group exists.

Since more than just obvious stock ownership is used to determine aggregation (things like rights of first refusal for cross buy-sells, etc.) it is strongly suggested that ERISA counsel be engaged.

[dmwe]

Isn't the standard rule 80% owned by 5 or fewer people? I think that would make company 1 and 2 a controlled group. Make sure you know who holds the voting stock.

[Mike Preston]

dmwe, don't you need common ownership, though? Common ownership is only 49% for B and C.

[Blinky the 3-eyed Fish]

I don't see where it says how old the son and daughter are. If both are under 21, pops gets their ownership by attribution and you have a controlled group between 1 and 2. If not, you don't.