Currently working through an IRS audit on a calendar year plan, and the auditor mentioned that the 2017 profit sharing contribution was due next week. Casually, I said, "Sure, if they want to deduct it for 2017, otherwise they have until the end of 2018." He directed me to Publication 560, which says that the last date to make a contribution is the due date of the employer's return (including extensions) -- link, see Table [1] And now I see the 401(k) Fix-It Guide supports the same timing:

Timing of other contributions: Rules about the timing of matching contributions or other employer contributions are different from those for elective deferrals. The employer must meet the following rules to obtain a current tax deduction: <>

• Employer contributions that aren't tied to elective deferrals must be made by the filing deadline of the employer's tax return, including extensions.

What? I'm looking for anything to refute this, but I'm coming up empty. Is this real life?

[Advert.]

The Collection Procedures Institute will provide information you need to fulfill your fiduciary responsibility to collect benefit payments. Learn best practices, trends, legal/legislative updates and the opportunity to network.

Assume a plan provides that forfeitures are used in the plan year following the plan year in which the funds were forfeited, and allows the Plan Administrator to use the funds for any permissible purpose (reduce fees, contributions, or reallocate). A participant in 2018 terminates, takes a distribution and forfeits $1,000 which is now in the forfeiture account as of 12/31/2018. Do we include that $1,000 in the total plan assets when determining the top heavy ratio?

I heard discussion that the IRS might change determination of plan size based on participants WITH balances rather than all participants. So a 401(k) plan with over 120 participants with less than 100 deferring would still be small. Did this change go through? We have a 401(k) in the restaurant industry so there are nearly 200 participants, but only about 40 have balances.

New client has come to us. He is a self-employed author. He would like to start a solo-k plan. He received his business EIN on 8/28/2018. We are setting up the plan for him. Can we use a 1/1/18 start date or does it have to be 8/28/2018?

A client has a wrap document. Their carrier has provided me with 9 different Schedule A's due to different policy numbers. Am I able to combine any of the Schedule A's on the plan's Form 5500, or do they have to be input separately?

A profit sharing plan allows for participant-directed investments only for rollover accounts. All other amounts are pooled. The only participants with ROs are a majority owner and an NHCE, and they have chosen to invest their RO balances in employer securities (company is privately held), which the plan allows (ftwilliam document). They now would like to sell their employer securities to a financial advisor who assists with the appraisal of the stock and we're wondering if this could be done without it being considered a PT. If these participants elect to change their RO investments to cash and get out of the stock, could the plan then sell it to the FA? When the plan was first set up (but before this stock sale was considered) ftwilliam indicated that transactions involving the stock would generally not be considered PTs because it is not publicly traded stock and, therefore, not qualifying employer securities. It seems that 407(d)(5) can be interpreted that way but I would like to be sure.

For a 2017 calendar Plan Year, what is the latest possible date to adopt a corrective amendment to permit early entry for an employee that did not meet eligibility (non-highly compensated)?

We have a PSP with owner-only as plan trustee. The trustee died many years ago; one of the employees of the company bought the business after his death. The trustee did name the new owner as trustee of the plan, but no one can find that resolution, except that a corporate resolution naming the new owner was prepared and the new owner signed as employer and trustee. The plan is funded with a pooled annuity and a small sum in a trusted bank account. The annuity was surrendered, all but two were paid out as they terminated employment. They both received their RMDs prior to rollover. The bank has been giving the trustee and his attorney a hard time releasing the funds from the checking account saying, basically, that they do not and will not recognize the current trustee as trustee because he has not presented the "proper" paperwork naming the successor trustee. The plan document states the beneficiary (wife) is to be the trustee in the event no trustee no trustee can be found. (It's a DATAIR document.) The bank will not even accept this as proof; the plan has been updated each time, GUST, EGTRRA and PPA with the new trustee. In lieu of digging up the original owner/trustee's burial plot, I would think getting the DOL involved might be the only solution at this point. 5500 filings are up to date. Suggestions?

Plan definition of pay is 3401(a) wages, excludes excess GTL, ALL fringe benefits, expense allowances, etc. and commissions. We need to run a 414(s) test due to the commission exclusion. When calculating each participant's compensation percentage, I will put commissions in the numerator but what is in the denominator? Specifically, must the denominator include the excess GTL and fringe benefits or can those be excluded from the denominator? I am thinking I would exclude them since they are not part of plan compensation and are allowable safe harbor compensation adjustments. Is that correct?