In Maryland what happens if an ex-spouse refuses to sign a QDRO from 14 year old Divorce. Can the courts just sign it and do you recommend keeping the Signature line on the QDRO if it is not signed?

Trying to correct a mistaken error.  I have an individual HDHP & have been contributing to an HSA.  I am not covered under my spouse's medical plan (only dental and vision) and in 2020 my husband enrolled in an FSA. It is a general purpose FSA because it can be used for doctors visits. I'm just finding out now that it's an issue and would have made me ineligible to contribute to my HSA.  Since this has gone on for 4 years, how do we correct this error and what are the penalties? 

For HRAs that reimburse employees for premiums, is it acceptable to specify the maximum dollar amount as follows:  "the amount of premiums that the employee incurs during the coverage period," or does have to be an actual dollar amount?

Client is a single member LLC organized under the laws of the State of New York. The LLC sponsors a defined benefit plan.  This LLC is winding down and the owner has formed a new LLC organized under the laws of the State of Florida.

Looking for some sort of sample Resolution for the existing defined benefit plan now be sponsored by the Florida LLC and the assets and liabilities of said plan be the responsibility of the new LL?C.

Client is a single member LLC organized under the laws of the State of New York. The LLC sponsors a defined benefit plan.  This LLC is winding down and the owner has formed a new LLC organized under the laws of the State of Florida.

Looking for some sort of sample Resolution for the existing defined benefit plan now be sponsored by the Florida LLC and the assets and liabilities of said plan be the responsibility of the new LLC.

My husband was divorced in 2019 in Ohio. The QDRO was never filed. Now we are going back to court Because his ex-wife found out, she has no claim to the nonqualified plan under QDRO’s. So she’s trying to get additional compensation for the nonqualified.

 His divorce decree states that ‘’the plaintiff shall be awarded 50% of the marital portion of the defendants retirement plans both qualified and unqualified. The marital portion shall be determined using a covert fraction. The termination date for the marriage shall be January 16, 2019.

Until such time as a defendant retires, the plaintiff shall be maintained as the beneficiary of said account. The portion of the retirement account awarded to the plaintiff shall be transferred to plaintiff via QDRO free of tax consequences to the defendant, or the Plaintiff. Plaintiff shall be solely responsible for any tax consequences associated with premature distribution of the funds awarded to her. Subsequent to the transfer to the plaintiff of her share of the defendant's retirement accounts, including accumulated games. Plaintiff agrees to waive any further claim to these retirement accounts.’’ 
 

We recently found out that she is terminally ill. We are raising their 14- and 15-year-old children that she legally adopted with my husband, who is their biological grandfather. I’m sure she is going to want a separate interest and we want it to be shared. She has not had anything to do with the children in the past 4 years. my husband is still working at age 72 and plans to retire within the next 3 to 4 years. One would think with her being terminal she would want the money to go to the children, but she does not. So, would you define what’s in our divorce decree as shared or separate?
 

Good afternoon, I hope everyone is well.

I'm taking over a client that failed to file last year's Form 5500.  What's the process for filing under the Delinquent Filer's program?  Is it simply paying the fee and filing the forms through efast checking off "DFVC" program?

I just want to make sure I'm not missing a step.

Thanks!

Hello all,

I need some help. What can I do when I request rollover from 457 plan to my existing 401K (different bank).

Date request and had been process  on April 12, 2024 and got email that they send the check on April 15th 2024. Until now I receive nothing, keep calling them which 3 different phone numbers but they keep saying "mail should be there 10 business days or they sent to my bank". I check with my bank, the security banker told me they got nothing.

What should I do? 

Thanks in advance for your help.

MaiDia 

Hi All,

I am aware that this topic has been discussed before a few times, however, I'm hoping to get some clarity on a particular aspect that I've posted before but has not been addressed. 

A owner only, husband and wife, frozen DB Plan has been able to cover 40% of all eligible, by just including the owner and his wife (5 total eligible and 40% is 2). After 3 years, they now have to cover an additional 2 employees to cover 40%. There are 2 sons on the census that can be brought into the plan, as the additional 2. The aspect of bringing them into the plan and giving them a benefit of .005 of comp and a 11g amendment, has been discussed before. However, (1) does this mean that the plan is unfrozen, and ALL must be given this .005 benefit accrual or just for the 2 employees that are being added to the plan now? (2) Is this .005 of comp benefit accrual given to them going forward each year or just for the year in which they are added (as plan is still frozen going forward)? Thank you in advance for any insights on this.

This is for a 457(f) Plan.

We made several payouts, but miscalculated earnings which resulted in underpayments.  As you would expect from a 457(f) Plan, vesting and payment occurred the same year, so FICA and income tax would have all been applied in the year of distribution.  

Some of the underpayments occurred in the last year or two and we could, potentially, correct under 2008-113.  But some are older.  For those we correct under 2008-113, the correction is pretty clear.  For those that we cannot, what are our options?  We prefer not to report the underpayments as 409A violations because that would cause major issues for the affected participants, when the miscalculations are not major (at least not in relation to total benefits for these participants).  Can we just correct past W-2s and leave it at that?  Can we make up the underpayments and then issue 1099s in the current year?  Any help is much appreciated.  If I'm missing any relevant information, please let me know.

Is there any guidance on the difference between a true change in residence and extended travel (i.e., length of time)? 

