"I was wondering if it is unlawful for a company to deny opt out money that they offer to all eligible employees to married couples that both work for the company? As individual employees we each receive a benefit plan that includes Healthcare. We choose one family plan through the wife's benefit package, therefore not using the husband's benefit package. Yet, we are denied the opt out insurance money for not using the husband's Healthcare plan. Could this be considered discrimination based on marital status?"

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"Can anyone provide a code citation that defines when a participant in a defined benefit plan (CB in this case) is considered to have been paid a lump sum distribution? Date funds leave the trust, or date participant has control of the funds? Or something else? ... Even if no citation, would love some opinions on this. This is related to some mandatory cash-outs that were started the last week of Dec 2023 from a calendar-year CB plan. The Plan wired the required funds to the distribution custodian on 12/26/2023 and provided participant hypothetical balances as of 12/31/2022 (Plan Doc does not allow pro-rata interest thru ASD, just the last-day interest credit). TPA states that since funds were sent to distribution custodian before 12/31/2023, the participants are considered paid in full as of that date. We've since learned that several of the participants did not receive funds until well into February 2024 (delays in responses, paperwork, etc.). Anyone feel like they were shorted their 12/31/2023 interest credit?"

"Let's say an employee enrolls in an HDHP with family coverage and contributes to an HSA. Their spouse contributes to a general purpose health FSA, which we know is disqualifying coverage for purposes of the HSA. But how would the IRS know this? It doesn't seem that health FSAs are reported to the IRS (whereas dependent care benefits, like dependent care FSA contributions, are reported on W-2). What am I missing?"

"When I submitted my 2021-2023 renewal, I included many live and on-demand ASPPA webinars in my CEC counts, as I normally do ... The IRS emailed me saying I was short a bunch of credits  ... and that I had to submit the 'IRS program numbers' for the courses in order to receive credit. Upon requesting the program #s from ASPPA, I learned that none of their webinars that originally aired in 2021 (whether viewed then or on-demand in 2022) were eligible for ERPA credit. It appears that at least some of them had program #s at some point, and it seems like they were intended to qualify but something failed in the process (perhaps related to COVID?). Now I'm short a bunch of credits. I'm not able to find whether ASPPA originally communicated whether ERPA credit was available for each webinar, but I normally confirm that when I sign up. Obviously, we need to monitor our PTIN records closely real-time. Has this happened to anyone else? Were you able to resolve it with the IRS?"

"An association of related businesses sponsor a closed MEP. There is one Form 5500 filing that includes the Schedule MEP. I'm not able to find clear guidance on how to file a Form 5330 in a closed MEP situation. Let's say there are several businesses in the MEP that fail to distribute ADP failures timely. Does only 1 Form 5330 get filed with the aggregate of the prohibited amount reported for the excise tax? What about late deposits?"

"Husband has owner-only K and DB plans. Spouse has her own owner-only K plan with a bundled provider for a couple years. Total assets exceed $250,000 so all plans are to file 5500s. We are investigating if 5500 has been filed for her k plan. I doubt that the bundled provider inquired as to whether she was part of a controlled group. I don't know how far back her plan goes. She was added for coverage under his DB plan for a nominal benefit which I was told was required due to being a controlled group -- maybe 401(a)(26). That may have been the first year of her K plan. I realize the max penalty is $1500 but hopefully someone doesn't have to go back a bunch of years to file."

"North Carolina was originally given an extension until 5/1/2025. This included the 5500 for 2023. On 4/17/25 this extension was further extended until September 2025. This additional extension from 5/1/2025 to 9/2025 includes the 5500 and the PBGC filings. Correct?"

"We have pre-approved non-standardized documents. All defined benefit plans had to be restated for Cycle 3 by March 31, 2025. Even though about 90 plan sponsors did adopt the restated documents by March 31, 2025, we had 4 clients who did not. Our understanding is that the restatements can be done through self-correction as long as they are adopted within two years of March 31, 2025. In addition, we believe the plans would need to adopt all amendments between the last restatement (PPA) and now (Cycle [3] to properly do this through self-correction. This as if the plan were an individual design. Question: Is there a list somewhere of all the required amendments between the PPA restatement and the current Cycle 3 restatement?"