I have a defined benefit plan that has been frozen for more than a decade. It experienced a mass withdrawal and termination a decade ago as well. The plan is insolvent and is administered by the PBGC. Is a NIP required?

If I take the 2 year option (conversion split between tax years 2011 and 2012) does that mean I can’t make additional conversions applicable to tax year 2010? Also, does that mean that I can’t make any additional conversions for tax years 2011 and 2012 beyond the conversions made in 2010? If not, I am compressing three years potential conversions into two.

Thanks for any help.

A husband owns company X and his wife owns company Y. They are a contolled group, as Y manages X. Although it was explained to them that they would only need one plan to cover all employees in both companies, they insist on having a plan for each company and not covering the other company's employees, preferring a new comparability 401k/PS plan with every provision identical. X has many NHCEs while Y only has the owner and will never have NHCEs.

I'm thinking that the maximum PS contribution (and perhaps the deferrals and match) to plan Y would be determined by including all participants from both plans in one general test with the wife being considered an HCE. Is there a way for each plan to be tested separately so that larger contributions can be made to plan Y?

X and Y are leaning towards having both plans use a matching contribution safe-harbor design, which I understand will have to be tested for meeting the top heavy requirements if a PS contribution is made (presumably with both plans once again tested together). For good measure, X and Y have different FYEs, but I assume having different PYEs won't make things worse if the plans are tested in a consistenct manner every year. Are there any other complications that may arise out of this type of arrangement? Thanks in advance.

employee left employment on 4/27/2004 - was 80% vested and left the money in the plan

employee was rehired on 10/03/2009

he worked 501+ hrs in 2004

Is employee starting all over with a 1 year wait enter on the quarter?

If a participant is taking a distribution of non-Roth money from a qualfied plan and directly rolling that distribution into a Roth IRA, can the participant elect withholding on that distribution?

a non-profit employer has over 200 employees and has about 80 individuals participating. It is a non-ERISA plan with only employee money in the plan. Do they have to file a 5500 since they have over 200 eligible employees?

Thanks

A client has a SIMPLE plan in 2009.

The owner of my firm wants to implement a cross tested plan for client.

My understanding is that the SIMPLE plan can only be terminated at the end of 2009 and then in 2010 a cross tested plan can be implemented.

That is, a qualified plan cannot be implemented in 2009 where the SIMPLE contributions are applied to a cross tested plan for 2009.

Are we in agreement with my interpretation? Are there any other interpretations?

Thanks.

The ESOP loan and amortization schedule calls for payments to be made on March 1 and Sept 1 each year, but the company doesn't make a contribution (therefor the ESOP doesn't make a loan payment) until say April 1 and October 1. Its always the same payment but since its late more of the payment is going towards interest than principal. In the end that causes the ESOP to pay more in interest than originally determined under the original amortization schedule. I know in the normal business world you have interest accruing until a payment on a loan is made, but I thought ESOPs you couldn't make it pay more in interest than what was scheduled? I don't have anything to back that up so please enlighten me...

Is a 5330 required to report a prohibited transaction (late contribution deposits) when the amount of the excise tax is zero? If not, is there a problem with reporting this transaction on the form 5500?

Can contributions be made on account of scabs during a strike?

PPA gave the DOL one year after the enactment of PPA ( by August 18, 2007) to develop one of more model pension benefit statements.

I've seen Field Assistance Bulletins 2006-03, and 2007-03 that basically talk about timing of statements and good faith compliance on a number of topics. But were the model statements ever released?

Question:

An Employee works for Company A and contributes $10,500. He leaves that company and goes to work for an unrelated employer (Co. B) and contributes another $10,000. Would the entrie $10,000 contributed at Co. B be considered regular deferrals or would $5000 be considered regular deferrals and $5000 be considered catch up.

Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

"Your Rollover Options" in Notice 2009-68 does not included the notice of the 30-day period that is required by the following 1.402(f)-1 A-2(a) to allow waiver of the 30-day period.

