My client is considering amending their plan document for 2013 to add a traditional safe harbor match. However, they were recently acquired and there is a chance that the plan will be merged (not terminated) into the parent plan.

1. Would they have to amend the plan to remove the safe harbor feature before merging if the parent company is not safe harbor?

2. Does a plan merger constitute a short plan year (so that they wouldn’t have to test)?

Can an elective deferral to a NQP with a valid payment term be respected with respect to future salary above a specified level to which an employee presently has no LBR?

Health Clinic Employer with 500+ employees: They have a self-funded dental/vision plan. They allow physicians/MDs to enroll after 30 days while all other employees wait 90 days. Benefits are identical... only the entry date is earlier. Concerned that this is discriminatory under 105. Correct?

They also have fully insured plans with the same structure, but these would be exempt because they are fully insured, correct?

Thanks

Happy 10/11/12

(and yes, if you missed it, there's another one next month)

Good afternoon, everyone

Hopefully an easy question: we'd like to VFCP a plan for delinquent contributions. Section 5(b)(5)(ii) says that Lost Earnings SHALL (emphasis mine) be calculated by the IRC 6621 underpayment rate, etc., etc.

However, the DOL says the following on their website (http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq_vfcp2.html):

In order to correct under the program, you will need to calculate the lost earnings on the delinquent contributions. For purposes of correction under the program, the rate of return to use is the highest of:

The rate of return of the plan for non-participant directed plans or of individual participant accounts

Restoration of profits (as defined under the program)

The Internal Revenue Code §6621 rate. How to calculate each of those amounts is demonstrated in the questions and answers below

However, I have to think that the actual reference to this has to be in the VCFP procedure (Federal Register Vol. 71, No. 75, April 19, 2006). I can't find it anywhere. The word "highest" doesn't even appear in the procedure, and the word "higher" is only in the context of transactions that aren't ours, and still referencing the 5(b)(5) calculation. Can anyone point me to a point in the procedure where it says we can choose between the IRS rates via the VFCP calculator, or our plan's highest rate? I realize it's usually advantageous to use the IRS rate, it being lower, but not always, such as in the case of losses.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Is auto enrollment permitted for a governmental 401(a) plan?

Thanks.

Calendar year 403(b) plan. What timing deadlines exist for the non-profit plan sponsor in regard to depositing the employer contribution. For example, for the 2011 plan year, when would the 2011 employer contribution be due? Unlike for-profit contributions, the only file Form 990 and I do not believe that there is a deductibility issue.

A participant had a bona fide termination of employment and requested a distribution from the plan, but was rehired before the TPA processed the distribution.

I have looked at old threads on this website that talk about similar situations, but these threads give a variety of conflicting answers. So I will pose the question again:

Is distribution allowed (because it was allowed at the time it was elected)?

Or is distribution not allowed (because participant was rehired before distribution was processed by TPA)?

Citations to official (or unofficial) IRS guidance would be appreciated!

Did anyone ever answer "No" to question 8, did the sponsor provide an individual statement?

What are the ramifications?

What is the legally correct Plan Entry Date that should show on reports, such as an employee census data recap, provided by the third party administrator to the plan administrator as part of an annual report package?

(and depending on answers below, I may have another question about getting changes in records held by a successor third party administrator)

The date the plan agreement says an employee enters the plan?

The date the plan agreement allows an employee to submit a wage reduction agreement?

The date the plan administrator allows an employee to begin deferrals?

Thanks.

This is a new animal for me... an employer wants to provide flex credits that can be used towards individual health / dental insurance (they have no group policies) as well as have the flex credits be available for standard FSA expense (such as RX, and copays, etc)... as well as have a cash out option for the flex credits. To spice it up a bit, they want to award the flex credits to the tune of $2 per hour worked.

It seems quite complicated and I'm not sure if it is doable. How do employees make elections if they're work hours change week to week? What if their individual insurance premiums change in July, but the plan year starts in January? The individual health insurance thing and the varying flex credits earned on a week to week basis is problematic for me... I can't quite think it through and how they would fit in the framework.

My client is considering amending their plan document for 2013 to add a traditional safe harbor match. However, they were recently acquired and there is a chance that the plan will be merged (not terminated) into the parent plan.

1. Would they have to amend the plan to remove the safe harbor feature before merging if the parent company is not safe harbor?

