Plans

Crown Benefits has a proven track record in third party administration of retirement & pension plans. Crown offers a variety of retirement plan solutions benefiting clients across the United States. Our plan consulting team can offer you a variety of options for your plan design, whether you are starting up a new plan or updating an existing plan. Plans are designed on an individual basis with the company’s goals in mind.

Defined Contribution Plans

Profit Sharing Plan

Money Purchase Plan

401(k) Plan

Davis-Bacon Plan

Defined Benefit Plans

Traditional

Target Benefit

Cash Balance Plan

412(e)(3) Plan

Profit Sharing Plans (Traditional, Cross Tested, Integrated and Age Weighted)

Traditional Profit Sharing Plan – This plan type was designed for employees to share in the employer profits. Employer contributions are generally allocated to the participants in proportion to their compensation.

Cross Tested PS Plan – The goal of this type of plan is to maximize benefits for a group of employees (usually owners) while minimizing the contributions required for other groups (usually non-owners). Employees are divided into groups (or classes) with set contribution rates for each group.

Integrated Formula PS Plan – This type of plan correlates the employer contribution formula with Federal Social Security benefits. The Internal Revenue Code allows additional allocations on the compensation in excess of the Social Security Taxable Wage Base because these dollars do not accrue social security benefits.

Age Weighted PS Plan – The age-weighted profit sharing plan is a retirement plan design that allows employers to make contributions based on an employee’s age as well as salary. Under this arrangement, there is a chance for older employees to receive contributions that are much larger than those received by younger workers.

Money Purchase Plans

Money Purchase Plan – For money purchase plan, the annual employer contribution is fixed by a formula stated in the plan document. The employer must contribute according to the plan’s established formula.

401(k) Plans (Traditional, Safe Harbor, Roth and Simple)

Traditional 401(k) Plan – A 401(k) plan allows employees to contribute a portion of their income to an employer sponsored retirement plan on a pre-tax basis. The employer may choose to contribute matching amounts into the plan. The employer can also use the plan to provide profit sharing contributions to all eligible employees. Highly compensated employee deferral and match contributions are limited by discrimination testing.

Safe Harbor 401(k) Plan – This plan is similar to the traditional 401(k) plan with the exception that highly compensated employee contributions are not limited by the discrimination testing. The employer must either make a 3% Safe Harbor non-elective contribution or a Safe Harbor match contribution of at least 100% of compensation on the first 3% deferred by the employee plus 50% on the next 2% deferred. Both of these Safe Harbor contributions are 100% vested immediately.

Roth 401(k) Plan – With a Roth feature, the employee does not get a tax deduction at the time of the deferral contribution (it’s an after tax contribution), but all assets at retirement are tax free, including earnings. A plan with a Roth feature must also offer the traditional pre-tax deferral option.

Davis-Bacon Plans

Davis-Bacon Plan – A plan for workers on federal and state construction contracts worth $2,000 or more and are paid the “prevailing wage”, which includes a specified hourly fringe benefit amount. This plan allows the employer savings in payroll taxes by contributing all, or part of the fringe benefit portion of the required hourly rate into a qualified retirement plan.

Defined Benefit Plans (Traditional, Target Benefit, Cash Balance, and 412(e)(3)

Traditional Defined Benefit Plan – Employer contributes an actuarially determined amount sufficient to pay each participant a fixed or defined benefit at his or her retirement. Methods of defining the benefit include level percentage, step rate service weighted, service plan, and integrated.

Target Benefit Plan – The target benefit plan has elements of both the defined benefit and defined contribution plans. The contributions are determined as if the plan were a defined benefit plan, while the defined contribution plan annual contribution percentage and dollar amount limitations apply to the actual contributions made on behalf of each participant.

Cash Balance Plan – A Cash Balance plan is a defined benefit plan that specifies both the contribution to be credited to each participant and the investment earnings to be credited based on those contributions. Each participant has an account that resembles those in a 401(k) or profit sharing plan. Those accounts are maintained by the plan actuary, who generates annual participant statements.

412(e)(3) Plan – This is a traditional Defined Benefit Plan with special requirements (i.e., the total benefits must be provided by one or more annuities or a combination of annuities and life insurance policies. The premiums must be level from date of issue to retirement. Premiums must not be in default. There must be no outstanding policy loans.) that if met no actuarial certification is needed.