Everything I read says the deadline for a calendar year DC plan to adopt 401(a)(9) was December 31, 2003. But -- I have an old DC amendment checklist that indicates January 31, 2004 was the deadline. It was sooooo long ago and I cannot recall why I have that alternative date. I cannot find it on CCH or in the ERISA Outline Book. Perhaps my younger pension self was led astray by some side comment. Does anyone remember this alternative deadline?

I was thinking of amending a client's plan to a cross-tested allocation for the plan year ending 12/31/08. To make this work, I would need to also amend the NRA from 55 to 65. Since the plan has last day accrual, I don't see an issue with changing the allocation method. Does anyone believe there would be an issue to change the NRA during before the end of the plan year? Thanks.

I have 3 individuals with an excess match for 2007- we match each weekly payroll and the payroll in which they got their bonus last Dec which brough tthem to their deferral max of 15500, gave them the match on whole pay for that week

1 person has 12 cents, another $8 and a third $1,000

All 3 are HCE

Can I just distribute the $1,000 nad treat the other 2 as < $50 deminimus rule under the ECPRC procedure

I esp do not want to forfeit 12 cents from our CFO's account<gr>

thanks

As of 1/1/08 we can bypass the traditional IRA when rolling over regular 401(k) money, and go straight to the Roth IRA. I can find nothing that designates how we report this on the 1099R when coming out of the 401(k). Can anyone confirm that it is simply reported as a code G rollover or tell me otherwise? Does the receiving custodian then have to report on Form 5498 the taxability of the incoming rollover?

I have a new participant -

I want to allow him to contribute 13,800 this year so he can take full advantage of the ER match. (He's over 70 so isn't really interested in making contributions for any other reason.)

He may have contributed under another plan earlier this year (I'm not sure) but I AM sure that he has received a full distribution of his account balance under the prior ER's 401(k) plan (which will be shown as income for tax purposes I assume).

What's the worst that could happen if I let him contribute the full 13,800 and he overcontributes for 2008?

I'm wondering if the under age 70 1/2 IRA rules apply to a person wanting to set up a SIMPLE IRA.

Can anyone shed any light on what Section 8.02 of Rev. Proc. 2007-71 means? I would like it to mean that a vendor does not need to make a good faith effort to bring a contract into the plan if the contract does not receive contributions after 1/1/09 and the participant severed from service before 1/1/09. The language is not all that clear, though, and this interpretation seems incongruous with the general intent of the regulations. Any thoughts would be much appreciated, as would insight as to what approach vendors are taking with regard to participants who sever before 1/1/09 and are part of a non-contributory contract.

Facts:

A partnership maintains a 401(k) plan in which the partners have previously never contributed.

The partners now want to contribute deferrals periodically from their draws.

The plan provides for a per pay match with no true-up.

The plan accordingly defines compensation for matching contributions based upon pay periods.

The partners want to avoid implementing a true-up if possible.

Question:

How do I determine the match for the partners (what compensation is used)?

Is it just based off the draw? Technically, the partners could have earned income that is lower than the draw. Does that matter?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Health plan covers employee, employee's spouse, employee's children under 18, and employee's children 18-25 that "depend on you for more than 1/2 support." I have a situation in which the employee is divorced with a 20-year-old child in college, with "joint custody" of the child with her ex-spouse, but ex-spouse pays most of child's expenses. Under the divorce decree the employee is obligated to provide the child's health insurance.

Generally, how do health plans determine whether the support test is met in this type of situation. It would appear that the child may not be eligible because the ex-spouse, rather than the employee, provides more than 1/2 support. On the other hand, by the reasoning the child would not be eligible if the parents are still married, but the employee makes less than her spouse.

Any guidance or insight into this type of situation would be greatly appreciated.

I've been asked to review/comment on a multi-year proposal DB/PS/K and want to make sure rust hasn't totally corroded the brain.

DB&PS are permissively aggregated for testing, and a 2 YOS wait is used for both. Plans are top heavy.

Since K plan cannot have a wait more than 1 year, an NHCE is included in the illustration with a deferral only. He is indicated as excluded from the PS and DB and at such point would have 2 Years of Service.

So, I think a top heavy minimum is being overlooked due to the deferral. Agreed?

