Guild plan

[Bird]

Maybe someone has experience with guild plans, this is specifically the Directors Guild but probably applies to similar situations.  (Not my client but CPA called me about it.)

A partnership has a studio and makes commercials.  One partner (I think it is just one of them) is in the Directors Guild.  Participants in the guild pay into the guild pension plan(s) based on their income, which is reported to the guild, but otherwise not passed through the guild.  In prior years, these payments were small and buried on the partnership return as pension expense.  An internal audit of some sort resulted in substantial additional pension (and health insurance) costs for 2016, based on prior years' under-reported income (under-reported to the guild). The partnership paid the guild the amount due and called them guaranteed payments to the partner.  The amounts are, let's say, $52,000.  CPA intends to deduct them on the 1040 as Keogh contributions.  To make it interesting, the partnership has a SEP, and partners have typically maxed contributions at $53K.  CPA wanted to know if this partner would be limited to $1,000, or could do $53,000, or...?  (Interestingly, one of the guild plans is a DB, and one is a DC, and the reported DC contributions were split into "employee" and "employer" and exceeded $53,000.)

So...are those guild payments properly deducted on the 1040?  Something about that part doesn't seem right, but I can't put my finger on it.  I think the SEP contribution could be $53,000.  I guess it boils down to "Who's the Employer" for the guild contributions.