2. Does a plan merger constitute a short plan year (so that they wouldn’t have to test)?

Is it required, or even recommended, that when an employer establishes SEP-IRA accounts on behalf of their employees that the title of the accounts be in the name of the employer FBO the employee? Can the name of the account be in the name of the employee identified as a SEP-IRA? Any deductibility consequences if account is not in the name of the employer?

So an employer has sponsored a pre-approved plan for the last 20+ years, and have always relied on the opinion letter. Well on 1/1/2013 they are restating to an individually designed plan.

Their EIN puts them in Cycle E - and the next Cycle E submission period is 2/1/2015 through 1/31/2016. I'm trying to determine if there is anything that would allow them to apply for a determination letter sooner.

There are a couple things in Rev. Proc. 2007-44 that I think may apply, but I'm having difficulty understanding them.

1. First, section 14 describes some situations where an off-cycle filing will be treated with the same priority as an on-cycle filing. It says that "a new individually designed plan whose next regular on-cycle submission period ends at least 2 years after the end of the off-cycle submission period during which the plan sponsor submits its application". It says that a new plan is defined as a plan that would be a new plan "within its initial remedial amendment cycle under §1.401(b)-1(b)(1) of the regulations, as summarized in section 2.03 of this revenue procedure". I'm having a hard time following what this means.

2. 19.03 talks about a temporary eligibility for 6 year cycle. It says that if "the employer is a prior adopter of a pre-approved plan and after adoptiong this pre-approved plan the employer replaces the plan with an individually designed plan whose underlying plan document is not based on a pre-approved plan", then the employer is "entitled to remain in the six-year remedial amendment cycle only for the current remedial amendment cycle". What does that mean?

I'm pretty certain that neither of these rules will allow the employer to apply for a determination letter prior to the Cycle E submission period - but hoping someone could explain the 2 rules above. Thanks for any help.

As an independent recordkeeper (on Relius) who just sent out the quarterly participant statements including the one-page attachment at the end with the actual fees charged to the participant accounts, I realize we are at a complete disadvantage compared to the major recordkeepers with revenue sharing arrangements. They only have to disclose those once a year and buried in an extremely complicated notice which I am sure no one will read. But then their quarterly notices (which are easy to read) show a much lower fee than ours which are generally a pure asset-based fee.

For those fellow TPAs who are also recordkeepers, how are we going to compete and explain everything when thousands of participants come banging on their employers' doors?

I'm preparing a Form 5500 for a plan that uses the Nationwide Trust Innovator Fund, a platform within which an employee may pick among mutual funds. Interests in the Innovator Fund are unitized. So, the plan owns units of the Innovator Fund.

Nationwide insists that the Innovator Fund is not as a pooled separate account (PSA) or collective/common trust (CCT).

Is the interest properly reported as interests issued by a company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (e.g., a mutual fund)? That is, is the Nationwide Trust Innovator Fund a mutual fund of mutual funds and reported as a mutual fund itself?

What's the general approach to including attachments for Schedule H lines 4i and 4j - separate the attachment from audited financials and attach that, or a one page grid form which states "See audited financials". reason i ask is a prior firm used the second option for my new client's 2010 form but i have never before done that or seen that. i've always included actual attachment. is this a reason to amend 2010?

Hello:

I have a situation I would like to see if anyone is able to provide some guidance.

I have a participant who takes a loan for 5 years. Weekly repayments. Cure period is end of quarter following quarter... He misses 4 payments at the 3-year point of the loan and then the loan payments pick up again. So although he is in arears, he is never in default because he never gets to end of a cure period without a payment. When the loan gets to the 5 year point he will be 4 payments short. Can he continue to make the 4 payments from payroll deduction and if the loan is paid before the end of the cure period at the end of the loan does he avoid having the loan treated as deemed distributed based on this timing scenario? Or is the 5 year point a hard date that must cause the deemed distribution to occur at that point in time?

Thank you for any feedback anyone might be able to offer.

andmik

My son works for a large grocery store chain, was full-time and now part-time, and I took a look at his participant statement and it showed a QNEC of almost $900. Given his small salary I assume they must've really screwed something up. The plan does have auto enrollment and auto escalation. I can only figure that maybe they didn't escalate him when they should've or something like that.

Do you think if he'd ask them for the reason behind the QNEC and the calculation of his contribution, that they have any obligation to share that with him?

Thanks

Do government 401(a) Plans have to file Form 5500?