Plan Name requirements?

Not the most important question - but sometimes plans come across my desk where the plan name seems to be exactly the company name, as confirmed not just on the 5500 but on the plan document.

One I just saw has simply '401k' after the company name without 'plan'.

I guess there's no requirement that the word 'plan' be in a plan name, but it does seem odd to me.

Correct. There's no requirement of which I'm aware. We have some plans, sponsored by a couple of related, but not controlled, entities and the name is a unique descriptor of the relationship. I've also worked with some that wanted to keep as much anonymity as possible and merely named the plan "401(k) Plan" without anything else. I've never had any pushback from any IRS or DOL person.

The one thing I do try to encourage is brevity in the name choice. "and Trust" at the end burns me up.

I do recommend if possible having at least some allusion the sponsor name in there in some way, just so it'll alphabetize where you want it to!

13 hours ago, Bill Presson said:

"and Trust" at the end burns me up.

Ha! Especially when it makes it just long enough to need a second line!  And then some forms don't have a second line and the IRS complains about a name mismatch...

28 minutes ago, Bri said:

I do recommend if possible having at least some allusion the sponsor name in there in some way, just so it'll alphabetize where you want it to!

That's why I sort by EIN+PN instead

On 11/6/2023 at 6:41 AM, RatherBeGolfing said:

That's why I sort by EIN+PN instead

If I am replacing (however that is being done technically) a Non-ERISA Plan with an ERISA plan, I try to insert "ERISA" in the name just before "403(b)" because it helps avoid confusion for everyone.

1 hour ago, Patricia Neal Jensen said:

If I am replacing (however that is being done technically) a Non-ERISA Plan with an ERISA plan, I try to insert "ERISA" in the name just before "403(b)" because it helps avoid confusion for everyone.

That's a great idea.   It doesn't come up much in my practice, but sounds like a good way to keep things separate.