Second, I have it ingrained in my head that "an employee" must receive a gateway allocation if he/she benefits under the plan, unless he/she is separately tested as an otherwise excludable employee.

In this case the employee benefits because he gets a top heavy contribution. He cannot be excluded as an "otherwise excludable" under 1.410(b)-6(b)(3) because that rule is "(applied without regard to section 410(a)(1)(B)" which is the 2 YOS or age 26 stuff.

So, does in this fact pattern the receipt of a top heavy contribution generate a gateway requirement? Does that cause a need for inclusion in the a(4) test?

Thanks.

Employer gave out the 2009 Safe Harbor Notice (3% non-elective) in November 2008, however since then the financial situation of the company has changed and they want to change their mind and NOT go with the Safe Harbor in 2009. Can they issue a notice rescinding previous SH Notice, or issue a new "Maybe" notice in its place?? I do not find anything on this out there, but would think many of us have clients asking this question due to the economy.

What obligation does a plan have to restrict payment of benefits to a participant when the plan has been put on notice that a QDRO is forthcoming? One of our clients has a plan with a participant who is about to come into pay status, but the attorney for her ex called us and told us that he will be submitting a QDRO. Does the plan have any obligation to put a hold on her benefit until the QDRO is received? Could the plan face any liability for doing so?

The IRS has kind of described the calculations necessary for valuing death benefits - permitting the recognition at the BOY for funding target purposes of the death benefit.

Termination benefits would take the benefit payable at termination and determine a present value and multiply by the probability of withdrawal from the plan. The law refers to valuing benefits accrued or earned during the year. There is no reference to vesting. Should vesting be applied during the the valuation?

When a plan is in critical status, and the "normal" funding standards do not apply, what happens to the Funding Standard Account? If the plan is critical due to a projected funding deficiency, is the FSA maintained with the deficiency so that it has to work its way back to zero, and then build a credit balance? Or can the FSA re-start from zero when it reaches a year where contributions are sufficient to meet annual minimum funding requirements?

I'm interested in finding out more about Real Estate Roth IRAs. All the information I've been able to find so far has been on websites of companies that want to sell me something, so I'm a little leery of it.

The first question I have is, can you do a Roth Real Estate LLC IRA, or are they only traditional IRAs? If so, I have a Roth IRA that I'd be interested in converting to a Real Estate LLC IRA.

Can anyone direct me to informational resources on this?

Thanks

I just inherited a small plan, non-for profit Co, with EE only contribution. The plan was established 5 years ago and currently has 50 actively participants (out of 90 Employees) and roughly $200k of plan assets (again, all EE contributions). It is my understanding that it was never required for a small, non-erisa plans to file a 5500 (nothing was filed in the past), but with the new laws, will they have to complete the 5500 going forward? As far as I know, they dont have to, but the more I read about the new changes, the more confused I get.

For those of you who work in this area. Do you have a consultant you can refer me to who has experience in designing and funding 457(f) or alternative plans for non-profits?

Company pays executive different lump sum amounts for separation of service: (1) 2x salary upon separation, or (2) 2x salary plus pro rated bonus upon separation within 18 months of a CIC. The alternative time for payment upon separation of service appears to work because it's within two years of a CIC, and the form of payment is the same for both (lump sum). Does having a different amount violate 409A? Thanks in advance.

I dont believe we have done any plan terminations for PBGC covered plans yet. We are familiar with the process (notices, timing etc), but don't completely understand ERISA 4044.

ERISA 4044 deals with the allocation of assets upon plan termination. "Allocation priorities" seems to mean you do not have sufficient assets to pay all liabilities and therefore you allocate scarce assets based on certain priorities. We understand this for a non-covered plan, but a covered plan only has two options:

1 Standard termination - in this case assets must be sufficient to pay benefits and then why would you need allocation priorities?

2 Distress termination - in this case the PBGC takes over the plan and pays benefits up to the guaranteed level.

Any enlightenment would be greatly appreciated.

If I understand correctly, a self employed person can have an HSA, but can not deduct the contributions from taxes. Is that correct?

I am technically self employed even though I work for one client. I am a contractor and get a 1099, not a W-2. Is an HSA a good idea for me?