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Your role as Solo 401k plan administrator

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As plan administrator, you are responsible for administering the plan according to the plan documents and in compliance with the IRS.

Your responsibilities as plan administrator include:

  • Keeping records of all plan activities
  • Filing on behalf of the plan as needed, including 1099-Rs and 5500-EZs
  • Ensuring participant loans, if any, are being paid back in a timely manner

Keeping records of all plan activities

Recordkeeping is one of the main responsibilities of the plan administrator. You will need records of all contributions, distributions, investments, etc.

The Miscellaneous Forms section contains forms that you can complete and keep in your files as plan administrator:

Forms to Administer Solo 401k Plan

Separate accounts are required by your plan and are helpful for tracking the balances of each type of fund within your 401k.

Different types of funds include:

  • Pre-tax employee contributions
  • Roth employee contributions
  • Employer contributions
  • Rollovers
Separate accounts

Separate accounts must be established for the different types of funds and per participant in the Solo 401k:

Separate Bank Account for Each Participant

As your track the different funds within your Solo 401k, you can choose your accounting method. Choose one that you can do consistently:

Accounting within your Solo 401k

Filings on behalf of the plan as needed, including 1099-Rs and 5500-EZs

You are also responsible for all filings on behalf of the plan. Depending on the activities and value of your plan, you may be required to file a 1099-R and/or a 5500-EZ:

Form 1099-R Instructions
Form 5500-EZ Instructions

Ensuring participant loans, if any, are being paid back in a timely manner

If a participant loan is taken from your Solo 401k, you also become loan administrator. You must ensure that all participant loans are being repaid in a timely manner, according to the repayment schedule established at the time of the loan.

Solo 401k Loan

If a repayment is missed and the cure period has passed, you are required to report the defaulted loan as a deemed distribution via a 1099-R.

Additional information

https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-sponsor/a-plan-sponsors-responsibilities

Planning for contributions

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The end of the year is approaching, and with it, the opportunity to make contributions to your Solo 401k.  

A few simple steps can help you prepare:

1. Budget time to read a few articles or videos

Set aside an hour or two this weekend to read or watch our contribution resources. We have plenty of resources to help you.

  • Read this article to learn the basics of calculating and making contributions:
Contribution basics
  • Read recent contribution articles for updates:

https://clients.sensefinancial.com/category/funding/contributions

  • Watch this video on calculating contributions:

Understanding contributions goes a long way in helping you feel prepared. Setting aside the time to read and watch the above is an easy first step.

2. Mark the deadline for your contributions on your calendar

Different factors affect the deadlines for your Solo 401k contributions. The deadline can differ based on the type of contribution you are making, the type of business you have, and the fiscal year of your business.

https://www.sensefinancial.com/solo401k/solo-401k-contribution/

Make sure to mark the deadline(s) for these contributions on your calendar, so you have plenty of time to prepare and make them for this year.

3. Do some initial calculations

Your Solo 401k allows you to make different types of contributions- as employee and as employer.

The employee and employer contributions differ in how they are calculated. Factors such as: how much your business earnings/compensation for the year, your current age, and your participation in other employer-sponsored plans can affect the contribution amounts to your Solo 401k.

Start by grabbing a pencil and paper and input a few numbers to come up with some initial calculations:

https://www.sensefinancial.com/solo401k/solo-401k-plan-calculator/

4. Confirm your calculations with your CPA

Your CPA can confirm both your business earnings/compensation for the year, which serves as the basis for your contributions, and the contribution amounts you can make to your Solo 401k.

5. Prepare for your contributions

Solo 401k contributions must be documented and, depending on your type of business, processed a certain way.

  • Documentation

All contributions must be documented using our contribution forms. These forms document the election to make the contribution and must be dated by December 31st of the year for which the contribution is made. The completed and signed contribution form must be kept in your file as Plan Administrator of your Solo 401k.

Forms to Administer Solo 401k Plan
  • Processing

If you have a corporation or an LLC with an S-corp election, you will need to notify your payroll provider of your planned Solo 401k employee contribution. Your Solo 401k employee contribution must be processed through payroll. This typically occurs before the end of December, and the payroll provider must be notified and given time to process your employee contribution.

Contributions from my corporation
6. Make your contributions
7. Have the contributions reflected on the appropriate tax return
Solo 401k and personal taxes

Mega backdoor Roth within the Solo 401k

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What it is

The mega backdoor Roth strategy is a way to get more Roth funds into your retirement account. Roth funds are taxed initially but grow tax-free.

