I've seen CPA and retirement providers charge as much as $2500 for a "signature ready" form 5500. DO you think this is a fair price?

On the advice of our actuary, we each year waive the other small previous credits we had built up in the past for our DB plan.

Our pension investment guy (what a genius he is!) made a big bet that came through on a particular stock in late 2008 and, along with good results in the rest of the portfolio, got us a whopping overall return in 2009. If the gain turns out to be big enough to put us in a 100+% funded situation, will we get to use any of that overfunding to reduce the otherwise regular annual cost (normal cost) of the plan in 2010?

For example, say our normal cost comes in at $50,000 and we end up overfunded by $20,000. Will that dollar-for-dollar reduce our normal cost to $30,000?

A pregant employee elects Day Care and has been making contributions. However, as the blessed event arrives, she realizes that she's going to be a stay at home mom, possibly through the end of the plan year and she may no longer be employed by the company afterwards. Are there any creative ways to spend the money she's already contributed in this case? She has no other children and there are no elders to take care of.

Just an FYI that Relius does NOT work with Windows 7 machines. The sales people tell you they have work arounds, but the techs confirm they don't really work.

We signed up with Relius before we knew this, and are now scrambling to find an new vendor.

Can someone point me in the right direction to find a plain-English writeup of how, if possible, to correct the following situation?

For 2009, one of our employees checked the box for Dependent Care on our pre-tax contribution form for our cafeteria plan/flexible spending account. But, he meant to check the Medical Care box. He didn't catch the mistake then, nor did he catch it after he read the confirmation sent to him by Human Resources showing which box he checked. And, I guess he didn't catch it all during 2009 when he didn't receive any medical reimbursements, or because he didn't look at his check stub.

So, he filed his 2009 tax return and had to pay tax on the unused dependent care benefit. I realize he could have avoided the tax by subtracting the forfeited benefit on Form 2441, but he didn't do that and, anyway, that might mess up what he really meant to do, which is to use the money for some dental work.

Which brings me to my question. How do we fix the error he made on the election form? Send a corrected W-2 showing $0 in box 10? Then let the plan administrator know to transfer the money from the Dependent Care account to the Medical Care account? Anything else?

Thanks,

Ken Davis

Univ. of South Alabama

We're looking to expand our practice through some acquisitions. Does anyone know of a good resource to find TPA firms looking to sell? Or maybe a business brokerage/ M&A advisory firm specializing in our industry?

Employer A is part of a controlled group and sponsors a calendar year 401(k) Safe Harbor Match (4%) Plan, call it Plan A.

Employer B is part of a controlled group with Employer A and has never sponsored or participated in a qualified plan.

We are restating Plan A for EGTRRA and the Employer would like to change the Plan to allow Employer B to participate in the Plan effective 4/1/2010? Can they allow this type of change to a safe harbor plan mid-year? The concern is with the limits on amendments and changes to Safe Harbor plans during the middle of the year.

Thank you in advance.

My PC XP uses various spyware tools -- Norton, Lavasoft (Ad-Aware), IOLO (Spyhunter).

I've read about Spybot and even though it is freeware with undetermined support, I am considering it.

Are there any users of Spybot? Any other recommendations?

Company B wants to buy Company A. Company A is mortgaged and financed to the sky. Company B has offered to aquired Company A for debt in a non-cash transaction.

1) What happens to the ESOP?

2) Do the ESOP members get a vote in the aquisition?

3) Are there any unforseen pitfalls?

Please forgive the newbie questions here!

W-2' wages is the plan's definition of comp for 415. Plan excludes fringe benefits (Personal use auto, etc). When calculating THM's, should pay be increased for these amounts?

Almost all of our plans include fringe benefits (especially the small ones that tend to be top-heavh), but once in a while on takeover, etc., we get one where fringes are excluded, and today I happen to be looking at one that is top-heavy...

I'm pretty sure we need to gross it up, but I wasn't sure if it was possible to exlcude them.

For many Consulting Actuaries the Hewlett Packard HP 12C has been a mainstay pocket calculator for over 25 years.

How about Smartphones? Is there any consensus on a really good Smartphone for the Consulting Actuary? What Smartphone, if any, do you use?

What about phone service contracts for Smartphones? What company do you use for phone service? What does it cost?

Thanks!

