Company A sponsors an active 401(k) plan. Very soon, Company B is buying Company A. Company B sponsors a SIMPLE IRA plan. Company A will continue to exist and pay salaries to its owners out of receivables through 12/31. The staff of Company A will be paid by Company B from 08/15/2018 forward. The owners of Company A will continue to make deferrals out of their salaries but the employees of A will no longer have any mechanism for making deferrals to A's plan. Company A would have liked for Company B to assume sponsorship of Company A's existing 401(k) plan, open it up to all of Company B's employees, and move forward with as little disturbance as possible. However, I believe Company B can't have a SIMPLE IRA and assume sponsorship of a 401(k) plan in the same year. Company A's next preference would be to have Company B take over the existing 401(k) plan as of January 1, 2019. This leaves the employees of Company A without a way to make deferrals from 8/15 through 12/31 since they have no pay coming from Company A after 8/15. Is it OK to just suspend their ability to make deferrals and then have them be able to once again on January 1? Has a partial plan termination been triggered by the change of how the employees get paid as of 8/15/2015?