Hi. This is a tough one. On one hand, all businesses with common ownership are grouped together for retirement plan purposes. So that would imply that you would base the Solo 401k contributions on the combined net income of your 3 LLCs.

However, I think the Solo 401k is set up under a specific LLC. As I'm not certain of an answer to your question, I would suggest you reach out to the retirement plan specialists at the financial institution that is holding your Solo 401k and see what they have to say. If this account is set up at Vanguard, Fidelity, or Schwab, I bet they can get you an answer to this question.

Sorry I don't have a better answer for you right now. Let us know what you find out.

Zip Code: 01801

Thanks for the honest reply :) I will contact the retirement account company (E-Trade actually) and find out. I asked my local Chase Bank "Private Client" person but they deferred to an accountant :)

I'll check and maybe follow up here and let everyone know what I find out - to my knowledge, the GS LLC is the one that the 401k is set up under (where it "resides", as I mentioned) ... I have never factored in other income from my other LLCS because I didn't need to re: the 20% rule, thankfully.

I would assume, technically, I could do the max - but I wonder if the IRS would raise eyebrows anyway given my other net loss...

Another question re: Solo 401k - I could still contribute my "employee" 17.5K and contribute whatever amount (including $0) as the "employer" right? So maybe I can do 17.5K 'employee' plus 5K 'employer' or whatever (instead of maxing)????

Zip Code: 08831