An employer is small enough that its health plan isn’t governed by Federal COBRA. But the relevant State’s “mini-COBRA” law applies. A former employee elects continuation coverage, and asserts that he is entitled to ARRA premium assistance. The insurer – recognizing that continuees generally, and subsidized continuees even more, are bad adverse-selection risks – has a procedure for trying to get information about whether an employment termination was involuntary. But the employer refuses to respond to the insurer’s requests for information about the termination. Is there anything the insurer can do to compel the employer to cooperate?

In MI - economy and business down.

Owner's son deferred a lot

Owner did not take a paycheck, but worked, Got a W-2 for .01. Yes a penny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If no compensation I know I leave him off the test and it fails big time( Son has to take out more than he put in due to Interest)

If I can use the .01 and have dad in the test, it will help

I am, however, not comfortable with the penny for compensation. I have asked for a copy of the W-2. I cannot believe that they issued it. Got it they did do a W-2 for a penny.

Anyone EVER had anything like this or have any suggestions. What is the minimum compensation that you think someone has to have to be in the test.

I am leaning toward leaving him out.

Thanks for your help.

Pat

FACTS: Stock Acquisition occurred 12/31/08. Buyer continued Acquired Entity's plan for the first 3 months of 2009, then the Plan was terminated. (We know they should have terminated the Plan prior to acquisiton.) Acquired Entity remains, now as a controlled group member, and it adopted Buyer's plan as a participating employer effective April 1, 2009. All of Acquired Entity's employees now participate in Buyer's Plan. There are no termination of employment issues.

The HCE's (as well as non-HCEs) of Acquired Entity participated in their old plan for three months and then the Buyer's plan for the remaining nine months of 2009.

QUESTIONS: Do the mandatory aggregation rules of IRC 401(k)(3)(A) apply in this situation, which state that if an HCE participates in more than one CODA of the Employer, the deferral amounts in all such arrangements are added together in computing the HCE's ADP under each arrangement.

Of course, the desired answer is that this statute refers to ongoing plans and does not contemplate terminating plans of an acquired entity who happens to now be part of the controlled group. The affected HCEs were only eligible to participate in one plan at a time and never in both at the same time.

We've looked at the 410(b)(6) transition rule but can not conclude that we get a pass on the aggregation.

Any thougts and cites are much appreciated!

How do you complete the 2848 for a John Doe VCP submission without giving away the client name? Anyone run into this before? It seems that I would leave the taxpayer information blank, but then it doesn't seem like the 2848 would be valid.

A major insurance company takes the position that the use of an asset allocation model in a 403(b) plan triggers SEC scrutiny because the asset allocation model is a investment company (ie mutual fund) for SEC purposes. Does anybody know of any backup for this position. The asset allocation model consists of 5 model portfolios

a non profit is going out of business and they maintain a 457(b) for one of their key employees. What hoops do they need to jump through to distribute the funds? If I am not mistaken, the participant could only rollover the 457(b) to another 457(b) plan. Are there forms that need to be distributed to the participant? A resolution to terminate the plan? The original plan was effective July 2003 and the plan was restated in 2005 to incorporate regs Rev. Proc. 2004-56 amendments to the SBJPA and Automatic Rollover Amendment.

Should a benefit payment election form and notice of tax treatments be provided to the sole participant?

thanks

Do I have to have an HCE sign off an ADP refund? I know the refund is mandatory, but, for example, they could elect to waive out of the 10% withholding.

Or is the employer allowed to proceed without the elections? Is there any guidance on this?

We have an employee called to active duty effective May 4th. Under the terms of our plan, his coverage is continued through the end of May. The employee does not want to pay for coverage in May since he will be covered by TriCare. Is this a status change under the cafeteria plan rules? Unless TriCare is considered an "employee benefit plan of the employer of the employee" I don't think it is. Any thoughts?

We are working on a takeover 401(k) plan that includes a match allocation based on years of service. Eligibility requirements for the match are 2 years of service/age 21. The client wishes to use the following formula for the upcoming year:

0% match for participants with 0-3 years of service

25% match for participants with 4-10 years of service

50% match for participants with more than 10 years of service

Assume that coverage and nondiscrimination testing will pass (no HCE’s). With a participant receiving a 0% match until attaining more than 3 years of service, does this impose an impermissible service requirement for receiving the match contribution?