Is my one-participant 401(k) out of compliance? I want to terminate it.

I've had a one-participant ("solo") 401(k) since 2015. Out of ignorance, I treated the plan like an IRA, and transferred the plan between Vanguard and Fidelity several times. I did not retain complete records for these transfers. My intention was to retain the same plan, but I incorrectly incremented the plan sequence number, and I do not remember whether I adopted a new plan or amended an existing plan in the paperwork for 2 of the transfers.

My plan hasn't had a balance of over $250k until 2022. Last month, I received my 2022 Annual Valuation Statement from Fidelity and completed a 2022 5500-EZ, which is saved (but not submitted) on EFAST2. While filling out the form, I realized that the IRS may take notice of my sequence number of 003 and wonder why I haven't filed a final 5500-EZ for 001 and 002. That led me to Google, where I got spooked by the consequences for mishandling a 401(k).

So, I want to terminate the plan and use a SEP instead. I should have never had a 401(k) in the first place.

I need professional help to

• obtain the correct plan documents from Vanguard and Fidelity—I don't even know the "magic words" to say to the phone reps so they send the needed materials, and
• review them and confirm that I didn't make any mistakes that would preclude terminating the plan.

I've reached out to a couple TPAs, but I get the feeling the assistance I need is too small of a job for them. I suspect this may be because everything might be fine with my plan and there is no remediation work necessary, or because my goal is to get rid of the 401(k) and I will not need ongoing administration.

Can anyone here recommend a firm—even their firm—that could help with an individual's one-off case? Thanks in advance for any leads.

You likely have some issues but I don't know if they are big or not. And there's no way to know without diving in and gathering all of the information.

The problem isn't that it's too small of a job. The problem is that it's such a big job and they likely won't get paid for all their time. 

@Bill Presson, understood! Obviously, I am willing to pay hourly, as I would a lawyer. Is that just not how it works? What is the best way to engage with someone who could assist?

Thanks for your response.

Hourly is the way it would need to go. But, you'll want to know up front what the estimate is. They can't give a reasonable estimate until they look at everything to even know what the problems are. That initial review could easily be $2,000-$3,000 just to determine what is broken and how to fix it. Fixing it could easily be twice that much.

TPAs historically undercharge for their work so you will likely find someone to do it for less. But if I was going to do it (which I'm not), I would get the review costs up front as a retainer and go from there.