Does anyone know off hand if Wells Fargo Advisors, formerly Wachovia, but now owned by Wells Fargo, can certify investments to allow for a limited scope audit, or someone I can contact there who can actually answer that question for me?

Participant in qualified money purchase pension plan (also subject to Title I of ERISA) dies. Surviving spouse is sole beneficiary. Default form of benefit is single life annuity paid for with entire vested account balance, but surviving spouse can elect a lump sum (which, in fact, is what he wishes to do).

Other than describing his options in plain English, and providing the 402(f) notice, are there any other types of disclosures specifically required by statute or regulation?

If an individual who was previously an unpaid, intern of a company is later hired by the company as a regular employee, should his prior hours of work as an unpaid intern count towards the service eligiblity requirement under the company's 401(k) plan? Please assume that the company correctly treated this individual as an unpaid intern. Thanks for any help.

Can anyone recommend a firm that sponsors a DB prototype that gives the trustee the freedom to invest the plan's assets anywhere they like and not be restricted to the investments offered by the sponsoring company? We have been using such a prototype offered by an insurance company for decades, but their customer service has deteriorated so much that it's time for a change.

Employer funded a profit sharing very early and we noted that there were a couple of 'mid year' participants whose allocations were based on full year compensation but should have been from date of entry. We will move the overfunding amounts to Plan FF account and be used per plan document.

Lets say the ER funded $90,000 but should have been $87,000. What should be reported on 5500? Is it the $90,000 which the er claimed on their corp return? I am thinking that is correct since the amounts moved to FF and will be used accordingly. Thanks.

I'm doing a little program, kind of a mail merge to do extensions. It doesn't matter if the 5558 is slightly off spec, correct? Visually you can barely tell, but if I hold up the pdf I printed from the IRS web-site, I find that they are slightly out of line.

Plan is a profit-sharing plan. It was notified of a tax penalty. Plan administrator mistakenly paid out of plan assets. A couple questions:

1) Is this a prohibited transaction, or something else? The money went to the IRS, not to a fiduciary.

2) If it is a prohibited transaction, do you believe the plan can avail itself of the correction program? Looking through the DOL materials, I would say no.

3) If a profit-sharing plan has a tax due, or a tax penalty due, who is responsible for paying it? And out of what account?

Thank you for your thoughts.

I have an end of the year CB plan

at 12/31/2009 there was 65 participants...

at 12/31/2010 there are 104 participants...

at 1/1/2011 there are 110 participants

Do I have to see approval to change to a boy valuation for 2011 or is it automatic because of the size?

when filing a 5500 form for a client (with the authorization form and completed signature page) someone inadvertently did the attachment with only the signature page (page 1) instead of BOTH pages of the 5500 form as required.

Does this filing need to be amended to add the second page to the "Other Attachment"?

We will correct this going forward but what would others do in this circumstance?

I see that I posted the same thing last year with 2009 forms. Not a big deal then as it was the first year of filing. But now we are on to 2010 and I would like to know what others think....

Thanks!

We administer a 401(k) plan that provides for a fixed (vs. wait-and-see) 3% SHNEC to all eligible employees, including HCE's. Is it permissible to amend the plan after the plan year has already started so that the SHNEC is only allocated to to NHCE's (i.e., exclude HCE's from the allocation)? There is no substantial business hardship.

A ppt is notified of eligibility and does not return an election before their entry date, lets say two weeks later. Does the employer start deducting immediately? Is this considered a missed deferral? What if there is a match involved?

I was sure this had been asked before but cannot find the thread or post:

Plan allows union employees to make 401(k) contributions only & they are excluded from all other portions of the Plan. The plan is a large plan and files as such with an audit report.

My question is: For purposes of the 5500 participant count do I include all union employees or just those who have chosen to defer and have a balance?

At this time it does not impact the filing type or audit requirement but could in the near future.

thanks in advance for any replies.

If our Firm receives a fee to deposit contributions do we have a Fiduciary Responsibility? Let's say we know deposits are not being deposited by a certain time or if we missplace a deposit etc?

Governmental 457(b) employer wants to add a Roth in-plan conversion feature. My understanding is that the in-plan Roth conversion feature applies to contributions that are currently distributable. A participant in a governmental 457(b) plan may not receive an in-service distribution until the calendar year in which the participant reaches age 70 1/2. Code Sec. 457(d)(1)(A)(i). For an active governmental 457(b) employee who has not reached age 70 1/2, is the conversion feature available?

My plan does not use the Safe Harbor Rules for Hardship, rather it's a VS that uses Facts & Circumstances for Hardship. Problem is, I don't know how to apply F&C. Does anyone have any guidelines to determine if something qualifies based on F&C?

PP is facing legal expenses defending himself against criminal charges by the US Govt. He has no other assets and plan does not allow loans.

Any guidance would be most appreciated!

Is it possible to divide an IRA to satisfy support obligation, just as one could use a QDRO for a qualified plan?

If so, any guidance? What are the limitations?

the EA regs now require 2 credits of ethics. I have not seen any such course offerred yet.

Has anyone identified where such ethics courses are offerred?

Thanks.

Help.

Have a client who never returned the funds for a failed ADP Test for 2008. They also did not have an audit done for the Form 5500 for that year (large client over 200 employees). They are now trying to fix he 2008 Form 5500 by attaching an auditors report. The auditor asked if the funds were returned for the failed ADP Test. Of course, they were not.

What are the options the plan has to fix the 2008 failed ADP? I know that we have passed the one year mark but they have also passed the 2 year mark as well. Please advise.

Thanks.

The anti-cutback regulations seem to permit the substitution of a single sum payout for a joint and survivor annuity benefit option if certain conditions are met (ie equivalent value, only for those not in pay status). Any thoughts?

I understand that the IRS once had a spousal consent for hardship distributions but it looks like that's been dropped. Any thoughts.