The mega backdoor Roth strategy consists of:

  • Making after-tax contributions to the Solo 401k, and
  • Converting those after-tax contributions to Roth within the Solo 401k, and
  • Keeping those Roth funds in the Solo 401k for checkbook-control investing or rolling over the funds into a Roth IRA

The Mega Backdoor Roth strategy offers an alternative to contributing to a Roth IRA directly, which is limited to $7,000 per year by the IRS. Many individuals also do not qualify for a Roth IRA due to their high earnings.   

Your Solo 401k with Sense Financial already includes the features which allow you to utilize the mega backdoor Roth strategy.

How it works

  • Open separate accounts for your Solo 401k to house your after-tax contributions and Roth funds, if you do not have these already

From a banking standpoint, these separate accounts will be identical. Both are in the name of your 401k and using the EIN of your 401k. However, these accounts are established to keep the funds separate from each other and to assist you in your accounting of each type of fund within your 401k. You can assign nicknames to the separate accounts online in order to differentiate them.

  • Calculate the after-tax contribution based on your self-employment business earnings
  • Make the after-tax contribution into the 401k account for after-tax contributions
  • Once that after-tax contribution is in your 401k, immediately convert the funds to Roth and move those funds to the Roth account

Note that the growth on the after-tax contribution is taxable, so you will want to convert the after-tax contribution to Roth immediately after the contribution is made.

  • Keep those funds within the Roth account of your Solo 401k for checkbook-control investing or roll those funds over to a Roth IRA
  • The following year, file a 1099-R to document the conversion

How it should be reflected on a 1099-R

In this case, the 1099-R should document the conversion of the after-tax contribution to Roth within your 401k. The Payer is your 401k trust, which is issuing the 1099-R to you, the Recipient.

  • Payer: your 401k trust
  • Payer TIN: the EIN of your 401k trust (not the EIN of your adopting business)
  • Recipient TIN: your SSN
  • Recipient: you, as an individual
  • Box 1: Gross distribution: amount that was converted to Roth
  • Box 2a: Taxable amount: 0.00 if the after-tax funds were converted to Roth immediately. The taxable amount would be 0.00 since the after-tax contribution was not originally claimed as a deduction and was converted to Roth immediately. If the after-tax contribution was not converted to Roth immediately, the growth amount is taxable and should be entered here.
  • Box 5: Employee contributions/Designated Roth contributions or insurance premiums: amount of the original after-tax contribution. If you converted the after-tax contribution to Roth immediately after making the contribution, this should be the same amount as in Box 1
  • Box 7: Distribution code: G which indicates a direct rollover (from after-tax to Roth) within the plan, your 401k

When the 1099-R should be filed

The 1099-R is filed in the year following the year in which the Roth conversion was performed (e.g. the 1099-R for 2022 is filed in 2023). There are two deadlines for the 1099-R:

  • The Payee/recipient copy must be received by January 31st
  • The electronic copy must be filed with the IRS by March 31st

You are responsible for the filing of the 1099-R by both deadlines.

After-tax contributions

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The Solo 401k allows you to contribute to your plan in two ways- as employee and employer. Within the category of employee contribution, there are three types:

  • Pre-tax
  • Roth
  • Voluntary After-tax

Defining the three types of employee contributions

  • A pre-tax employee contribution is taken from compensation earned and reduces the taxable income. If you made a pre-tax employee contribution, you would deduct the amount of that contribution on your tax return.
  • A Roth employee contribution is taken from compensation earned and does not reduce the taxable income. If you made a Roth employee contribution, you would pay taxes at the time of the contribution.
  • A voluntary after-tax employee contribution is taken from compensation earned and does not reduce the taxable income. If you made a voluntary after-tax employee contribution, you would pay taxes at the time of the contribution.

What are the differences between them?

There are two main differences between these three types of employee contributions- how the distribution is taxed and the maximum limit of the contribution.

  • How the distribution is taxed

When a pre-tax employee contribution is distributed, both the principal amount of the contribution and its growth is taxed at the current rate at the time of distribution.

A Roth employee contribution and an after-tax contribution is a qualified distribution when you are age 59.5 and older and the funds have been in the 401k for 5 years or longer.

With both a Roth employee contribution and an after-tax contribution, the principal contribution amount is not taxed upon distribution. However, the two contributions differ in whether the growth is taxed.

When a Roth employee contribution is distributed, both the principal contribution amount and the growth are distributed tax-free.

