2-Hour FREE CPE Program for CPAs, Enrolled Agents and Registered Tax Preparers by Ed Slott & Company 

Sponsored by California Retirement Advisors

2020/2021 401(k) Planning Opportunities: Online CPE

Thursday, January 21st
10:00 AM

COURSE DESCRIPTION:  This course includes a deep dive into 401(k) planning opportunities. Knowing which plan provisions are available is critical before advising clients of a particular planning opportunity.  

This course will begin with a discussion of why certain plan provisions are optional. Commentary on planning strategies will follow, including explanations of the new rules to know in 2020/2021 under both the SECURE Act and the CARES Act.   

The course will also examine opportunities for 401(k) creditor protection, the net unrealized appreciation (NUA) strategy and avoiding nondiscrimination testing.

Learning objectives:

401(k) Planning Opportunities Overview: Understanding Optional Provisions


  • 401(k) planning opportunities overview
  • Optional 401(k) plan provisions

Duration: 10 minutes

Still-Working Exception


  • Required beginning date – Now age 72 after the SECURE Act
  • How it works: Must be still working and cannot own more than 5% of the company

Duration: 10 minutes

After-Tax Contributions


  • Mega backdoor Roth
  • Notice 2015-54

Duration: 10 minutes

Roth 401(k) Plans


  • Contributions
  • Distributions
  • Comparison to Roth IRA
  • Rollovers to Roth IRAs

Duration: 10 minutes

Plan Loans/Hardship Withdrawals


  • General Rules
  • CARES and SECURE Act updates for 2020

Duration: 10 minutes

IRA Rollovers into a Plan


  • General Rules
  • Planning strategies to avoid RMDs and pro-rata rule on IRA funds

Duration: 5 minutes

New SECURE Act 10% Penalty Exception for Birth or Adoption


  • Eligibility
  • Repayments
  • Availability even if plan does not allow the exception (Notice 2020-68)

Duration: 10 minutes

CRDs under the CARES Act


  • General rules
  • Availability even if the plan does not allow CRDs (Notice 2020-50)

Duration: 10 minutes

401(k) Profit Sharing Contributions– i.e. “New Comparability


  • How business owners can maximize contributions

Duration: 10 minutes

Bankruptcy and Creditor Protection


  • Protection inside bankruptcy
  • ERISA protection outside bankruptcy
  • IRS levies

Duration: 10 minutes

Net Unrealized Appreciation (NUA)


  • Who is a candidate? Trigger events and lump sum distribution
  •  NUA example
  • Additional NUA rules

Duration: 15 minutes

Avoiding Nondiscrimination Testing


  • Testing requirements
  • Safe harbor contributions

Duration: 10 minutes

Total instruction time: 120 minutes

Credits: Attendees will receive 2 CPE credits

IRS category: Federal Tax Law Topics/Federal Tax Related Matters

NASBA field of study: Specialized Knowledge - Technical

NASBA element of engagement: Instructor-posed questions

Delivery method: Group, internet based

Level of complexity: Intermediate

Prerequisites: One year of professional experience

Advanced preparation required: No 

Audience: CPAs, EAs, Attorneys

California Retirement Advisors is proud to sponsor and provide for FREE, Ed Slott and Company’s CPA program for 2-Hours of CPE Credit to California based CPAs, Enrolled Agents and Registered Tax Preparers.

At the conclusion of the 2-credit hour CPE course, you will receive a brief introduction on how to access Ed Slott’s resources at no cost to you within your tax, financial, and retirement services to potentially increase the revenue to your practice.

Ed Slott and Company's IRA Technical Consultants will provide you with the latest information and strategies to make you stand out from the competition.

This is a free group-live webinar on the Latest IRA, 401(k) & Tax Rules, Regs and Strategies. (an intermediate level course without prerequisites or advanced preparation)

This two-hour session will focus on 2020/2021 401(k) planning opportunities for CPAs, attorneys, and other professional advisors.

Many planning opportunities available to plans under tax law provisions or IRS rulings are optional. While the law allows these strategies, that does not guarantee that the plan will.

Knowing which plan provisions are available is critical before advising clients.

This session will provide an overview of the optional provisions a 401(k) plan can offer, such as the still-working exception, Roth 401(k) contributions, plan loans and hardship withdrawals.

The session will also examine the impact of both the SECURE and CARES Acts on 401(k) planning strategies affecting both 2020 and 2021.

Other 401(k) planning opportunities, such as creditor protection, Net Unrealized Appreciation (NUA) and avoiding nondiscrimination testing, will also be discussed.