Combined Trust

[Dougsbpc]

Have a plan sponsored by one employer with a September year end with a participating employer with a December year end. They are related employers. Plan assets are pooled.

We have suggested they spin off and create two separate plans. They mentioned that it will be a disadvantage from a plan investment standpoint to do this.

We are thinking they could have two plans and a combined trust. The document is silent on the subject. We have certainly seen combined trusts before but all had the same plan year. Does anyone see problems with having two plans sharing a combined trust with different year ends?

Thanks.

[Bird]

You can't or don't want to keep the same plan year end?

I suppose you could do with different year ends and have multiple valuation dates.

It's hard to imagine that the hassle and cost involved with reconciling contributions, distributions, gains and losses, etc. is worth the perceived* benefits of having all assets commingled. You're basically going from one val to four.

*Odds are that the "advantage" of having the assets combined is BS. I suggest you press them to come up with a cost and they can compare it to your added costs.