"Situation 1 -- Rehire Full-time employee is eligible and participating in the 403(b). The employee experiences a separation from service and there is no plan to re-hire employee. Employee ends up being re-hired later in the same Plan Year, but in an ineligible position (fewer than 20hrs/week). Does the employee get to participate immediately under the 'once-eligible, always eligible' rule? Situation 2 -- Reclassification Full-time employee is eligible for the 403(b). The employee changes from full-time to part time (expected fewer than 20 hrs/week). Is the employee still eligible under the 'once eligible, always eligible' rule, or is the employee now ineligible under the exclusion for employees expected to work fewer than 20 hrs/week?"

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"Company A has a 401k plan, Company B has a 401k plan. Both plans with same recordkeeper. Ownership and plan features are identical for A and B as of 1/1/23, no issue with protected benefits. Company C is being purchased, has no 401k plan, same ownership. Holding Company D is being formed to own Companies A, B, C, and any future acquisitions. All employees of all companies will be employees of Holding Company D as of 1/1/24. My thought is to keep surviving Company A plan, merge Company B plan into Company A plan, have Holding Company D become the plan sponsor of Company A Plan and add all employees of Company C into the plan as of the closing date of the purchase. I would file a final 5500 for Company B plan (though not terminate the plan) for 2023 (or 2024 if recordkeeper cannot merge assets as of 1/1/24). Continue filing 5500s for Company A Plan (Holding Company as new plan sponsor). On Holding Company 2023 5500 I would list Company A in Part 2 question 4, then on final 5500 for Company B list Holding Company A in Section 7, question 13c. The timing is obviously tight, but am I missing anything in this strategy?"

"We have a plan that is terminating with Transamerica. Several participants will not return their distribution forms. This is an FIS/PPD DC document. I know most will say -- what does the plan document say? It is very ambiguous in my opinion. These are participants with more than $5,000 and they are not 'lost.' The plan is not subject to QJSA. We want to simply roll them to a default IRA with Millennium Trust if they continue to ignore the distribution forms. The assets are enough where I don't want to take chances -- in total about $25,000 for 3 people."

"On the old Schedule SSA, reporting terminated participants with unpaid vested benefits was mandatory but reporting them after they had received a distribution was optional. So, we never did it. Now we have a little over 2,000 people who were probably reported as term vesteds with a balance and never removed upon subsequent payment. Their payment dates were from 1994 to 2005. The problem we have now is that these people are receiving letters from the Social Security Administration reporting that they may have a benefit due. It is sometimes difficult to convince people that they were paid. After all, a government agency is telling them to contact us. We have the check number, amount, and payment date, and even in most cases signed distribution election forms, but we no longer have the canceled checks so people don't always believe us. And much of our information is on microfilm which requires in-person research, which is a bit of a hassle. How appropriate would it be, the next time we file the 8955-SSA, to report these people as having been paid out? Is this a huge red flag? Would it trigger unwelcome attention from some agency or another?"

"There is a small professional DB Plan not subject to PBGC in closedown. All benefits have been paid except the 2 principals and the principals' child. The principals' child is in the middle of separation from spouse. There is no QDRO in place and the separation is being drawn out. Future ex-spouse won't sign the spousal consent so that the money can be distributed. The company is being acquired with one condition being that this plan has been fully closed and distributed by end of the year. Participant is on the younger side with Lump Sum in the few hundred thousand $ range. Is there any ground to be able to waive the spousal consent because of plan closedown? What is the best course of action? [1] Give the money to PBGC? (not ideal for anyone) [2] set up a generic IRA as if the participant was being forced out/couldn't be located? [3] Waive the spousal consent and distribute to the participants IRA? [4] Distribute it out under participant election and correct under EPCRS once consent can be obtained?"

"I have a participant who has terminated. She had Roth and pre-tax money in her account. Can only one 1099-R be prepared or do I need to prepare one for each money type? Am I reading the 1099-R instructions correctly, do I put the total being distributed in box 1 and in box 5 that is where I indicate her ROTH and/or after tax voluntary contribution distribution? Example.... Suzie terminated and took all her money. Her $10,000 Roth account rolled into a rollover Roth IRA. Her $20,000 employer money into a rollover IRA Box 1, total of all distributions -- $30,000 Box 2, taxable money -- $20,000 Box 5, Roth and after-tax voluntary contributions -- $10,000 Box 7, Distribution code(s) -- code G and code H Her 1st Roth salary deferral was more than 5 years ago (2012) Or do I need to prepare 2 form 1099-Rs."

"We sponsor a 403(b) and one of our participants deferred the maximum to both our plan and his former employer's 401(k) plan in 2022. (Yes, 2022.) He is now (December 2023) requesting a refund from us. Can we do it? He is active and under 59 1/2 and we do not consider him to otherwise have had a distributable event. If this were a 401(k) I would say 'no' but I am unsure about the 403(b) aspect."

"I do not work enough with after-tax contributions and came across a question for an owner-only sole prop where the owner wants to contribution profit sharing and after-tax. [1] The owner has gross income for the year is $100,000. Minus expenses (not counting plan contributions), this his net compensation down to $80,000. [2] He is looking to contribute 20% profit sharing and, as much after-tax as he can (under age 50 FWIW) Do we determine the PS amount first and then subtract the after-tax or after-tax first and then PS?"

"How do your plans handle the situation in which a divorce decree grants an ex-spouse an interest in retirement benefits, but the ex-spouse dies before a QDRO is filed with the Plan? In this case, the participant is nowhere close to retirement age. It seems the estate should be put on notice and given a time frame to file a posthumous QDRO, but would appreciate thoughts."

"Employee worked 4/15/2021-6/17/2021 Rehired 12/10/2023 on FTW document. 6 e is marked for 6 months of service, elapsed time. With monthly entry dates. Neither Rule of parity or one year hold out are marked. Since he was gone more than 12 months and he didn't meet eligibility, does his 6 months start over and his entry date would be 7/1/2024?"

"I have a client asking about the mechanics of making the employer matching contribution as Roth, as allowed under Secure 2.0. In particular how the taxes are being handled. Is the Match being put through payroll, or are companies paying the taxes independently?"