If all of the assets of a 403(b) plan are eligible for the transition 5500 reporting relief under FAB 2009-02 (in other words, the assets are not treated as plan assets for reporting purposes)

AND

all of the participants in that 403(b) plan qualify under Q&A-5 of FAB 2010-01 (in other words, none of the participants are counted for reporting purposes)

THEN

the 403(b) plan essentially has zero reportable assets and zero reportable participants.

Does that mean it simply does not have to file a Form 5500 at all?

When completing a Form 5558 for a calendar year end plan, are you using 10/17 as the due date since 10/15 falls on a weekend? Relius has is reporting that the IRS is rejecting these requests for extension because the extension period is 2 days longer than the 2 1/2 months permitted.

http://www.relius.net/Support/rgfproductnews.aspx?ID=264

I've been doing 5500 for a long time and I don't remember having this issue n the past although I think it's been a while since the extended due date was on a weekend. I'd like to hear back on what date others are using. Thanks.

PAL

A building trades union is contemplating a diversion of future contributions from the money purchase plan to their defined benefit plan. The diversion would last 1-2 years and is designed to help support a rehabilitation plan. This would leave the money purchase plan with no contributions (other than reciprocity) for that period of time.

I seem to recall that this can create a problem for the MPP and that the IRS may view such action as effectively freezing/terminating the plan.

Before I spend the time researching this issue, I thought it may be worthwhile to solicit opinions here.

Thanks in advance.

Loan defaulted 6/30/10 to an active participant. appx balance was $2100. 1099 was not issued. 15 participant plan only allows for 1 loan at a time. In Oct 2010, participant completed paperwork to issue another loan for $2000 and stated on paperwork that she had no outstanding loan. She is current on this loan. I understand a defaulted loan restricts the possibility of future loans. The plan sponsor is of the opinion that he will just send in the loan payments on the defaulted loan to get it current. Inexplicably, Paychex just quit with holding loan payments on the participants loan, so therefore I doubt the participant could just "make up" the missing loan payments even if that was an option. Should the plan sponsor submit a VCP filing and perhaps request a 2011 1099-R issued for the defaulted loan and request that the plan be amended retroactively to allow for 2 loans?

Oh and the sponsor did not file their 2009 calendar year 5500 electronically. Hello DFVC

Does anyone have any experience with a union providing medical expenditure reimbursement payments for a limited period of time (several months) for employees who are terminated and do not buy COBRA? Such a scheme seems to be covered by ERISA under the literal reading of section 3(1) even though it would be nothing more than a resolution of the union executive board to pay out of the union's general treasury which is constituted of nothing kmmore than union dues and bank interest. Any experience would be appreciated.

What 409A issues, if any, may arise if a loan regime split dollar plan is terminated?

- policies will be surrendered with proceeds paid to particpants

- loans will be forgiven giving rise to tax on forgiveness of debt for each participant?

- does waiving loan and interest trigger the exception that pulls loan regime into 409A? If so do the penalties and interest provisions apply?

- plan sponsor will then establish a 457f plan with initial contributions equal to the difference between the loan balance and cash surrender value to "make participants whole". and will also make ongoing annual contributions to the new 457 plan

Thanks

Client would like to exclude commissions from plan comp. At least in the first year, all of the newly hired employees who earn commissions are NHCEs. So we're using 100% of the HCE compensation and the NHCE compensation can not be lower by more than a "de minimus" amount.

The client seems to think that a 5% difference is acceptable. That seems high to me. Since I understand that the regs don't address this, does anyone have any experience with what auditors have accepted?

Can anyone point me to guidance on the ability of an employer/TPA to pass on certain fees to COBRA participants which exceed the 102% limitation? Specifically, fees for bounced checks and fees for refund processing when individuals pay the wrong premium amount.

Thanks in advance!

The valuation date can be automatically changed from the last day of the plan year to the first day of plan year (i.e. end of year 12/31/2010 to beginning of year 1/1/2011) without approval, correct?

Forgert about the merits of this plan design which has been discussed ad nauseum in the past. If I did use this desgn, can apply the $1 limit only to HCE's who happen to be over the age of 50? Or is that age discrimination?

I am concerned that my LTD will be terminated if and when my current employer goes bankrupt. Are insurance companies required to continue coverage if the subscribing company goes out of business or there is a change of control?

LEt's say, hypothetically, the client is out of town. Is there anything "illegal" about sumbitting a filing with no credentials? The filing will come back Processign Stopped which is considered filed. And I haven't "forged" anyone's name.

I have heard stories of people sending in unsigned 5500's in the past in similar situations.

I am looking to buy or borrow a copy of 401(k) Fiduciary Governance: An Advisors Guide, 2nd Edition, 2009 to prepare for the ASPPA PFC-2 exam this Fall 2011. Does anyone have a copy? Thanks! it is too expensive on the ASPPA website.

We are trying to determine how to use the exclusion for "employees who elect to contribute less than $200 per year". If you can exclude them, what do you do....in essence offer them entry into the plan and then when they elect less than $200 tell them no, you can't participate? Do you then not count them as a participant for the beginning of the year count on your Form 5500?

Very confusing since you cannot determine what their election would be until you offer them an election form as a participant in the plan, but then you yank it from them if they don't elect a large enough amount?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

thanks!

Has anyone addressed this collossal issue yet? Some of these 403b's who have nver reproted before could have hundreds of people to report. Any relief expected? Is anyone talking about this stuff?

A plan participant has a significant account balance in a plan. he is 87 years old and has been estranged from his wife, not divorced, for 25 years. The wife is currently living with another man. The beneficiary of his plan is his estranged wife. He would have to still obtain her signature to designate his sons as beneficiaries, correct?

Has anyone heard of SEP's not being allowed for S-corporations in 2012?

A tax client has told his tax preparer that they were told by American Funds that S-corps will not be able to make contributions to a SEP in 2012. We're not sure if our client misinterpreted the information they received from Am. Funds or if it was communicated properly. Also, supposedly a letter is being mailed by the end of July regarding this to all Am. Funds clients.

I have a client who historically has remitted their contributions 4 to 5 days after the pay date. There were a few occasions this year where they made the remittance the day after the pay date. Since there were a few occassions that they remitted the contributions the following day, do I need to use the one day remittance as my benchmark for the entire year? Or can I used the one day remittance as a benchmark from the day it occurred on?

Also, I am aware of the safe harbor rule that was finalized in January of 2010. When it says fewer than 100 participants at the beginning of the year, does it mean active participants or all of the participants in the plan as stated by the Form 5500?

I see on the newly released 5558 there is a box to extend the new 8955-SSA form. Even though the date for filing the SSA has been officially extended by IRS (for both 2009 and 2010) to January 2012, we still have to file the 5558 to get the extension on the SSA filing? I also noticed that the extension request for the SSA has to be signed, unlike the extensions for the 5500.

Is this everyone else's take on this? Seems like we will be doing alot of extra 5558s in the next couple of weeks.

Notices were given within the required period and the terminaiton date has passed. I just got the census info and an calculating the safe harbor for the short plan year. the plan sponsor will be paying the S/H. When I run the ADP test, it shows as passing since the plan is a S/H plan. If not for the S/H, it would fail. The have the 3% non-elective.

they still get the automatic pass on the ADP since they are making the contribuiton, correct?