"Single member plan. Owner took a loan, then COVID hit and business fell off (non-existent). The loan was suspended and ultimately the business failed. To close the plan the owner needs to understand how to calculate the defaulted loan balance. What is the process. Should interest be added? Just use the last principal balance?"

"What advanced notice, if any, is required to be given to plan participants when there is a significant change in health plan benefits due to a stock purchase transaction? ... Company A is about to be bought by Company B in a stock purchase transaction. Company A currently participates in Parent Company's fairly rich health plan as part of a controlled group. Company A's participation in Parent Company's health plan will cease at the time of the transaction and Company A will sponsor a new MEC plan going forward. Parent Company (the Seller) doesn't want to give any notice whatsoever prior to the transaction. Purchaser is concerned about potential liability related to claims not covered by the MEC plan, that would have been covered by the Parent Company's richer plan, if employees are given zero notice. Does the 60 day advance notice requirement for changes during a plan year apply? I would think not, as the new MEC plan's plan year will not begin until the day following closing so it's not really a mid-year change. But it seems illogical that no notice is required in this situation."

"Effective immediately (Well at least for calendar year plans) are we no longer required to obtain any support at all for hardships? The conversation will be 'How much do you need?' '$5,000' 'Are you able to certify it is for one of these pre-approved hardships things?' If they say yes, they are eligible and that is that, right? Literally anyone can take a distribution for any reason at any time as long as they are comfortable lying through their teeth to get the money they desperately need (at least as they would define that), right? Does something bad happen to them if they lie? Is it subject to any audit at all? Hardship Distributions. Current law allows distributions on account of immediate and heavy financial need or an unforeseeable emergency, and the amount must be limited to the amount necessary to satisfy the financial need. Certain listed events are deemed to be on account of hardship, and employees are required to submit records documenting the safe harbor event. Effective for plan years beginning after December 29, 2022, plan administrators can rely on employee self-certification that they experienced a safe harbor event and that the requested amount does not exceed the amount required to satisfy the financial need."

"Form was filed a few months late but no correspondence has been received yet from the IRS. Although it's my understanding that penalty relief can be applied for even after the IRS has sent a letter assessing penalties, there always exists the possibility that the DOL may instead send such correspondence, at which time the option to obtain penalty relief disappears. As such, it would appear that the best approach would be to file an amended return at this time (i.e., before the feds contact the client) via the IRS penalty relief program for EZ forms - agreed? Thanks in advance for all assistance."

"Dentist is retiring and another dentist in the office is taking over the practice. New EIN and Employer name. Can the existing 401k simply have a change in Plan Sponsor/EIN? What if the retiring dentist has receivable contributions under his practice name/EIN that will not be paid into the plan until after the change?"

"Section 305 of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 division of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 undoes some limits on the Internal Revenue Service's Self-Correction Program. In a BenefitsLink discussion, Luke Bailey invites considering 'whether VCP [the Internal Revenue Service's Voluntary Correction Program] will be the rare exception going forward, replaced almost entirely by SCP, in light of SECURE 2.0 Sec. 305[.]'  To open a discussion: Who decides that the plan's administrator had 'established practices and procedures' that allow one to use self-correction? Who decides that a failure is inadvertent? Who decides that a failure meets the further conditions for an 'eligible inadvertent failure'? Who decides that a correction fits within what a Revenue Procedure allows? How does a plan's sponsor or administrator get comfort that a failure was eligible for self-correction and is sufficiently corrected? If a client wants a comfort letter, may a practitioner who is neither an attorney-at-law nor a certified public accountant render the letter? If a third person (for example, an acquirer of shares of, or business assets from, the plan's sponsor or a participating employer) wants a comfort letter, may a practitioner who is neither an attorney-at-law nor a certified public accountant render the letter?"