Hi all - most of my posts have been on the QDRO side, but this is a more general question.

I'm an active employee of AT&T and Fidelity is the record keeper for my Pension fund and 401K. I need to have a valuation of MY Pension - as of a particular date. (I need two of these in fact.)

I requested:

A valuation of my pension - effective June 8, 2000 (date of marraige)

A valuation of my pension - effective Feb 19, 2004 (date of divorce)

After three weeks - Fidelity replied, "We cannot provide the value of this benefit without a court-ordered subpoena."

As additional context, Fidelity was not the record keeper until April 2005. Obtaining historical valuations may require research with the prior record keeper. My retirement funds have also been subject to fraudulent activity. My ex-wife submitted a fryaudulent DRO against my 401K. This has resulted in restraining orders against Fidelity, Vacating the Fraudulent QDRO, and Order and Judgement of Contempt, and an ERISA complaint. Lots of litigation - but all resolved now except the contempt order against my ex-wife. She's a fugitive with a warrant...

As such, I can't easily determine if Fidelity is requiring a subpeona becuase its HARD to calcualte the value of the pension - or if they simply want me to jump through hoops based on all of the other litigation.

Two questions:

1) do I have a legal right to historical valuations on my pension?

2) if not, can I proceed - pro se - and subpeona the records as part of one of the many actions that might be relevant. (the divorce seems most likely, but I also have an order and judgement of contempt related to the QDRO fraud which is more recent...)

What think ye?

Cheers,

Bjorn

A participant in our client's (we are a TPA) DC plan recently died and had a directed life insurance policy. It appears that in the past, the PS-58 costs have been reported sporadically at best by prior TPAs, and perhaps not reported at all by the participant.

Does this affect the taxability of the insurance proceeds to the surviving spouse? Should PS-58 costs be recovered, to any extent? I'm not sure how far our responsibility as the TPA extends in this matter - except of course we have to prepare the tax reporting forms.

Med

Where does the figure of 8.5 months after the end of the plan year for a taxpayer filing an 1120 to make a contribution come from? Does the 8.5 month figure apply to other taxpayers-for example, ones that file a 1065, a 990-T, or a 1040?

Trying to differentiate between catch-ups, elective deferrals, and voluntary employee contributions, some fellow travellers have informed me that voluntary employee contributions and elective deferrals represent quite different concepts.

Also, some fellow travellers have said that elective deferrals are only allowed for defined benefit plans.

They have also said that catch-up contributions are only allowed for 401(k) plans.

Did I receive accurate information?

Can one report a plan on an accrual basis while one reports the 1040 on a cash basis? If so, and the 1040 is on a cash basis, can one report contributions to the plan as a deduction on line 17 (as I recall, that represents the line for reporting contributions to a pension or retirement plan) even if they will be made after the tax return is filed, but before the extended due date of October 15?

I have been talking to an IRS agent reviewing a cash balance plan, and she said that IRS agents have now been specifically told to look for language in DB plans that comports with 411(a)(9); i.e., the normal retirement benefit must be at least equal to the early retirement benefit that would have been payable to the participant. She is insisting, however, that this should apply to a plan that has no early retirement provision, but that allows deferred vested participants to commence receiving distributions before normal retirement age.

1. I can't find anything on this in published IRS guidance. Can anyone provide a cite as to whether or not 411(a)(9) applies to deferred vested benefits?

2. If 411(a)(9) does apply, how would it work in practice? If a deferred vested person leaves at age 30 but only starts benefits at 65, does the plan have to look what the accrued benefit would have been at every age in between, using the interest rate in effect each year?

I am being told there is a way for a participant of a plan... less than 59-1/2... to take an in-service dist without being assessed the 10% early dist penalty. I dont know of any such rule.... am I missing something or is my source wrong.

The participants who want to take the dist are active employees... active participants of the plan. They simply want to withdraw some of their plan balance to invest outside of the plan... roll the $ into IRAs and invest in real estate. The dist would be from a qualified plan and into an IRA. Not taken as cash. No Hardship... No disability... No RMD... simply want to take some $ out and invest outside the plan to keep the real estate investment outside the plan for admin reasons.

Thanks

Has anyone thought about how the information sharing agreement requirements would apply for a church plan that is exempt from the plan document requirement under final 403(b) regulations? More specifically, if there is no plan document and the employer does not limit vendor options, how is the requirement that the vendors among whom a participant can exchage be set forth in the plan?

My husband was married and worked for the State of NY, where he was a participant in their DB plan. He and wife #1 divorced, and she "gets" 1/2 of the value of his plan for the time they were married, 15 years. My husband (I'm wife #2) says that he and his ex-wife will each get checks starting when he turns 62 (or whatever the age is). Well that's 20 years from now!

