There is a little noticed change in the IRS’s recent update of Publication 571 (which is the IRS’s 403(b) technical guide). In a highlighted box on page 4 is the following, under how the limits on “annual additions”-otherwise known as the 415 limits- apply: “More than one 403(b) account. If you contributed to more than one 403(b) account, you must combine the contributions made to all 403(b) accounts maintained by your employer. If you participate in more than one 403(b) plan maintained by different employers, you don’t need to aggregate for annual addition limits.” This innocuous seeming statement is actually pretty outstanding, finalizing a quiet morphing over a generation of the way the IRS applies a regulation in a way we rarely see.
Continue Reading A 403(b) “Pseudomorph”: The IRS’s Gradual Shift On Applying 415 Limits to 403(b) Plans
403(b) 415 limit
403(b)’s “Limitation Year” Rules Demonstrate their “Individual” Nature-and Their Potential Value of the Universal Platform of the Future
By Robert Toth on
Posted in 403(b), Plan Administration
The 403(b) limitation year is determined on a person by person basis, it is not a plan wide rule. Only the individual can change the limitation year, and only for its contracts. To change the year, the individual must attach a statement to his or her income tax return filed for the taxable year in which the change is made. To change a plan’s limitation year, the administrator would need each employee to make that 1040 filing.
Continue Reading 403(b)’s “Limitation Year” Rules Demonstrate their “Individual” Nature-and Their Potential Value of the Universal Platform of the Future