Following is the notice of the 30-day period in the Special Tax Notice in Notice 2002-3:

"Your Right to Waive the 30–Day Notice Period. Generally, neither a direct rollover nor a payment can be made from the plan until at least 30 days after your receipt of this notice. Thus, after receiving this notice, you have at least 30 days to consider whether or not to have your withdrawal directly rolled over. If you do not wish to wait until this 30-day notice period ends before your election is processed, you may waive the notice period by making an affirmative election indicating whether or not you wish to make a direct rollover. Your withdrawal will then be processed in accordance with your election as soon as practical after it is received by the Plan Administrator."

1.402(f)-1 A-2(a):

"(a) This paragraph (a) is satisfied if the plan administrator provides a distributee with the section 402(f) notice no less than 30 days and no more than 90 days before the date of a distribution. However, if the distributee, after having received the section 402(f) notice, affirmatively elects a distribution, a plan will not fail to satisfy section 402(f) merely because the distribution is made less than 30 days after the section 402(f) notice was provided to the distributee, provided the plan administrator clearly indicates to the distributee that the distributee has a right to consider the decision of whether or not to elect a direct rollover for at least 30 days after the notice is provided. The plan administrator may use any method to inform the distributee of the relevant time period, provided that the method is reasonably designed to attract the attention of the distributee. For example, this information could be either provided in the section 402(f) notice or stated in a separate document (e.g., attached to the election form) that is provided at the same time as the notice. For purposes of satisfying the requirement in the first sentence of paragraph (a) of this Q&A-2, the plan administrator may substitute the annuity starting date, within the meaning of section 1.401(a)-20, Q&A-10, for the date of the distribution."

I am trying to figure out what effect a spin-off of some subsidiaries has on the annual ESOP allocations. As it stands, there was a parent with 5 subs. 4 of the subs were sold off and employees left with them. The subs appear to still be part of the plan because the participation agreements have not been terminated.

The issue involves the paying off of the remaining liability on the exempt loan owed to the parent corp which will be paid at the end of the plan year (12-31). Allocations to accounts are made at the end of the year for the contributions made throughout the year. When the exempt loan is paid off, all of the shares in the suspense account will be allocated. My question is to whom does it go-- does any of it go to the formerly affiliated employees? Previously, allocations were made to all affiliated employers (so if parents made contribution, it was deemed made on behalf of parent and all affiliated subs). Any clarification on these rules would be greatly appreciated.

Is there any negative effect from making a Top paid group election. If we were considering making a top paid group election to help pass testing, is there any potential negative consequences for doing so. It appears to me that the election may be made and changed pretty freely. I realize it's a very general questions, but I was wondering if anyone has any general thoughts or comments.

Nevermind-- miscatagorized post!

Thanks Janet.

Can an employer avoid having a complete withdrawal where all union employees quit by hiring replacement workers and entering into a CBA that requires contributions at the same level?

Companies A, B and C share common ownership and the same health plan. Company A is being sold in a stock sale. Company B is being sold in an asset sale. Company C will continue to exist and remain as the sole sponsor and its employees the sole participant in the health plan as 1/1/10. Which Company's employees need COBRA notices?

I was advised that an married employee has enrolled in our Dependent Care FSA effective for January 2010 as he is expecting his first baby in May. At this time, he does not have a qualified dependent so I have said that he is not eligible to participate in the plan (and have deductions withheld from his paycheck) until the birth of the baby. Am I incorrect?

I have a client with a Cash Balance plan that is only one year old. He's been given a range of contributions for 2009 and I've told him that anything over the minimum contribution would basically go toward investment gains in future years, thereby possibly decreasing the contribution range in the future as well.

If he consistently funds the plan over the minimum amount and an excess of dollars accumulates in the plan and he decides to retire and terminate the plan, what is the excise tax for the excess funding?

Thanks