"S corporation, owned by Father and Son, each owns 50%. No employees. Which 5500 should be filed? EZ or SF? I am getting lost in the EZ instructions language: '2. Covers only one or more partners (or partners and their spouses) in a business partnership (treating 2% shareholder of an S corporation, as defined in IRC Section 1372(b), as a partner);' "

"New client (husband & wife only) set up a DB plan for 2022 and literally signed the documents yesterday. No need to file 5500 forms but do I need to file PBGC for 2022? Yes, they are covered by PBGC. I was told that they had SEP all this time. Yesterday, before preparing the documents, found out that they have a solo 401k plan and not a SEP. Caught it in time to set the plan # properly for the db plan. Deduction is not an issue. Solo 401k plan has 800k in assets and never filed 5500 forms -- this plan is with a reputable brokerage house. Did a bit of math and figured out that they exceeded 250k 7, may be 8 years ago and no one told them that they had filing obligations, quelle surprise! Other than filing with DVFC, anything else I should be aware of? Do not care about the documents etc as I am not taking over the plan, just helping with the 5500 forms."

"If an employee terminates and comes back 5 months later they really haven't 'terminated' in the eyes of the plan, they simply have a lapse in service. It's not until they have been gone for 1 complete year when they can be considered 'terminated' and in essence would have to start all over if they were re-hired. Correct? And the break in service rule is an IRS rule? Not an individual plan rule?"

"A doctor called requesting a loan, without saying how much. I sent a blank application. I mentioned in the email to complete, return, we would review, get Trustee authorization and direct Merrill to issue a check (the doctor has a plan brokerage account.) This doctor is one of many doctors and only those on the Executive Committee serve as trustee and he is not one. He completed the application and just gave it to Merrill who issued a check for $20,000 which is $16,000 over his borrowing limit due to the 12-month lookback rule. I emailed him today and the Practice Administrator saying he must pay back the excess right away. If he refuses to pay, the plan provides for hardship distribution and he could self-certify hardship eligibility. In-service distributions are not available at his age. But if he will not complete the hardship form, then we have an uncorrected prohibited transaction. I'm guessing just issuing a 1099 as taxable for 2023 will not solve this problem. I thought about the group withholding $16,000 from an upcoming bonus but I doubt that is legal to withhold from pay without consent. The doctor seems very reasonable from past dealings so my hope is he will quickly pay it back but I question his ability despite a high income as he borrowed $50,000 not long ago and I suspect something is going on like a divorce. This just happened within the last 2 weeks. So maybe not yet spent. Comments are appreciated."