401kROBS.com author
Dennis Shirshikov
Dennis is a finance educator and writer with a bachelor’s degree in finance and a master’s degree focused on financial risk management and derivatives pricing from Queens College, City University of New York. His background includes finance and economics teaching and financial editorial work.
These qualifications support financial education and analysis. They do not make Dennis an ERISA attorney, CPA, actuary, or source of individualized legal, tax, fiduciary, or investment advice.
Published ROBS guides
Published guides by Dennis include:
What Is a ROBS 401(k)? How Rollover Business Funding Works
A primary-source guide to the structure, rollover, C corporation, costs, responsibilities, risks, and provider decision.
Best Alternatives to ROBS
A decision hub for comparing SBA debt, equipment financing, seller notes, personal capital, outside equity, taxable distributions, and 401(k) loans by documented borrower constraint.
When ROBS Is Better Than an SBA Loan
A bounded decision guide for when preserving early cash flow and avoiding scheduled loan repayment may outweigh retirement concentration and continuing ROBS duties.
When an SBA Loan Is Better Than ROBS
A decision guide for when preserving retirement diversification, avoiding ROBS plan duties, or keeping simpler ownership makes documented SBA debt preferable.
ROBS vs Revenue-Based Financing
A source-backed comparison of plan-owned employer stock and revenue-linked contract capital.
ROBS vs Bootstrapping
A source-bounded comparison of ROBS employer-stock capitalization and bootstrapped funding through staged spending, operating revenue, owner resources, reserves, and reinvestment.
ROBS vs Friends-and-Family Financing
A primary-source comparison of plan-owned employer stock and relationship capital classified as loans, securities, gifts, guarantees, or other transfers.
ROBS and Seller Financing
A hybrid acquisition capital-stack guide separating ROBS employer-stock equity from seller-note debt, liens, valuation, cash flow, and plan duties.
ROBS and Equipment Financing: How to Combine Them
A primary-source guide to combining employer-stock equity with equipment loans or leases while keeping legal, tax, collateral, valuation, and reserve lanes separate.
ROBS and Outside Equity
A hybrid ownership guide separating plan-owned employer stock from outside investor securities, cap-table math, exemptions, valuation, governance, and ongoing ROBS duties.
ROBS and SBA Loan vs SBA Loan Alone
A capital-stack guide to comparing ROBS plus SBA financing with SBA alone, including equity, DSCR, source documentation, and plan duties.
ROBS Annual Administration Checklist
An annual operating checklist for ROBS plan, corporation, payroll, valuation, fiduciary, tax, filing, governance and escalation controls.
ROBS Corporate Recordkeeping
A decision-grade guide to corporate books, stock ledgers, valuation evidence, tax files, and plan-separate audit trails for ROBS C corporations.
ROBS Plan Recordkeeping
A decision-grade guide to plan records, retention lanes, participant evidence, employer-stock reconciliation, audit files and vendor exits.
ROBS Form 1120
A C corporation return guide separating Form 1120 corporate tax reporting from ROBS plan, rollover, payroll, valuation, Form 5500, Form 1099-R and Form 945 records.
ROBS Form 5500 Deadlines
A deadline-computation guide for Form 5500-series ROBS filings, including seven-month math, Form 5558, tax-return extension boundaries, short and final years, and escalation controls.
ROBS Form 5500 Penalties
A penalty triage guide separating IRS and DOL regimes, DFVCP, Form 5500-EZ relief, notices, reasonable cause and reproducible exposure scenarios.
ROBS Form 1099-R
A reporter-first guide to source-plan distribution reporting, rollover records, withholding, Form 945 reconciliation, corrections and evidence controls.
ROBS Form 945
A nonpayroll-withholding guide separating payer EINs, deposit schedules, Form 1099-R box 4 reconciliation, Form 945-X corrections, payroll and plan records.
What Happens When a ROBS Business Hires Employees?
An event-driven ROBS hiring playbook from first payroll onboarding through plan census, notices, eligibility handoffs, testing, employer-stock boundaries and corrections.
Must Employees Be Offered the 401(k) in a ROBS Business?
A written-plan-first ROBS guide to employee 401(k) offer timing, entry dates, permissible exclusions, LTPT, payroll readiness, testing and correction boundaries.
Must Employees Be Allowed to Buy Employer Stock in a ROBS Plan?
A narrow official-source guide separating 401(k) participation rights from participant-directed employer-stock purchases, stock allocations, fiduciary governance, valuation and liquidity limits.
How to Value ROBS Company Stock
A practical official-source guide to private C corporation employer-stock valuation for ROBS plans, including legal lanes, method mechanics, event triggers, controls, scenarios and fiduciary review.
Fair Market Value for ROBS Company Stock
A decision guide separating fair market value measurement from price, valuation methods, adequate consideration, fiduciary review, reporting dates and ROBS transaction evidence.
Adequate Consideration for ROBS Company Stock
A legal and process decision guide for adequate consideration when a ROBS qualified plan buys, sells or redeems private C corporation employer stock.
ROBS Stock Purchase Agreement
An agreement-anatomy and closing-control guide separating issuer, plan trust purchaser, fiduciary authority, share math, securities lane, closing evidence and post-close reconciliation.
ROBS Nondiscrimination Testing
A source-led guide to 401(a)(4), ADP, ACP, 410(b), HCE, key-employee, safe harbor, correction, employer-stock and ROBS founder-concentration testing controls.
ROBS Coverage Testing
A decision-grade guide to IRC 410(b) minimum coverage testing for ROBS plans, including ratio-percentage arithmetic, average-benefit boundaries, controlled groups, otherwise-excludable employees, acquisitions, and correction handoffs.
ROBS Top-Heavy Testing
A decision-grade IRC 416 guide to key-employee concentration, determination-date balances, aggregation, safe-harbor boundaries, non-key minimum contributions, scenarios and controls.
ROBS Plan Amendments
A source-backed guide to ROBS plan amendment types, date controls, anti-cutback, SECURE timing, employer-stock risks, notices, correction boundaries and evidence packages.
ROBS Plan Restatements
A decision-grade guide to pre-approved restatement cycles, adoption agreements, reliance, signatures, effective dates, ROBS employer-stock risks, implementation controls and evidence files.
ROBS Participant Notices
A source-backed operational guide to ROBS participant notices, delivery frameworks, deadline scenarios, evidence, corrections, and private employer-stock communication risk.