"I am creating a form to send to clients to give to all their 100%-vested participants, to elect their 2024 ER contributions be made as Roth. I understand that a 2025 1099-R will be produced for each participant who wishes to have their 2024 ER contributions go in as Roth money type, since the 'allocation' and/or 'deposit' is being made in 2025 for 2024's ER contributions. Here's my operations question: Am I right to say that the 2024 ER contributions that are elected to be Roth (per person) will be shown that way on the 2024 reports? I know that seems like a dumb question, and maybe the better question is: How long does each participant have to complete their Form saying they want their 2024 ER contributions as Roth?? When should we be sending these Forms to our clients for the year we're closing out? As we all know, there can be a lot of back and forth before an employer makes a final decision on their ER contributions. Handing a participant a form today might send the signal that they 'will definitely' be receiving a Discretionary Match and/or Profit Sharing etc., when the decision isn't made until March 14th or even Sept 14! Thoughts?"

"A client maintains a defined benefit plan and has requested help in complying with RMD rules. If a plan participant cannot be located or fails to cooperate in completing and returning a distribution form, can the plan's administrator commence paying distributions in a default form based on file information as to marital status and date of birth? What can be done to correct the default RMD form if the date of birth and/or marital status turn out to be inaccurate after distributions commence? If the plan does not have marital status information about a participant to whom RMDs are payable, can the plan presume that the participant is married or single and commence RMDs based on a presumed marital status?"

"A client mentioned they were considering including the new 60-63 catch-up provision. I was under the assumption that if a plan included the regular catch-up provision the new higher amount was automatically available. Is it even possible to have a plan that allows for regular catch-up deferrals but not the new 60-53 catch-up amount? Will this be in an amendment or is it just effective via IRS regulation automatically?"

"Can a 403b make each participant their own allocation group for non-elective contributions like for 401k plans?"

"A small employer (non-profit) has two employees....the executive director (an HCE) and the president (a NHCE because he only works part-time). The HCE's employment contract stipulates that she will receive a $40,000 annual contribution to the SEP in addition to her salary. The NHCE's employment contract stipulates that his annual compensation amount is inclusive of any contribution required to be made to the SEP. While the NHCE's salary and SEP contribution total the annual 2024 compensation package, because of miscalculations the NHCE's contribution is a larger percentage of his salary than the HCE's. The usual self-correction under EPCRS would be for an additional contribution to be made to the participant receiving the lower percentage contribution. That would mean giving the HCE a larger contribution, which is in contravention of her employment contract. The NHCE (president) is okay with withdrawing the excess percentage contribution from his IRA by 4/15 and taking it into income. I'm hesitant to go that route as it seems to be against EPCRS. Since the operational error is in favor of the NHCE (i.e., receiving a larger contribution than the HCE) can it be left alone? Or does the simple violation of a nonuniform allocation dictate that a correction is necessary? And if a correction is needed, must the HCE receive an additional contribution (and perhaps adjust compensation or contribution in 2025)?"

"Is a VEBA, with 76,000 IN ASSETS. that has not had a contribution for at least 15 years, and all participants in the plan were terminated 10 years ago at least, still required to file a 990 (EZ)? IF YES, must the 990 be e-filed, and mailing it in is not allowed anymore? Can it be merged with a mp plan (with of course properly allocating, ie prorating, the assets for each of the 2 plans annually)?"

"I have a plan that was amended to exclude HCEs from SHNE contributions. None of my current plans have this exclusion, so I want to ensure I understand it correctly. If HCEs are excluded, does this mean that all HCEs would not receive any SH Employer contributions, or does it mean they have the option to be excluded? I assume they would not participate in the allocation since this exclusion is written into the document, but I need clarification on the logic, as the Financial Advisor is questioning this."

"IRS guidance for Catch-Up contributions is scheduled to be published on Monday. See [this Federal Register entry] for 57 pages of weekend reading.

"Guidance for Auto Enrollment is scheduled to be published on Tuesday. See [this Federal Register entry] for 62 pages of additional reading.

"This is only 2 weeks after the effective date of the respective SECURE 2.0 provisions, so we will at least have some feedback on how accurate our guesses have been about the details."

"I am looking to gather data to compare plan enrollment statistics between Safe Harbor Match and Safe Harbor Nonelective contributions. The assumption is that offering a SHNE may not provide employees with an incentive to enroll for elective deferrals, as they would receive the contribution regardless of their participation."