When an after-tax employee contribution is distributed, only the principal contribution amount is distributed tax-free. The growth is taxable and must be taxed at the current rate at the time of distribution.

  • Maximum limit of the contribution(s)

Both a pre-tax and a Roth employee contribution is subject to a combined maximum limit:  $23,000 plus $7,500 catchup (for those age 50 and above) for 2024. In other words, you can make pre-tax contributions, Roth contributions, or a combination of both, but the combined total cannot exceed the maximum limit for the year.

An after-tax employee contribution is subject to a different maximum limit:  $69,000 for 2024.

Making an after-tax contribution

Your Solo 401k plan now includes the ability to make after-tax contributions.  All three types of employee contributions are documented in the Post PPA version of your Adoption Agreement.

  • If making an after-tax contribution, you will first want to establish a separate account for the contribution(s).  Because an after-tax contribution is different from a Roth contribution, the after-tax contribution should not be kept in the same account as a Roth contribution.
  • As an after-tax contribution, this would not be processed through payroll
  • The after-tax contribution would be made from your personal account, after receiving compensation from the adopting business
  • Once the after-tax contribution is made to its own account, the funds can then be converted to Roth within your 401k as part of a mega backdoor Roth strategy

Due to the tax consequences of the mega backdoor Roth strategy, you will want to check with your CPA first before undertaking the strategy.

Reporting CARES Act distributions and repayments

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The IRS has released Form 8915-E and 8915-F for the reporting of CARES Act distribution(s) that were taken in 2020, their repayment, or their inclusion in income.

If you took a CARES Act distribution in 2020, note which form(s) would apply to you:

Form 8915-E is used to report:

  • If you took a CARES Act distribution in 2020

Form 8915-F is used to report:

  • Your income in 2021 if you took a CARES Act distribution in 2020 and have been including in your income in equal amounts over 3 years and that 3-year period has not yet lapsed
  • Your repayments of a CARES Act distribution, if repaying the distribution

Note that repayment of the CARES Act distribution can be done over 3 years, starting with the day after the distribution was received. Repayment(s) can occur through multiple payments or one lump sum payment by the end of those 3 years. If the entire CARES Act distribution is paid back within that time, the distribution will not be taxed.

You will want to request your CPA’s assistance in completing the appropriate form for your situation. 

More information on these two forms can also be found at:

https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-8915-e

https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-8915-f-qualified-disaster-retirement-plan-distributions-and-repayments

Hands off my IRA

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Many Americans keep their wealth, or a large portion of it, in their retirement account. It’s a great way to build your retirement “nest egg” in a tax-deferred vehicle, and if you make wise investment choice, allow your investment returns compound, keeping the money moving, you can reach retirement with millions. It’s been my honor to help our clients unlock their retirement accounts and give them the ability to invest in alternative assets.

There is a proposed law that could have a massive, adverse impact on self-directed IRAs and 401ks. This legislation would seek to prohibit investments made from IRAs and other retirement vehicles into private placements, drastically reducing investors’ ability to diversify into other asset classes outside of the stock market. As the bill is currently worded, it would force investors to liquidate these types of private holdings inside retirement accounts within the next 2 years, triggering a taxable event, or face their full retirement account being stripped of its tax- deferred status. 

Even if it does not directly affect you, please GET INVOLVED! Tax attorney, John Hyre, has dug into the bill and shared his thoughts here. He provides a very good breakdown of the bill and ways to take action.

https://www.handsoffmyira.com/

Penalties for late filing of Form 5500-EZ

Under the SECURE Act, penalties have increased substantially. Effective for returns that are required to be filed after December 31, 2019, the SECURE Act increased the penalty to $250 per day, not to exceed $150,000 for a late-filed form.

But the penalties don’t stop there. In addition to the IRS penalty, the DOL can assess a civil penalty against a plan sponsor in an amount not to exceed $1,100 per day as a result of failure to timely file Form 5500.

Plan administrators may also face other penalties on incomplete filings unless they submit a statement of reasonable cause for failing to file a complete annual report and the DOL approves it.

This makes proof of mailing extremely important, even if it is mailed well before the deadline.  Be sure to send using certified mail (such as Priority Mail), make sure it’s scanned in at the post office and save a copy of the label/receipt and the tracking history in your files.  Tracking history is usually online for a limited time (several weeks), so it’s best to print it out upon delivery.

As always, if you need any assistance please don’t hesitate to contact our office.

