1.503(f)-1—Loans by employers who are prohibited from pledging assets.
(a) In general.
(1)
Section 503(f) provides that section 503(b)(1) shall not apply to a loan made to the employer by an employees' trust described in section 401(a) if the loan bears a reasonable rate of interest and certain conditions are met. Section 503(f) also applies to the renewal of loans to the employer and, in the case of demand loans, to the continuation of such loans.
(2)
The provisions of section 503(f) do not limit the effect of section 401(a) and § 1.401-2, relating to use or diversion of corpus or income of an employees' trust, or the effect of any of the provisions of section 503 other than section 503(b)(1). Consequently, although a loan made by an employees' trust described in section 503(a)(1)(B) meets all the requirements of section 503(f) and therefore is not treated as a loan made without the receipt of adequate security, an employees' trust making such a loan will lose its exempt status if the loan is not considered as made for the exclusive benefit of the employees or their beneficiaries. Similarly, a loan which meets the requirements of section 503(f) will constitute a prohibited transaction within the meaning of section 503(b)(6) if it results in a substantial diversion of the trust's income or corpus to a person described in section 503(b).
(b) Conditions.
(1)
Section 503(f) applies to a loan only if, with respect to the making or renewal of the loan, the conditions described in paragraphs (b) (2), (3), and (4) of this section are met. For purpose of this paragraph, the mere continuance of a demand loan is not considered as the making or renewal of such a loan.
(2)
The employer must be prohibited (at the time of the making or renewal of the loan) by any law of the United States or regulations thereunder from directly or indirectly pledging, as security for such a loan, a particular class or classes of his assets the value of which (at such time) represents more than one-half of the value of all his assets. If a loan is made or renewed when the employer is prohibited by a law of the United States (or the regulations thereunder) from pledging a class of his assets, the qualification of such a loan under section 503(f) will not be affected by a subsequent change in such law or regulations permitting the employer to pledge such assets, unless such loan is renewed after such change. See section 8(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (15 U.S.C. 78h(a) ), which prohibits certain persons from pledging a class of assets as security for loans, and 12 CFR 220.5(a) (credit by brokers, dealers, and members of national securities exchanges).
(3)
The making or renewal, as the case may be, must be approved in writing as an investment which is consistent with the exempt purposes of the trust by a trustee who is independent of the employer, and such written approval must not have been previously refused by any other such trustee. A trustee is independent of the employer, for purposes of this subparagraph, if he is entirely free of influence or controlled by the employer. For example, if the employer is a partnership, then a partner in such partnership, or a member of a partner's family would not be considered independent of the employer. Similarly, an employee of the employer would not be considered independent of the employer. For purposes of this subparagraph, the term trustee means, with respect to any trust for which there are two trustees who are independent of the employer, both of such trustees and, with respect to any trust for which there are more than two such independent trustees, a majority of the trustees independent of the employer.
(4)
(i)
Immediately following the making or renewal, as the case may be, the aggregate amount lent by the trust to the employer, without the receipt of adequate security must not exceed 25 percent of the value of all the assets of the trust.
(ii)
For purposes of paragraph (b)(4)(i) of this section, the determination as to whether any amount lent by the trust to the employer is a loan made without the receipt of adequate security shall be made without regard to section 503(e). Thus, if an employees' trust makes a loan on January 2, 1959, to the employer without adequate security (but which loan is not considered as made without adquate security under section 503(e) ), and if immediately after making such loan 10 percent of the value of all its assets is invested in such loan, then the trust may on that day invest not more than an additional 15 percent of its assets in a loan which would be considered made without adequate security if it were not for the provisions of section 503(f).
(iii)
For purposes of paragraph (b)(4)(i) of this section, in determining the value of all the assets of the trust, there shall be used the fair market value of those assets on the day of the making or renewal.
(c) Reasonable rate of interest.
Section 503(f) only applies if, in addition to meeting the conditions described in paragraph (b) of this section, the loan bears a reasonable rate of interest when it is made, renewed, or, in the case of demand loans, during the period of its existence.
(d) Change of terms of loan.
A change in the terms of a loan (including a reduction in the security for a loan) is considered as the making of a new loan. If such a new loan is not adequately secured, the requirements of section 503(f) must be met at the time the terms of the loan are changed for such section to be applicable to such new loan.
(e) Effective date.
(1)
This section and section 503(f) are effective for taxable years ending after September 2, 1958, but only with respect to periods after such date. Thus, if a loan was made on or before September 2, 1958, without the receipt of adequate security and if, when such loan was made, it met all of the requirements of section 503(f) and this section, then the loan is not subject to section 503(b)(1) after September 2, 1958, and would not consitite a prohibited transaction after that date because of a lack of adequate security.
(2)
See paragraph (b)(2) of § 1.503(b)-1 for the effective dates for application of the definition of adequate security.