401(k) Q&A | Plan & Industry Content From DWC - The 401(k) Experts

Which Financial Details Do I Have to Include on my Year-End Census?

DWC 01/19/21

Facts Last week, you explained some the demographic data points that get reported on the annual census. Now, I’ve got some questions on the financial information I’ve been asked to provide to my TPA. Some of it seems obvious until I start to dig into it.

Overtime Is Up and Bonuses Are Down: Will This Year's Irregular Compensation Impact our Retirement Plan?

DWC 12/1/20

DWC 401(k) Q&A: Will Irregular Compensation in 2020 Impact Your Retirement Plan?

Facts We sponsor a 401(k) plan for our employees and provide a company matching contribution to those who defer. Our plan specifies that in calculating that match, we only consider employee base pay and exclude “irregular” forms of pay (specifically bonuses and overtime). This allows us to be more precise when we are building the expected cost of ...

DWC's Thanksgiving Dinner Prep Playlist

DWC 11/24/20

Facts All year long we've been leaving little rock 'n' roll Easter eggs in our Cash Balance Corner feed. ICYMI: Each post title incorporates one of our favorite songs. And for our 20th century rock music fans, our retirement plan-savvy business owner, Robert Smith's name should ring some bells. (Hint: His music has the cure for what ails you.)

How Do Furloughed Employees Impact Our Plan at Year-End?

DWC 11/17/20

DWC 401(k) Q&A Question of the Week: Impact of Furloughed Employees on Retirement Plan at Year-End

Facts Like many businesses, we had to furlough some employees earlier this year in response to the coronavirus shutdowns. We’ve been fortunate enough to bring back a few of these employees, but a number still remain in limbo. As we approach year-end, we’ve started wondering how this might affect our 401(k) plan and potential company contributions.

Are There Plan Design Options We Should Consider as Part of the Mandatory Cycle 3 Plan Document Restatement?

DWC 11/10/20

DWC 401(k) Q&A Question of the Week: Plan Design Options to Consider as Part of the Mandatory Cycle 3 Plan Document Restatement

Facts We’ve been following your recent posts about how making even small changes to certain plan provisions can make managing the plan easier without sacrificing our objectives. Making life easier, while minimizing chances for errors…you’ve really been speaking our language.

How Can We Add More Flexibility to our Standard Profit Sharing Contributions?

DWC 10/13/20

DWC 401(k) Q&A: Adding Flexibility to Profit Sharing Contributions

Facts We have made profit sharing contributions each year, and we plan to continue to do so every year that our financial situation allows. Historically, we have contributed the same percentage of pay for each person, but your previous Question of the Week about using the profit sharing feature to reward certain key performers piqued our interest.

Can We Add a Safe Harbor Provision While Maintaining Flexibility in Contribution Costs?

DWC 09/22/20

DWC 401(k) Q&A Question of the Week: Adding Safe Harbor Provision, Maintaining Contribution Cost Flexibility

Facts We currently sponsor a 401(k) plan and have been debating adding a safe harbor provision for 2021. While the idea of buying our way out of the ADP/ACP tests is appealing, we’re nervous about the idea of a mandatory contribution. If cash flow isn’t what we expect in a given year, we don’t want to be stuck with expensive contributions.

Your Definition of Compensation Isn't in the ERISA Dictionary? We've Got a Fix for That.

DWC 08/27/20

Getting creative with the plan’s definition of compensation can be an effective way to target benefits, budget your benefit dollars, and maintain consistent benefit levels from year to year. However, with that creativity comes added layers of testing and compliance to concern yourself with. And, if you sponsor a safe harbor plan, those rules can ...

Can We Offer Additional Matching Contributions Without Losing our Safe Harbor Status?

DWC 08/4/20

Facts We currently sponsor a 401(k) plan for our company. While we certainly want to be able to provide meaningful benefits to the owners, our goal is to encourage all our employees to save more for their retirement, and to reward those who do. We were failing our annual testing, so we implemented a safe harbor provision to provide a matching ...

Can We Offer Higher Profit Sharing Contributions to Employees Based on Performance?

DWC 07/28/20

Facts We’ve had a 401(k) plan for years, but we are now looking at ways to make it a more strategic part of our overall compensation package. In one of your previous Questions of the Week, you mentioned that we cannot really give employees the choice between higher pay or a profit sharing contribution, but we would like to explore ways to use ...

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