match in the year of hardship

[Guest MPITTS]

Can a participant receive a mathcing contribution if he took a hardship withdrawl during the year that included his current year deferrals?

The document is individually drafted and does not address the issue.

[Jon Chambers]

If the document is silent, I would say that match is permitted, and possibly even required.

[Richard Anderson]

I believe the contribution would be required.

[RCK]

It seems to me that the plan document has to define who gets the match. If it does that by describing who is eligible, then it should be easy enough to determine whether someone who took a hardship is eligible. If it does that by defining who is NOT eligible, and "participant who took a hardship" is not mentioned, they have to get it.

For example, our core plan says that the year end match goes to everyone who works 1000 hours, and is either an active employee on the last day of the plan year or died or retired. A person with a hardship could have met the 1000 hour rule and the last day rule, and would get the match.