back in october 2010 final regs and proposed regs were released in connection with cash balance plans.

when do plans need to adopt amendments to comply with the regs?

Not sure if the plan document providers like ft williams have done anything in connection with the regs?

I saw one of their documents that did not incorporate the regs; not sure how current it was.

thanks

If the Employer hands out the annual Safe Harbor Notice (detailing the 3% safe harbor contribution for the year) to only select Particpants and not all participants, has the required notification been satisfied? Would the contribution be due for all possible participants or only for those who received it?

Thanks

Stan

Hi,

I recently found out that my employer has failed to make safe harbor contributions for 2006 - 2010 to my account and even his own account which were required as part of the plan. I left the company in a downsizing in 2009. Late in 2010 he elected to revise the safe harbor part of the plan and made the 3% contributions optional. I am owed approx $11k. The plan administrator says they sent certified letters to my employer alerting him to make the contributions. My former boss claims his secretary threw them out year after year. All of my payroll contributions from my check however were made. My question is - what are my options at this point? The plan administrator claims they never called my employer about this and relied on the postal letters. The plan administrator knew contributions were not being made, but never contacted the employees to let them know. The plan administrator says they did what they were supposed to. Is that true? Should they have notified employees that contributions were not being made by my employer? The employer's business is almost bankrupt now and he is promising to pay, but I doubt it. Will he be able to shirk his responsibility to the plan in bankruptcy? Will the IRS go after him? What is the best thing I can do to recover my funds?

Thx for your help and input!

Rocky

I'm not familiar with a lot of the rules for SEP plans, so I'm hoping a SEP person can help me out.

Is it possible under a prototype or individually designed SEP to exclude one or more of the HCE's from the plan?

Thanks for your help!

I am trying to determine if the following provision related to retirement is a valid risk of forefeiture under Code Section 83 and therefore 457(f). The plan makes payment within the short-term deferral period and I am aware of the IRS's intentions to publish guidance defining a SOF under 457(f) as it is defined under 409A. Assume the participant is 54 and has no plans to retirement anytime in the near future.

Participants will become vested in contributions credited to their Accounts on the earliest to occur of the following events:

(a) death;

(b) termination of employment due to a Total and Permanent Disability;

© termination of employment in connection with a Retirement (defined as a termination of employment on or after age 65); or

(d) the fifth anniversary of the date the contribution was made to the Account.

If a Participant’s employment terminates for any other reason before one of the above events occurs, any contributions which were not previously vested will be forfeited so that no benefit will be payable under the Plan.

Hi,

I think I know how I should handle this, but wanted to run it by someone else.

I have a client with a Uni-K. He has 2 separate Schedule Cs, no employees for either. Controlled group will apply. One Schedule C has income, the other has a loss. The Uni-K is set up under the Schedule C with income.

My client would like to max out on his Uni-K. Would I calculate the Uni-K deferral and employer contribution on each Schedule C separately (having zero for the C with a loss)? Or would I combine gross earnings from both Schedule Cs and then calculate the maximum contribution?

I believe we have to combine all net earnings (and losses) from both Schedule Cs and then calculate the maximum deferral and match for his Uni-K - but want to confirm that this is correct. I have checked the regs and I have not been able to find specific instructions when multiple Schedule Cs are involved.

Thanks for your help.

Linda

Suppose you have a company with a 6/30/11 year end that adopts a profit sharing plan for the 7/1/10 - 6/30/11 year. Suppose they also have maintained and funded a SIMPLE through 12/31/2010.

1. If eligible employees were not provided a notice for the SIMPLE for the 2010 calendar year, does that mean they had an invalid SIMPLE for 2010?

2. Since they cannot have any plan besides the SIMPLE, I would think they could not make any profit sharing contribution for the 7/1/10 - 6/30/11 year, correct?

3. Had they funded the SIMPLE at all in 2011, they would not have even been able to make a profit sharing contribution for the 7/1/11 - 6/30/12 year.

Thanks a million.

I hope someone can give us some advice. My husband got a new job that offers a FSA. Not knowing about it and having to do it quickly, we had only $360 for the year deducted. Stupid, we know. And there isn't any way to add more.

Moving on. We have a HSA from our previous insurance and would like to keep it. Our family deductible is $8k/$4k for one member so we are pretty sure we can keep it/would qualify. My questions:

Can I have a HSA and use that money for the rest of our medical bills?

Are there any restrictions on what I can spend the FSA dollars on?

Thanks in advance for any advice!!

I'm looking at a DRO that gives a percentage of the participant's ESOP balance to his ex wife. It is not currently in a form that can be qualified due to missing information. In general, are there any details required for an ESOP QDRO that I am likely to be overlooking since I usually only deal with 401(k)s?

