One of the insurance carriers under our Cafeteria Plan has a plan date of 9/1. Our HR dept is doing open enrollment now, during September and the coverage effective date will not be until 10/1. When I questioned whether this was in compliance, was told that she was advised it was okay to postpone open enrollment due to extenuating circumstances.

We had our Executive Director retire and were under an intensive search and committee meetings to find a new Director. Would this jeopardize the plan's eligibility? It seems that we might be able to postpone the open enrollment, but the effective dates and elective contributions would have to be retro to 9/1????

An employee received a "hardship distribution" in 2012 from non-SH Match and non-SH non-elective sources. The plan allows hardships from deferrals only. This is a Safe Harbor plan. What would be the preferred correction? Is there an allowable retroactive corrective amendment? VCP?

We are working on a DB ratio test. It is part of a very large controlled group that also has DC plans. We are not using snapshot testing. We are performing a ratio only test...so basically treating anyone as entitled to the accural as benefiting.

Question: If the DB accural does not have an hours or last day requirement, can I exclude those who termed with less than 500 hours?

in desperate need for advice as to where to move our 401k. Our company policy will not allow us to withdraw for 30 days and bills are stacking. in meantime, we can change our investment options. What is the safest move and allow us to use if needed in 20 days?? With market unsure we are trying to hang on to what we have and are willing to sacrifice gains until employment resumes (hopefully).....please asap advice. Thank you to all willing!!!!

Since amounts deferred under a 457(f) plan are taxable when they are no longer subject to a substantial risk of forfeiture, does providing for installment distributions from a 457(f) plan after a participant attains full vesting make any sense?

There's no tax deferral on the subsequent installment payments because almost everything (except earnings on deferred amounts credited after the deferred amounts are no longer subject to a substantial risk of forfeiture) has already been taxed when the participant attained full vesting. Unless a participant is anticipating high earnings on the deferred amounts and wishes to defer taxation on those earnings until they are paid from the plan, what would be the point of providing for installment distributions?

We offer a stand alone HRA to employees who opt-out of company provided health insurance. I thought I read that the HRA would be permissible under ACA if it was "integrated" with other coverage, any coverage as long as the health plan complies with the rules. So if we modify our enrollment guidelines so that employees are required to show proof of other coverage (compliant coverage), would that allow our HRA to be permissible?

My understanding that a severance pay plan that is filed as a welfare plan need only complete Form 5500.

Schedule As are not required since there are no insurance providers. Schedule C and Schedule H are also not required.

The severance plan assets, in this plan, remain a part of the general assets of the company (no Trust).

My question is:

Is a Summary Annual Report required to be distributed to employees or would a severance plan be exempt from the SAR?

Since there are no Schedule As, Schedule C, Schedule H, the financial information would not flow through to a SAR which would make it appear inaccurate.

Thank You

Just want to see if I'm nuts here. Suppose you have a public school, hence non-ERISA. Their 403(b) plan has a matching contribution piece.

For vesting purposes, the document, as I suspect most do, defines a "year of service" for vesting as 1,000 hours.

They would like a "last day" requirement - in other words, to receive a year of service for vesting, you must also be employed on the last day.

Is there any reason this can't be done?

Personally, I suspect that this won't be allowed under IRS prototypes when they are finally available, but then again, maybe it will.

Is a governmental plan with a non-safe harbor definition of compensation (excludes bonuses) subject to 414(s) non-discrimination testing of said compensation? Thanks.

My wife and I dropped our health insurance through our employers after we retired and opened a High Deductible health insurance policy which qualified us to open an HSA. We opened the HSA in September, 2013. This November, my part-time employer is making me full-time and this new status will provide healthcare for my wife and I for less than we are paying for our High Deductible insurance but of course it is not an HD account nor does it qualify as a high-deductible account.

What are the repercussions for my HSA which has the maximum allowed tax-free deposit made to it (I rolled over my traditional IRA into it) for both my wife and I? We will have had this account for less than 3 months when the switch occurs.