SECURE Act: New part-time eligibility rules for 401(k) plans

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In 2020 and prior years, Solo 401k plans could exclude part time W-2 employees who worked less than 1,000 hours from participating in a 401k plan. This all changes for both full-time employer 401k plans and owner-only Solo 401k plans starting on January 1, 2021.

The SECURE Act
Stemming from the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act (SECURE Act), Solo 401k plans will be impacted by the three years, part-time (500 but less than 999 hours) employee rule that will allow part-time employees to choose to make employee elective contributions to the company-sponsored 401k plan.

2020 and Prior
Before the passage of the SECURE Act, non-owner W-2 employees (common law employees) who worked less than 1,000 hours during the plan year could be excluded from having the option to participate in a 401k plan and thus did not impact the owner-only businesses from setting up a Solo 401k plan. Only those years after 2021 are counted.

2021 and Future Years
The three year provision is effective for the 2021 plan year, but years before 2021 do not count for purposes of counting the three-year eligibility.

Long-Term, Part-Time Employee
A W-2 employee will be deemed a long-term, part-time employee once he or she completes 500 hours of service/work in three consecutive 12-month periods.

Does the SECURE Act nullify the 1,000 hours of service per year rule?
No. 401k plans must now have dual eligibility requirements. An employee can become eligible for the plan by fulfilling either: (a) the one year of service requirement (1,000 hours of service in one year), or (b) the three years of service requirement (at least 500 hours of service for three consecutive years).

Excess Solo 401k contributions

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The Solo 401k participant typically makes annual Solo 401k plan contribution when completing business tax return for the year. As a result, the Solo 401k participant can usually determine her IRC Sec. 404 deduction limits before making her Solo 401k contribution, thus preventing any excess Solo 401k contribution headaches.

10 Percent Penalty and Form 5330: When the Solo 401k participant contributes more than the allowable deduction for a given tax year, he is typically required to pay a 10 percent penalty on the over contribution amount also known as the excess nondeductible contribution amount pursuant to (IRC Sec. 4972). As such, this penalty amount must be reported to the IRS by the plan participant since he is the owner of the business by filing IRS Form 5330, Return of Excise Taxes Related to Employee Benefit Plans, and remit the penalty to the IRS. Please refer to IRC Sec. 404(a)(1)(E) as it details that the amount of the otherwise deductible contribution that exceeds the limitation for any given year shall be carried forward indefinitely and applied to subsequent years.

IMPORTANT: Even though excess nondeductible Solo 401k contributions may be returned to the Solo 401k employer under limited circumstances, the Solo 401k employer runs the risk of incurring substantially greater penalties by taking a reversion of plan contributions. The reversion penalty is typically as high as 50 percent depending on the circumstances pursuant to (IRC Sec. 4980).

First Determine Contribution Type

When removing excess contributions from a solo 401k plan, you first need to determine the type of contribution being removed. There are 2 (two) types of contributions that apply to a solo 401k plan.

  • Type 1 (one): Employee Elective Deferrals Contributions that exceed the annual limit
  • Type 2 (two): Employer Profit Sharing Contributions

The Rules Are Different for Each Contribution Type

The rules for removing the employee contributions vs the employer profit sharing contributions are different and are discussed below.

Here is what the IRS code says regarding removing Employee Contributions

If the excess salary deferral is not returned on or before April 15 of the following year, the contributing participant must pay income tax on the deferral both in the year of deferral and in the year of distribution. The deferrals are not included as after-tax assets even though they have previously been included in income in the year of deferral (IRC Sec. 402(g)(1) and (Treas. Reg. 1.402(g)-1(e)(8)). The earnings on the excess will be taxed in the year of distribution. Any corrective distribution of less than the entire amount of the excess deferral plus income is treated as a pro rata distribution of excess deferrals and income (IRC Sec. 402(g)(2)(D), Treas. Reg.1.402(g)-1(e)(10)).

For the employer contributions (profit sharing), here is what the rules state:

  • They will need to remain in the solo 40k plan and treated as contributions in future years. However, a 10% penalty will need to be paid on the over contribution amount also known as the excess nondeductible contribution amount pursuant to  (IRC Sec. 4972).
  • This penalty amount of 10%  will need to be reported by the solo 401k owner by filing IRS Form 5330, Return of Excess Taxes Related to Employee Benefit Plans, and remit the penalty to the IRS.
  • Please refer to IRC Sec. 404(a)(1)(E) as it details that the amount of the otherwise deductible contribution that exceeds the limitation for any given year shall be carried forward indefinitely and applied to subsequent years.

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