Under IRC §410(a), what is the MAXIMUM age and service requirement a 401(k) plan may impose for elective deferrals?
Eligibility Vesting
Question · Easy
SECURE 2.0 §125 changed the long-term part-time (LTPT) employee rule. Effective for plan years beginning in 2025, what is the LTPT threshold for elective deferral eligibility?
Worker who becomes eligible to make elective salary deferrals once the worker has 500 hours of service in each of two consecutive 12-month periods and reaches age 21.
Eligibility
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Chapter 1: Plan Qualification Requirements
1.1 IRC §401(a) Core Qualification Requirements & Exclusive Benefit Rule
Study guide
A 401(k) plan uses the 1,000-hour rule for one year of service. An employee works 950 hours during her first 12-month eligibility computation period. What is her eligibility status?
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Game
A plan uses semi-annual entry dates (January 1 and July 1) and a maximum age 21 + 1-year-of-service eligibility requirement. An employee turns 21 on March 15, 2026, having completed her 1,000-hour year on February 1, 2026. What is her earliest plan entry date?
Question · Medium
Court judgment that directs a retirement plan to pay child support, alimony or marital property rights to a spouse, former spouse, child or dependent.
Retirement payouts
Which of the following groups may a 401(k) plan exclude as a 'statutory excludable employee' WITHOUT failing IRC §410(b) coverage testing on that basis?
A 401(k) plan uses a 2-to-6-year graded vesting schedule for employer matching contributions. After 4 years of service, what is the participant's MINIMUM vested percentage?
Yearly withdrawal that an account owner must begin taking at age 73 from an IRA or most employer plans.
1.2 Written Plan Documents, Pre-Approved vs. Individually Designed Plans & Restatements
Which type of 401(k) plan contribution MUST be 100% immediately vested under IRC §401(k)(12) safe harbor rules?
Swap tiles to line up three of the same term.
Term Match
A top-heavy plan must use a vesting schedule no less generous than which of the following?
Default payout that a defined benefit or money purchase plan must give a married participant unless the couple consents in writing to another form; after the participant dies the spouse keeps 50% to 100% of it.
When a partially vested participant terminates and takes a full distribution, the non-vested portion of the employer contribution account becomes which of the following?
Which event constitutes a 'break in service' that may affect rehired participants' eligibility crediting?
Question · Hard
Safe-harbor 401(k) design with escalating default salary deferrals that exempts the plan from annual nondiscrimination tests.
Safe harbor plans
1.3 Anti-Alienation, Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDROs) & Claims Procedures
What is the 2026 IRC §402(g) elective deferral limit for 401(k) plans (under age 50 with no catch-up)?
Contribution Limits
Flip two cards at a time to find matching terms.
Term Pairs
What is the 2026 IRC §415(c) annual additions limit for defined contribution plans?
Vesting schedule under which employer contributions become fully owned only when the participant completes three years of service.
Vesting
What is the 2026 IRC §401(a)(17) annual compensation limit?
What is the 2026 age-50 catch-up contribution limit for 401(k) participants?
Employer allocation made only when the worker puts part of salary into the plan, often a set percentage of each dollar up to a cap.
Employer contributions
Chapter 2: Retirement Plan Types & Structures
2.1 Defined Contribution vs. Defined Benefit Fundamentals & Hybrid Cash Balance Plans
Under SECURE 2.0 §109, participants ages 60 through 63 are eligible for a 'super catch-up' in 2026. What is the 2026 super catch-up amount?
Find five hidden terms in a grid of letters.
Term Search
Under SECURE 2.0 §603, certain participants must make catch-up contributions on a Roth basis. Which compensation threshold triggers this Roth-only catch-up requirement?
Kind of 401(k) or 403(b) contribution made after tax into a separate account, so qualified withdrawals, earnings included, are tax-free.
Employee contributions
An employee participates in TWO unrelated employers' 401(k) plans in 2026. She defers $20,000 at Employer A and $10,000 at Employer B. What is the consequence?
A 401(k) plan uses a basic safe harbor matching formula. What is the formula?
Plan Design
Reduction of a participant's account balance to repay a defaulted plan loan, treated as an actual withdrawal rather than a deemed distribution.
Participant loans
2.2 Profit Sharing, Money Purchase & 401(k) Cash or Deferred Arrangements (CODAs)
Which contribution satisfies the traditional safe harbor NONELECTIVE option under IRC §401(k)(12)?
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A Qualified Automatic Contribution Arrangement (QACA) under IRC §401(k)(13) requires what initial default elective deferral rate?
Qualified defined contribution arrangement designed to invest mainly in the employer's securities.
Retirement vehicles
SECURE 2.0 §101 requires which type of 401(k) plan to include automatic enrollment starting with plan years beginning after December 31, 2024?
An employer wants to add a 3% nonelective safe harbor MID-YEAR to its existing 401(k) plan. By what deadline must the amendment be adopted under SECURE Act §103?
1974 federal law that sets protection standards for most voluntarily established private-sector pension plans.
Plan qualifications
2.3 Other DC Designs: ESOPs, SEPs, SIMPLE IRAs, SIMPLE 401(k)s, 403(b)s & 457(b)s
Which is NOT a permissible Qualified Default Investment Alternative (QDIA) under DOL Regulation §2550.404c-5?
When a 401(k) plan integrates with Social Security under permitted disparity, what is the 'integration level' for a typical profit-sharing allocation?
Rank-and-file staff group whose plan coverage must reach 70% under one minimum coverage test.
Coverage testing
Which plan document method is most commonly used by small 401(k) plans to satisfy IRS qualification?
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