There are some common misconceptions about ESOPs that should be addressed and dispelled. Unfortunately, many less than fully informed business owners and advisers hold them as truths. Many business owners mistakenly think:
An ESOP is a giveaway.I will lose control of my company.You must ...
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Employee Aggregation Rules: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You
First In A Series
It was not a dark and stormy night--at least it didn't start out that way. Instead, it was a sunny and calm afternoon, and a routine year-end review meeting was taking place between the owners of SMALLCO (a manufacturing business), their accountant and their retirement plan ...
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Employee Aggregation Rules: Controlled Groups
Second In A Series
In our last episode we left our heroes spending a dark and stormy night arguing about who screwed up and failed to recognize that SMALLCO and SMALL Vineyards had to be considered one employer for employee benefit plan purposes.
SMALLCO and SMALL Vineyards were ...
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Employee Aggregation Rules: Affiliated Service Groups
Third In A Series
In the first two installments of this series on the aggregation of employers and employees, we spent a dark and stormy night with the owners of SMALLCO and SMALL Vineyards and their advisors learning about the controlled group rules and why the employees of the two businesses ...
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Employee Aggregation Rules: Leased Employees
Fourth And Final (Whew!!) Of A Series
In our first three action-packed episodes on the aggregation of employers and employees, we spent a dark and stormy night with the owners of SMALLCO and SMALL Vineyards and their advisors learning about the steamy world of controlled group rules. We ...
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Pension Actuaries: Do You Need One For Your Plan?
The role of the pension actuary on the retirement plan team …
Actuaries are well trained in determining pension liabilities and costs and can often quote the pension sections of the Internal Revenue Code verbatim. But do you need one? Do you have one? Whether you have one is often determined by ...
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The Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS): When Haste DOESN’T Make Waste
I can still hear my mother saying it, "Haste makes waste, Marcel." And it is true in many situations – acting too quickly can cause mistakes that waste time and money. But it isn't always the case with qualified plan failures. In most cases, timely correction of a failure will cost you less money ...
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Safe Harbor Plans: Does Your 401(k) Need To Be One?
Does your Code section 401(k) plan keep failing the nondiscrimination tests? Or are your highly compensated employees (HCEs) unable to defer as much as they would like because of the low level of deferrals by the nonhighly compensated employees (NHCEs)? If so, you should consider as one of your ...
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SIMPLE 401(k) Versus A Safe Harbor 401(k): The Pros And Cons For Your Small Business
A small employer may find that converting its 401(k) plan into a "SIMPLE" 401(k) plan is preferable to adopting a traditional safe harbor 401(k) plan. What is a SIMPLE 401(k) plan? It is a 401(k) plan under which the employer makes either (i) a nonelective contribution to the plan equal to ...
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Confused by the terminology? Check our Glossary of Terms