In February of this year Employee submitted an election change form to remove spouse from health coverage due to spouse's move out of the country. 6 weeks later Employee requested to add spouse back to health coverage due to spouse's move back into the US. Employee has now requested to remove spouse from health coverage again due to spouse's move out of the country again. The Employer thinks the spouse travels back and forth to the couple's home country a few times a year for 6 weeks at a time.  Are these qualifying life events? 

Should a plan allow a loan after the participant defaulted on an earlier loan but later fully repaid the loan?

An individual-account (defined-contribution) retirement plan allows participant loans.

These loans are meant to follow Internal Revenue Code § 72(p) so making a loan is not then treated as a distribution.

The plan has no nonelective or matching contributions, only elective deferrals.

The plan sponsor’s general policy in setting plan provisions is to treat participants as adults who make one’s choices about what to do with one’s money. For example, the plan allows every kind of early-out distribution that can be allowed without tax-disqualifying the plan.

The plan’s current loan policy precludes another loan if the participant defaulted on an earlier loan. That restriction applies even if the participant fully repaid the loan after the default.

The plan sponsor is considering revising the policy to allow a participant to take another loan if the participant has fully repaid the defaulted loan.

Nothing in the plan’s procedure, whether current or proposed, for processing participant loans calls for the plan’s sponsor/administrator to do anything on a particular request. (A loan never requires a spouse’s consent.) Rather, the recordkeeper routinely processes approvals and denials of loans on nondiscretionary terms.

BenefitsLink neighbors, what do you think? Is it a good idea to allow a participant to take another loan if the participant has fully repaid the defaulted loan? Or if it is a bad or troublesome idea, why?

I have a client who is a partnership of corporations.  One of the owners of one of the corporations participates in the plan, the owners do not. The partnership lost a contract and as such all of his employees with the exception of the owners of the corporations are being terminated (it is a condition of their employment when the contract is lost they are terminated).  If it matters most of the participants are HCEs but only 1 is an owner. They wants to terminate the plan but rely on a 3% SHNEC for to pass 401(k) testing.   All of the employees have been notified and they will be let go on a certain date (say June 30.. I am not sure when but it will be well before the end of the year) with the exception of the owners who are employed by their respective corporations.  The partnership will continue for some time (well past the end of the year if not several years) as they are still being paid for work they have already done.  Can they terminate the plan before the end of the year but after all  of the employees have been terminated with the exception of the owners and still rely on the 3% SHNEC?

It is not clear to me whether DFVCP becomes unavailable for all years once a DOL notice is received for any year.  The FAQs provide that the DFVCP filing must be made "prior to the date on which the administrator is notified in writing by the Department of Labor (Department) of a failure to file a timely annual report under Title I of the Employee Retirement Security Act of 1974 (ERISA)."  But does that mean notice of a failure for one year would preclude a DFVCP filing for another year for which notice of a failure to file has not been received?  Has anyone had any experience with this issue?

[I know the answer is it SHOULDN'T be done, but I'm looking for CAN.]

Got a pooled 401k plan that is transitioning to individual accounts.  There are enough people such SDBAs for all of them would be horribly inefficient, so they decided to go with a fund platform.  However, the FA just told me that they will do SDBAs for the owners.  This immediately set off all the alarm bells.

Of course it's a bad idea, but what is the latest and greatest about how it can be done with some degree of confidence that it will pass the sniff test?  I'm thinking:

1. No minimums allowed to open one.  Note sure about minimums on any particular investment.
2. All participants must be given the option to do so.  We've got a few plans that have had this set up for years (and keep resisting change), and on those we already have a boilerplate participant election form.
3. 404a5 fee disclosure notice.

I was thinking about a set fee for the SDBAs each year to represent the additional time spent reconciling them; I'm not sure I could easily get the SDBAs to send me the fee from the account each year, but I think would be OK.

Ideally, there's some kind of citation that I can use to argue against this, but failing that, I at least want to put this on as solid ground as possible.  Any thoughts?  Thanks.

I'm sure Nike has this trademarked or something, but it would be fun to have this on our client engagement letters - the endless amounts of time we spend because the client is trying to "get around" something they have to do, or won't do what we tell them to, etc., etc. - wouldn't it be great if we could contractually point to "JUST DO IT!"

Just one of those pleasant daydreams...

Can a plan be changed mid-year to have the safe harbor match allocated/calculated on a payroll basis versus what their plan currently has, the last day of the plan year?  I have a client that does not want to true-up the sh match at year end.

We have a terminating Cash Balance Plan that has excess assets compared to the benefits owed.

I just want to make sure I'm reading the Plan Document correctly.  It is allowed to allocate the overage to the participants, in ratio to their balance at the time of termination?  So instead of reverting the money back to the Employer (which would cause taxation), we can pay it all out as long as the document allows?

I'm 95% sure, I just want to make sure I'm not crazy

Due to some issues with the plan sponsor, we are just now working on the 2023 contributions and allocations.  We discovered that the 2022 Employer Safe Harbor contribution was never deposited to the plan.  What options are available to fix this?

Thanks.

Is there any provision in the Internal Revenue Code that prohibits voluntary, after-tax contributions to a DB plan?  Put differently, the plan requires mandatory employee contributions based on age of entry.  I'm asking if employees could voluntarily contribute additional after-tax amounts to accounts under the plan. Any insight would be appreciated.