Must employer contributions to a 403(b) plan be combined with employee salary-deferral contributions to a 403(b) contract for purposes of the $40K limit? The employer is a public university, so no employee controls the employer. Would your answer change if the employer plan was a 401(a) money-purchase plan?

Thanks,
Ken Davis

Yes, employer and employee contributions are combined when testing the 415 limit for 403(b) plans. Employer (and employee contributions, if such were permitted) would also be combined when testing the 415 limit for 401(a) plans.

However, if employer contributions are going into a 401(a) plan and employee contributions are going into a 403(b) plan, then each has a separated, independent limit under Section 415. This is because the 401(a) plan is controlled by the employer, while the 403(b) plan is, by definition, controlled by the employee. (For this same reason, if an employee has separate self-employment income and has, say, a SEP plan through that business, the SEP and the 403(b) would share a Section 415 limit, because both are controlled by the employee.)

If both the not-for-profit employer and the employee contribute to the 403(b) are both sources asggregated for 415 with, for example, the employee's separate business Keogh or defined benefit plan?

Which sources apply to the deduction limits under 404?

This is too confusing.

403b contributions are aggregated with contributions/benefits provided under plans of employers in which the 403b participant has more than a 50% owernership interest. IRS pub 571 P 4. E.g., college faculty member participates in both a 403(b) plan at the university as well as a Keogh PS plan for his side business in which he has 100% ownership. The 403(b) and keogh contributions are aggregated for 415 purposes for a maximum of $41,000. There would be no aggregation if the faculty member owned 50% or less of the businees, e.g., he owned 50% of a partnership.