I am a DC administrator, so I am putting this out there to DB experts: Can my husband and his ex-wife not "cash out" (??), or get distributed from, that plan now? What if she dies, or worse, if he dies between now and then?

He would like to be totally separate from her now, and not get statements knowing that 1/2 will go to her in 20 years. I know that DB plans are totally different animals than what I administer, so I am asking with very VERY little knowledge of your world...

Thanks!!

Recently, it was discussed here that there was not a standard notice, at least one that anyone had seen.

Is that still the case? Has anyone seen anything used that they are able to share?

Does anyone know where I can access the tables that list the factors used to calculate "EBAR Values"? I would like to be able to check values that the "program spits", using a table of factors. Thank you in advance.

Facts:

(1) Calendar Year Plan; aggregate funding actuarial cost method in 2007; no credit balance; 8% interest

(2) 2007 minimum contribution determined 1/1/2007=100,000; adjusted to 12/31/2007=108,000

(3) 2008 minimum contribution determined as of 1/1/2008 under PPA:

(a) 92,000

(b) 140,000

Is first quarterly installment under 3(a) 25% of the lesser of 108,000 or 90% of 92,000 = 20,700?

Is first quarterly installment under 3(b) 25% of the lesser of 108,000 or 90% of 140,000 = 27,000?

Should we be using 108,000 or 100,000?

Should 20,700 and 27,000 be adjusted upward for interest at the "effective" rate or are all of the interest adjustments included in a phantom 5th installment?

Is this a separation of service/termination for purposes of getting a distribution from the plan?

Can a Schedule C tax filer, deposit into both a SEP IRA and Traditional IRA for 2007? Is there anything that states the rules on this?

Thanks

Hello everyone,

I have a quick question for all of you 'knowledgeable' benefit professionals:

I elected to have 6 % withheld for my 401 k at work so that the company will match up to 50%.

I also have some money put aside for both Flex plans, like to pay for my son after school arrangement as well as for health expenses for the year. What I have noticed on my latest paycheck is that the 401 withdrawal gets applied to the gross amount of my paycheck only after the other monies I am putting aside have been deducted, so as a result I am not putting away 6% of my gross but a smaller amount.

Are my company people doing this right or should they start from my gross, put aside the 6% there and move on with the other deductions ?

Do I have a case to bring up with my company or is it just procedural? It seems to me that the company is able to cut some of my money away by not giving me their part on the real full 6% I have subscibed to have withdrawn.

Please let me know.

Thanks.

G.

Employer maintains a Paid Time Off Bank. Employees are credited with X PTO days annually to be used for vacation, illness, etc. Any days credited but not used during the year are carried forward to future year(s) and may be used at the choosing of the employee. When an employee terminates employement, the accumulated PTO value is paid (I'm not sure if it's paid at 50% or 100%, but a significant percentage of accumualted PTO will be paid and not forfeited). I realize that there are 409A exceptions for bona fide illness pay and vacation pay arrangements, but the cash out at termination of employment does not appear to fit into those categories. To me, it appears to be a nonqualified deferred compensation arrangement. Do you agree? If it is nonqualified deferred compensation, does receiving the income as vacation or sick pay (if taken as such) while employed result in impermissible acceleration? Thank you for your comments.

I reviewed 3401(a) and it seems to include sales commissions. Is there any grounds to exclude them?

http://www.ftwilliam.com/PDF/Sample5500.pdf

One page 2 of this file, section 8, the part appears called Pension Benefits. What would happen if you filled that out improperly? What avenues of recourse or retraction would remain possibilities?

http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/pub/irs-access/..._accessible.pdf

http://books.google.com/books?id=Nj3avDAvS...hl=en#PPT178,M1

These are the codes that I refer to. Plan Characteristics Codes

http://books.google.com/books?id=Nj3avDAvS...hl=en#PPT178,M1

http://www.freeerisa.com/instruction/2005/2005-5500inst.pdf

So, what happens if you put in the wrong Plan Characteristics Codes?

For those interested, the new Form 5307 and instructions are now on the IRS website:

200803 Form 5307

200803 Form 5307 Instructions

Mostly just format changes.

The previous Form 5307 may be used until September.

I am 99% sure that I know the answer to this question, but thought it was interesting enough to put out for comment. 100% Owner decides that he want to retire. He sells the business to his two children and takes a full distribution from the plan. 2 years later, he decides that he want to come back to work as an employee and now wants to roll his balance back into the plan. (We have already tried to stop him from doing so, but he still want to do it.) The question: Is he a key employee? My thought process is that he is because he was a key when he sold the shares and remained a key because his children own the company. When he comes back, he would again be a key because his children still own the company. (The joy of stock attribution!!)

Additionally, because he was and is a key, he was never a former key. Therfore, his rollover balance would count in the top heavy test in both the numerator and the denominator.

Agree or disagree? If disagree, why?