HCE Determination and Foreign Income

[Guest mrnardoz]

Say an employee of a French company transfers to a US company that is part of the same controlled group, and begins to participate in the US company's 401(k) plan (based on US earned income).

To determine whether that employee is an HCE, you need to look at compensation earned in the prior year. I don't see any basis for concluding that compensation paid in Euros (or whatever local currency) earned while working in France for the foreign company the year before can be excluded in determining whether the person is an HCE in the current year -- the 415 regulations would appear to include it in 415 compensation. If that is true, is there any guidance or common practice on how to convert foreign earnings into US currency for this purpose?

Thanks