If a U.S. based company sponsoring a DC/401(k) plan acquires a company in Canada, whose employees are Candadian citizens, and who have no U.S. earned income, and a standardized prototype document is being used......

Does the plan document have to specifically exclude non-res aliens in order for the plan sponsor to not have to offer the plan to the Canadian employees (I know Canada doesn't recognize 401k as tax-free wage)? I think I know the answer but just want to make sure before I advise a client.

Thanks for any help.

In my experience and opinion, non-resident aliesns are not protedted by any employee benefit laws of the U.S. and the employer need not exclude them in the plan document, but it wouldn't hurt to exclued expatriots who may come to work for the U.S. company on on a temporary visa.

I had the same situation not long ago. Like you, I was a little unsure. Generally, I felt no exclusion was really necessary since they have no US earned income. However, I chose to exclude non-resident aliens to be on the safe side. Of course, you would need to make sure there are no other non-residnet aliens that they want to cover.