"5500-SF filer -- pooled fund plan -- termed 10/31/2022. Participants were notified and paid out/rolled over in late December. Plan has a very small balance at the end of 2022 due to residual earnings that will be disbursed to participants in early 2023. As far as Part VII; question 13 -- 13a is 'yes' and '0.00' reverted -- I assume that for 13b 'Were all the plan assets distributed....' the answer is 'no' because the final residual payouts have not yet been completed? It strikes me that answering 'no' might create issues although I can't for sure say why I think that. Reading to much into it I suppose -- i.e. you termed the plan but didn't pay out yet? why is that? Of course that question will be marked 'yes' on the final 2023 filing."

"In my limited understanding when doing new comp, my goal is to maximize the HCE's total contributions. The remaining gateway to eligible NHCE is the lesser of 5% of comp or 1/3 of the highest allocation percentage of an HCE. Upon 401(a)(b) failure, is it in my best interest to allocate more to the elder NHCE's? If so is there a general formula to achieve the correct amount? In my experience the 401(a)(b) seems really finicky and feels almost arbitrary at times."

"I have a client composed of husband and wife doctors and 4 employees. The assets in their defined benefit plan as of 1/1/22 were about $5,260,000. Due to investment losses, the 12/31/22 balance dropped to about $4,500,000. In 2021, there was a surplus in the plan of about $235,000. In order to bring the surplus down, no contribution was made into the plan for Plan Year 2021. Given that the plan is going to be terminated early in 2025, we were hoping that this would lower the surplus. Due to the large investment losses in 2022, not only did the surplus disappear, but, a minimum contribution of almost $100,000 was generated. At this point, the medical practice is not generating very much income and coming up with the $100,000 for the contribution is a problem.

"To avoid having a potentially large contribution in 2023, the plan is being frozen before anyone accrues a benefit for 2023. My question is, what are their alternatives for getting the money to make the required contribution of almost $100,000? Potential alternatives: [1] Have the doctors personally lend the money to the PA and then have the PA make the contribution. What are the tax consequences if the PA can't pay the loan to them back? Are there other tax concerns to be aware of? [2] Amend the plan to allow for in-service distributions. This would seem like there could be double taxation. Again, what other tax concerns could crop up? [3] What if the contribution is not made by 9/15? Aside from paying the 10% penalty, is there any advantage to this?"