OK, so an accountant wants to set up a 401(k) for a client who already has contributed to a SIMPLE. I told him the same thing I've said here, that it's not that easy and I just wouldn't bother. But he's bound and determined (with good reason, there's a substantial deduction at stake).

So here's the question - if someone (W-2 employee) has contributed, say, $5000 to the SIMPLE already, and wants to max on the 401(k), how do they do it? I think they should contribute another $17,500, and then report the $5000 as an excess deferral. (Interestingly, the payroll company is willing to recharacterize the $5000 as 401(k) contributions.) Then I think they go back to the SIMPLE custodian and request the money back as excess deferrals.

Any thoughts?

Regarding bonuses, our client's plan document states 'participants are not permitted to make a separate deferral election, and the Participant's deferral amount elected on the salary deferral agreement will also apply to any bonus received by the participant for any plan year'.

Given that, can a participant go in and zero out their deferral just for one pay period and then change it back after they get their bonus?

I'm thinking technically it's not a separate deferral election for their bonus; they are just lowering their deferral for a pay period.

So, there is a DB plan that made distributions in Jan-Feb this year. After review, the plan sponsor realized they miscalculated the amounts and the participants are now owed more money (ranging from $77-$5000). Do they need to get new beneficiary forms completed since they're outside 180 days?

We have a client who has been notified of an IRS audit on his Profit Sharing Plan (always fun). They of course are asking for all plan docs, amendments, etc.

Question - Plan was restated effective 2010, and then we prepared and the sponsor signed the 2011 Required Amendment. We have not revised the SPD. Does this amendment require an SMM?

Outside of being potentially administratively difficult, does anyone see any issues with implementing automatic enrollment for a plan for specific groups of employees - and if yes, which side of being eligible for auto enrollment should the HCE's be - covered by it or not covered by it?

In this situation, the HCE's would be subject to the auto enrollment... and I'm only looking at 1 particular group being excluded from the provision - about 20% of the eligible participants...

Thanks

I'm looking at a one-man DB plan where the participant will go into pay status at age 70.5 for RMD purposes. Based on the lump sum and payments, the plan will deplete all assets when the participant reaches age 83. The plan uses the GAR94 proj. to 2002 table. My question is whether we can decrease the minimum distribution by changing to a "longer life expectancy" table, or is this really being driven by the table for the 417(e)?

It seems odd that a DB would only fund to pay until age 83 when life expectancy on the DC side is so much longer.

I am looking into whether a health plan's smoker surcharge should be included in the cost required to be reported on the Form W-2. For the surcharge itself, since it is a type of wellness program, it seems clear that it would be reportable if coverage is provided under a group health plan. See IRS Notice 2012-9, Q&A-32. However, if the provider of the program charges the employer a program fee which is not passed through to employees, should that be included in the reportable cost since it is a cost of the group health plan? Or is it treated as a wellness program for which the employer does not charge a premium and would be excluded from the reportable cost?

I had a nice, relatively easy plan on a mutual fund product. But then the financial advisor had... certain employees (which is its own issue, of course, but not the problem I'm dealing with today) transfer chunks of their profit sharing balances into individual annuities in the name of the plan so they are still plan assets.

These annuities are providing quarterly statements to the participants that are in them, just like the mutual fund platform was. My question is: do I need to provide some kind of "total statement" for them on a quarterly (I don't think so) or annual (maybe) basis? All the participants who made the switch so far are fully vested by virtue of their Years of Service; I think I would be more inclined to give a combined statement if someone wasn't fully vested.

Thanks...

Can a X-tested plan be designed to provide a last day rule and/or 1000 hour requirement for allocation for some participants and not others? Thanks.

A company has fewer than 50 employees and has been paying insurance premiums for both employees and dependents. Can they stop paying for the insurance and only offer affordable coverage:

Can they pay premiums for only select employees, i.e. HCE's?