Delayed deposit of employee deferral

[rblum50]

A client just supplied me with their 2018 W-2's showing total employee deferrals of $22,000. When I balanced the assets of the plan from their brokerage statements, the total deferrals amounted to$20,000. I thought that the missing $2,000 was simply a contribution in transit that would show up early in January, 2019. Unfortunately, only $1,000 showed up in January leaving the plan $1,000 short. When I questioned the office manager, she indicated that the November contribution of $1,000 was never deposited and wants to know if she should deposit this amount now. As I see it, there are a few issues:

1) employee deferrals are cash items. Therefore, the remaining $1,000, yet to be deposited, cannot be considered employee deferrals for 2018.

2) If 1) above is true, then the individual W-2's reflect excessive deferrals amounts and need to be re-done. Conceivably, if individual 2018 personal tax returns have been already filed, they may need to be re-filed.  

3) Since the $1,000 has been in a corporate account rather than the 401(k) since November, could this be a prohibited transaction?

4) If the adjustments for most (there are only about 6 in the plan) would be relatively small, if there anything that can be legally done to make this mess just go away?

[C. B. Zeller]

1. No. The $1,000 was withheld from pay per the employees' elections, it is a plan contribution.

2. n/a

3. Yes. It is treated as a loan from the plan to the employer.

4. Deposit the late contributions with lost earnings, pay the excise tax on the prohibited transaction, and optionally file VFCP. See https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/401k-plan-fix-it-guide-you-have-not-timely-deposited-employee-elective-deferrals