My wife and I were just married and both had Roth's set up before we were married.

Few Questions:

1. Can the accounts be combined in any way?
   
2. She is not currently, but when we start a family, she will be a SAHM (stay at home mom). Can we contribute to her acct even though she will NOT have taxable income? (i.e., with my salary)
   
3. what are the contribution limits for tax year 2008 for married filing jointly, and is it a COMBINED limit, or a limit for EACH account?
   

THanks very much

I was wondering whether ERISA requires proof of age, e.g. a birth certificate or any other document, prior to paying out benefits?

In regards to processing a discretionary amendment to a prototype plan, if the employer is a corporation, is a board of directors resolution required to process the amendment? Or would a trustee signed letter requesting the amendment be acceptable?

My client is selling a piece of land they have held in their 401k pooled account. Does excise tax on the sale apply?

It's not that I don't believe our HR Director/FSA Plan administrator but I am looking for a little more solid support for her assumption that we can return FSA experience gains to plan participants so long as the proceeds are distibuted evenly. I know IRC allows for "reasonable and uniform" allocation but is there any other source that explores this topic well? Preferably something in layman's terms.

I am struggling with the concept that a person who contributes $100 to the plan and uses all but $10 and the person who contributes $1000 and doesn't use any will receive the same amount back. The first participant makes money!

since my mind mentally can't handle how to calculate the following:

Plan year runs 7/1/07 - 6/30/08

but comp for allocation purposes is calendar year comp. thus the comp for the calendar year ending within the plan year is zero.

immediately eligibility. ee hired in 2008 and so enters in 2008. and is there on the last day of the plan year.

plan is top heavy.

so his top heavy minimum is zero?

and if plan was tested for nondiscrim he shows as zero?

and for coversge he got nothing though he is eligible?

In ind agg plans(we know we're somewhat past that now for 2008)we would give client nc as the cost per person;but often this was not great approx of what person is due.

We also at times found giving pvab differential from previous yr to current one not perfect solution either.

Any ideas?

ty

Participant and AP have agreed to QDRO terms, however AP wants Partic to report the distribution as his taxable income. She is returning to school and doesn't want the 1099 income to mess up the availability of financial aid. So it is more than just a question of who pays the taxes.

I have never seen a QDRO written in this manner. Does anyone think this would be permissible?

If you used ind aggregate funding method,would you give those NCs as per participant costs.

Or use the increase in the pvab each year?

Is it correct that you must use prior year's comp for boyr val and therefore if you have a p/s plan alongside the db plan;you must therefore use current yrs comp and cant use beg yr val?

ty

Can a 1 person DB plan purchase a home in Costa Rica purely as investment?

I have a hardship for a participant that is requesting under the safe harbor option of casuality damage to his principal residence. He has provided us with his 2007 Federal Income Tax form showing that he deducted the loss. I'm thinking that we should require some additional info before we make this distribution. My thought would be estimates for the repair or bills. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

A client is a 501©(3). They wholly own 5 other organizations. They sponsor a 401k plan for the 5 children + the parent

AND they sponsor a 403(b) plan for just the parent. All participants from the child companies are excluded from the 403(b) because they are eligible for the the K. When they do ADP testing on the K plan, all of the parent employees (many of whom are HCE) factor in a zeros. Clearly this greatly helps the K plan pass testing and the parent HCE's are not negatively affected since they can sock their 15,500 into the 403(b) plan. Can anyone see a problem with this arrangement? I haven't been able to uncover anything that suggests a violation but it almost seems too good to be true.

Help! I understand that health and disability plans may require arbitration (non-binding) as 1 of the 2 levels of appeals and may use mandatory arbitration (binding) on additional appeal on a voluntary basis. However, what about other plans (eg, pension, top hat)?

Do these same rules apply, that is non-binding arbitration is allowed as 1 of the 2 levels of appeals and mandatory, binding arbitration is allowed but only if the plan offers it as a voluntary appeal and the claimant agrees to it?

Company is selling a subsidiary. Actuary has suggested that the company establish a VEBA for retiree medical benefits now, and then amend the plan to provide that the VEBA is the sole source of benefit payments with all future funding by employee contributions. Then appoint an independent trustee and "spin off" the VEBA to the participants. The idea is that after the sale of the company, retiree medical benefits can be "locked in" for a period of time, say three years (i.e., buyer is not a party to this arrangement). Actuary has characterized this as a new practice that is gaining popularity.

Anybody seen this idea, and more importantly, see any issues with it?

PS Plan has allocation formula integrated at 80.1% of TWB. Plan has fiscal year of July 1 thru June 30. Do I use the TWB in effect at the beginning of the plan year, or what's in effect at the end?

Thanks

I have 2 401(k) plans (A & B). Each plan is a plan of a controlled group. The both A & B have companies that are minimally related but not enough common ownership to be a part of an overall controlled group.

One company within Plan A wants to separate from the group and start their own safe harbor 401(k) plan effective 1/1/2009. Any thoughts on this? Pitfalls? Potential problems?

I originally posted this question under the 403(b) heading, but then decided it should go here.

I've been studying sections 414(e) and 3121(w)(3) to determine if a seminary that sponsors a money purchase plan and a 403(b) plan is exempt from non-discrimination testing.

I've determined that the seminary's money purchase plan qualifies as a church plan and is exempt from nondiscrimination testing because 414(e) applies.

However, it seems that 403(b) plans use the section 3121(w)(3) definition so that plan would be subject to nondiscrimination testing.

First, I'm wondering if my thought process is on target; and

Second, I'm wondering if anyone else has experience with a plan or plans maintained by a seminary.

can you add an EACA to an existing CODA in the middle of the plan year?

I need assistance from all you CPAs out there!

A client has a large plan 5500 for 2007 where the auditors are requesting information from the client with regard to SAS 112. The Accountant has mentioned that this is a new standard for the current year audits.

I work with a number of Accountants and Accounting firms on the large plan audits for our clients. We have already completed many for 2007. This is the first request I have heard of referencing this standard.

The entity is in the health care field and not for profit. They also have a DB Plan.

Any assistance greatly appreciated!