I am putting together a powerpoint for a prospect and am looking for information on underfunded government pensions. I am assuming that this is all public information and I use Millimen for the same info on corporate data. Does anyone know of a website or resource that is available to access this information?

Thanks in advance

Small PS Dr. plan. Just found out that 20+ years ago one of the Dr.'s made after-tax voluntary contributions which have never been included in the allocation or 5500 reporting. Assets are titled in the Plan's name in a separate brokerage account. How should this be reported on the 5500 as beginning balance will not match ending balance from prior year, etc.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

If a 401(k) plan that currently has the NRA set to 59 1/2 wanted to change NRA to age 65 and add an early retirement age of 59 1/2, would that constitute a cutback in benefits? There are no ISW provisions tied to NRA. The reason for the change is tied to a change from a pro-rata profit sharing allocation to a cross tested one.

Re: NYC Deferred Compensation 457(b) and 401(k) Plans

Currently, the Commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Labor Relations is the Plan Administrator.

The Mayor has recently proposed that he would like the Commissioner of the Department of Finance to assume the duties of Plan Administrator.

Q.: On a national level which governmental department generally assumes the duties of Plan Administrator?

Looking at the new "compensation disclosure" rule and considering its definitions that provide many ways that one can be treated as a covered service provider, I'm wondering whether much of anybody is not so covered. Thinking about the usual players that serve a 401(k)-style retirement plan, is there anyone that (leaving aside the possibility of compensation less than $1,000) is NOT a covered service provider?

Employer didn't implement employees' deferral elections for one of its locations from January - May 2011. We know we have to make a QNEC to correct the missed deferral, but I'm trying to decipher the Rev. Proc. 2008-50 instructions for calculating the QNEC where the employees might still reach or come close to the 402(g) limit over the remainder of the year. I thought I understood the calculation until I read Example 6 of Appendix B. Example 6 reads as follows:

Can anyone tell me where the IRS is getting the $10,000 here? It seems to me that they subtracted the $3,000 twice, and I'm not sure whether this was a mistake or if I'm missing something.

Help!

What are people doing out there for engagement letters? Are you hiring attorneys? Is there a good engagement letter template out there from someone? We're planning on going full-steam ahead soon, and wanted to see if anyone else had any ideas...

We have inherited a large plan that uses individual brokerage accounts for the plan's investment. That is, every participant has his or her own brokerage account. Several of the accounts of terminated participants have balances below $10. One of them has $0.83.

Is there a de minimus balance at which the participant does not have to be paid out, but the funds can be forfeited? It is clearly going to cost more than $0.83 to distribute that balance.

Thank you.

Kate Smith

A 401(k) requires the owners of the company (S corporation) to fund their own employer discretionary contribution, based on a cross-tested allocation. One of the owners terminates employment June 1, 2011, and to date has not funded his/her contribution. They want to know if they can revoke their 2010 election, based on the fact that they will not be paid any future compensation with which to fund the contribution. Or do they have to come up with the funding based on the 2010 election? Thanks for any replies.

If aan employee fails to return to work after qualified military service and has not provided notice of intend not to return to work to the employer, at what point can the employer terminate the employee from the plan? and stop years of service?

Fund mapping on a plan resulted in over 1500 Confirmations being generated. During the project, communcations were sent to Participant's advising them of the upcoming change. The client does not want these confirmations to be released as long as there are no legal or compliance issues that could arise. They're concern is around the the volume of Participant activity to their Service center as a result of releasing these confirmations.

Question:

Is there any legal or compliance issues with not generating confirmations for this particular transation? Please cite the Code or Regulations if this is prohibited. Thanks

National Doughnut Day: Friday is the day America celebrates the doughnut. (First Friday in June)

National Doughnut Day originated with the The Salvation Army in Chicago in 1938 as a salute to the women who served doughnuts to U.S. soldiers during World War I.

The Salvation Army's "doughnet lassies" continued that service during World War II and cemented the doughnut's place in the American diet. If you want to try to duplicate the doughnut lassies' work in your kitchen today, The Salvation Army is providing their original recipe.

If you're not in the mood to celebrate National Doughnut Day in the kitchen, try heading down to your local Krispy Kreme or Dunkin Donuts.

Krispy Kreme is offering a free doughnut to all customers at participating locations.

At participating Dunkin Donuts, customers will get a free doughnut with the purchase of a beverage.

I am looking at an employer who maintained both an MP and a PS plan, effective back in the early 1980's. The last plan document that they have signed has an IRS advisory letter from 1985 (Pre-TRA!). We want to update the documents and then go through VCP. Do you see any problem using VCP given how long its been since their last document?

Also, can we make the jump from these 1985 document to current in 1 step (using up-to-date EGTRRA documents) or will we have to have an updated TRA document, then an updated GUST document, and then finally the EGTRRA document?

Thanks

Non-profit entity maintains a 403(b) plan that is exempt from ERISA pursuant to the DOL safe harbor. If the entity authorized a single in-service withdrawal, but committed no other acts that would violate the DOL safe harbor, has it still lost its reliance on the DOL safe harbor due to that single event?

A 401(k) plan is sponsored by a partnership. The partnership is comprised of three seperate corportations. Together everyone is part of an affiliated service group. Only two of the three corporations currently sponsor the plan as adopting employers. Can the 3rd corporation adopt the plan in the middle of the year and make 401(k) deferrals and receive the safe harbor nonelective contribution? The only employee of the 3rd corporation is the owner of that corporation.

We always do a notice, although I see that is doesn't seem to be required for non-pension plans. I am thinking that if a 401(k) plan has safe harbor, then it would need a notice RE: stopping the safe harbor.

Agree?

I'm drawing a blank here on how to grandfather a particular accrued benefit on a takeover. The actual formula is pretty complicated (and poorly written), so these are just hypothetical numbers, but they should illustrate the point:

Initial formula 3% of high 3 times years of service

The formula was amended after this participant had 10 years of service (30% accrual) to 2% of high 3 times years of service. There is no fresh start.

Participant terminates at 14 total years of service (28% accrual under new formula).

28% of average pay at the participant's termination exceeds 30% of the participant's average pay at the amendment date.

What is the ultimate benefit?

a) 28% of high 3 at termination or

b) 30% of high 3 at termination

In other words, was the actual accrued benefit grandfathered or was the accrual percentage grandfathered (and applies to new high 3 prospectively)?

We are working on a QDRO and the alternate payee is demanding to have access to the participant account so she is able to "monitor" the value. I think her purpose for this is to try and time when she submits her paperwork for the distribution.

Does an alternate payee have such rights?

Thanks for your help!

Under the section entitled Crediting of Hours of Service the 401(k) plan counts each hour for which he is paid due to vacation,......or leave of absence. So, am I right in thinking that there will be no break-in-service and the executive will simply pick up where he left off when he returns to the office. I suppose he can continue to defer into the plan based on his continued pay, but he would not be entitled to a match or profit sharing contribution while he's away, right? I'm getting hung up on the break-in-service definition that says "no Employee shall incur a "break in service" solely by reason of temporary absence from work not exceeding 12 months...." This leave does exceed 12 months. Is it the fact that he's being paid during the leave make the difference?

I have two plans that are a controlled group - however the plans have different plan year ends (one is 5/31 and the other is 6/30). How are these plans handled for testing? Thanks.