Never mind I answere dmy own question but did not know how to delete post

We have a takeover plan in which the prior TPA was carrying on the books a defaulted loan for an existing employee. The loan was defaulted in 2006 and a 1099 was issued in January 2007 for the amount of the default. How long should you continue to carry a defaulted loan like this? This employee is still employed to date, we have no idea why he never made any repayments.

Does anyone know how many 1099-R's are issued if an excess deferral refund is distributed after 4/15?

Using the example below from the ERISA Outline book, the excess ($325) is taxable in both 2012 and 2013. The earnings ($45) are taxable in 2013.

I'm wondering if there would be one 1099 for 325 with a distribution code of P, and another 1099 for 370 with a distribution code of 8. Or, would there just be one 1099 and if so, for how much?

Example. JoAnne has excess deferrals for 2012 in the amount of $325. The plan does not distribute the excess amount by April 15, 2013. JoAnne receives a distribution of $370 on June 1, 2013, which represents the amount of the excess deferrals ($325) plus allocable income ($45). The following tax consequences apply to JoAnne.

(1) For 2012 (i.e., the deferral year), JoAnne must include $325 in gross income, which represents the amount of her elective deferrals for that year that exceeded the income exclusion limit under IRC §402(g)(1).

(2) For 2013 (i.e., the distribution year), JoAnne must include $370 in gross income, which is the total distribution made to her, even though $325 of that amount was also included in her 2012 income.

Credit to Nevin Adams of Plansponsor.com for this list:

- If you don’t speak up, people will assume you’re happy with the way things are.

- If you don’t love yourself, nobody else will.

- If you wouldn’t want your mother to learn about it, don’t do it.

- Paying the minimum due on your credit cards is dumb.

- High school ISN’T the best time in your life.

- Never miss a chance to tell someone “thank you.”

- You’ll fall in love more than once – or at least think you have.

- Never assume that your employer (or your boss) is looking out for your best interests.

- You can be liked AND respected.

- Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers – aren’t.

- Hug your parents – often.

- Know at least a little about sports and the weather.

- “What do you think?” is a great response when you don’t know the answer.

- The hardest thing to do is quit while you’re ahead.

- The second hardest thing to do is to keep your mouth shut.

- Never assume that “senior management” knows what they’re doing.

- “Have you been working out?” is the best thing you can say to someone. The second best is, “Have you lost weight?”

- People notice people that don’t swear.

- Breaking up IS hard to do.

- Listen.

- Smile.

- Read.

- That 401(k) match is not “free” money – but it doesn’t cost you anything.

- Start saving for retirement – now!

Random question - just read an article in a newsletter, and it said that as a benefit some employers were offering 401(k) debit cards. There was no further explanation. This was listed among traditional offerings such as 401(k) plans, DB plans, etc. I've never heard of this and was curious as to what it is!

Johnny works for Parent Co. Johnny leaves ParentCo to go work for ChinaCo, a 100% owned subsidiary of ParentCo. Is there an exception that would allow distribution of his 401k/SH balances because he has had a severance from employment with a US Company? Or must he sever all ties with anyone in the controlled group anywhere in the world?

I left a Company in 2009 and was due to receive a lump sum this year; 30 days before the lump sum was to be disbursed I received a notification that the plan was modified in 2010 to change the disbursement into installments. Can you really change the plan like that and affect out of service participants about to receive their lump sum disbursement?

If the plan is part of a controlled group during the year but by the end of the year they are no longer a member of the group, would the Control Group feature code still be used. I'm thinking it would apply if available at any time during the year, but maybe it is only what is available at plan year end?

Employer added 401(k) provisions to existing PSP several years ago. Thus, all in one plan document. Employer now says that it wants to terminate PSP portion of plan and allow participants to roll PSP monies out to IRA or take same as taxable distribution, but kep 401(k) intact. PSP monies are held in pooled account of which individual trustee oversees management. Individual trustee is also sole shareholder of employer and does not want that potential liability anymore. Thus, the termination of the PSP has been proposed by employer as an alternative. Plan document allows for participants to direct investment of all of their monies, eg, PSP, 401(k),... Participants are directed the investment of their 401(k) monies. Employer has basically notified participants that they will need to direct investment of all of their monies in the near future and has also notified them that they may be able to roll their PSP out to accommodate that. Is there any way to declare the PSP portion of the plan terminated such that participants can roll out their PSP balances? I guess what is getting me is that I had always learned that the 401(k) provisions needed to be part of a profit sharing plan and I can't grasp terminating one portion of the plan especially since all provisions are in one document. Please let me know what I am missing... Thanks.

I have what I think is a wrap plan, pop and self insured

claims paid through employer general assets, using administrative services of a tpa

do we have to have an independent audit done for the self insured (well over 100 participants)

thanks

A Participant in a SEP is eligible for a first year contribution of $3,000. It is a long story but I want to charge as much as $450 to look for him and if necessary set up an auto IRA.

Can anyone tell me if it is legal to take this fee of up to $450 out of his $3,000 contribution?