To qualify for the employer match in our 403(b) plan, a participant must work 1000 hours. Compensation is defined, for purposes of the match, as W-2 earnings. We have an employee that is terminating soon and has 1000 hours. He will be paid severance after his termination. My question is this: since his severance payments will be part of his W-2 earnings, is there any way that those payments should not be taken into account when calculating his match? There is no "last day of employment" requirement.

Thanks.

Does anyone have any experience with the above firm. Specifically, do they offer no-load mutual funds from fund families like Vanguard, Fidelity and T Rowe Price.

As a result of the new 403(b) legislation my spouse's school district is going to hire them as a third party administrator. I went to their web site and I only saw mutual fund families that normally charge loads and charge above average expense ratios, here is their web-site:

https://www.cpiqpc.com/Data/ouralliances.aspx

I am confused. Under the tab "fund families" there is a tab for redemption fees. When you click on this they show mutual funds from Fidelity, T Rowe Price and a few Vanguard funds. Does this mean that they offer these funds? Or does this mean something completely different?

My spouse cuurently has her 403b with Vanguard and they have said that they will NOT sign an INFORMATION SHARING AGREEMENT provided by a TPA and they require a TPA to sign their I.S.A.

I am hoping that the funds listed under the above mentioned tabs represent mutual funds available from CPI Qualified Plan Consultants. Does anyone currently use CPI Qualified Plan Consultants as a Third Party Administrator and if so do they offer No-Load mutual funds.

Thanks

Under what circumstances is this allowed? Obviously, people prefer to avoid excess contribution penalties or at least limit them (prevent them from pyramiding), but of course, people prefer most the "no harm, no foul" approach, and it would seem that a reversion or refund of an excess contribution serves as that sort of approach.

Hypothetical situation; looking over those 4972 issues, those taxes on nondeductible contributions to qualified employer plans, I was wondering if accrued salaries can allow one to avoid paying a 4972 charge?

The situation is this; the compensation listed on the 941 quarterly return records for the 415 limitation year only amount to a figure that cannot accomodate the contribution made (i.e. the compensation is not four fold or more of the contribution). Does accrued salary help, even if it was not actually paid?

Hypothetical situation: Is is still a brother-sister controlled group if the same people own both companies, with substantially similar ownership shares in both cases, but there are no common employees in the two companies?

We have a missing participant and an invalid social security number. The participant was apparently in the country illegally. Although "illegal", he was entitled to participate and accrue a benefit. I don't see any alternative other than to treat the participant as a missing participant. That doesn't do much good when you don't have a valid SSN. So do we just maintain the account indefinitely? How would we ever be able to make a distribution without a SSN? I believe all of the distribution options available to a DC plan on termination would require a SSN (e.g., rollover IRA, state unclaimed property etc...).

What do we do?

We paid a lump sum from our DB plan to a new 2007 retiree via a direct rollover to the participant's IRA. Do we still have to send the participant a 1099-R?

We have a 1-man plan (owner is the only employee). Are we required to provide the PPA quarterly benefit statement / notice to him, or is there an exception since it is a one-participant plan?

Thanks for any input!

I have a potential prospect (yes, potential prospect, not potential client) that I've just been made aware of through a referral source. The potential prospect is referring to a good portion of his staff as temporary leased employees.

Anybody have a good place to look at that clearly helps them understand the difference between the two?

I guess a question I could ask is -- "Do new employees go to the Agency first or to them first and then sent to the Agency?"

Thanks. I know I should know the answer.

Christopher

A company sposors a Plan and two other related companies have adopted the Plan for the benefit of their eligible employees.

If none of the companies are considered a "Control Group", can I ADP / ACP test each company seperately?

If two of the companies are considered a "Control Group", do I need to ADP / ACP test these companies together?

Thank you!

I've seen discussions about the changes to Schedule C for more detailed reporting of all fees (income) by providers but am unclear if these changes will be incorporated into the 5500 for plan years starting in 2008 or 2009. Does anyone have that answer for sure? Thanks

We are following the correction method allowed in EPCRS for the exclusion of an eligible employee. What is not addressed in EPCRS is whether you include the excluded employee in the ADP test. My basic question is –

1. Do you take the eligible employee out of the test completely?

2. Put the participant in the test with no contributions (before you calulate the NHCE ADP).?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. My guess is that the answer is in a previous post but I was unable to locate one.

We are correcting some missed minimum distributions for a DB plan and sending in the VCP. The instructions indicate to make missed payments with an additional payment for "loss of use" of the money. Has anyone seen guidance for DB plans on what rate to use in this situation? Is it the plan stated actuarial equivalence, the trust asset rate, or maybe some other "reasonable" fixed income index? Is anyone familiar with an internal IRS document that may shed some light?

Thank you for any input!

If I have a failed ADP Test and I rechacterize an excess contribution as a catch-up deferral do I forfeit the related Match?

Sal Tripodi's ERISA outline seems to indicate that forfeiture is not "required." Who makes that call? I am using a Corbel Volume Submitter and the definition of Excess Contributions does not mention this. The document does state that Matching contrbution that relate to excess contributions shall be forfeited.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

When small DB plans (1 person plans, or a person and spouse) are preparing to go through the termination process, is it necessary to file all of the standard termination forms (5310, 6088, etc.), or is it acceptable just to file the 5500 and mark that it is the final filing for the plan?

Way back in the day, we had the worksheets from Mercer-Meidinger to guide us in the preparation of the FAS 87/88 calculations. Anyone know of any updated worksheets reflecting the FAS 158 changes?

I am so confused: Partnership maintains a 401(k) plan. The partners make 401(k) contributions, receive a matching contribution, and a profit-sharing contribution. There are also non-partner employees in the plan. The non-partners make 401(k) deferrals, receive a matching contribution, and receive a profit sharing plan. It came to light that non-partners may be funding their own profit sharing contribution. In other words, nonpartner was told that he would make $50,000 a year in compensation. But that $2,500 would come out immediately and placed in his profit sharing contribution account. His compensation will then be $50,000-$2,500. And, from that he can elect to make 401(k) deferrals if he wished.

This has to be wrong, right?

Also, can this scenario work for partners: partner is told that he will make $100,000 per year, but that $X will come out and he will only see $100,000 - $X in his paychecks. ??

I am confused so any help would be greatly appreciated.

thank you!!

1. I have a client who had a divorce decree in 2004 and was awarded $301 in his retirement pay (no specific order to the U.S. govt was made)

2. Dude hasn't paid since then. So she wants to garnish his military pay (he retired from the Navy and had 4 TODs in Vietnam)

3. There is no QDRO needed, just the order with some requisite facts that the military pension division (DFAS) requires.

Q. Can this be done ex parte?

Q. Defendant's former counsel is no longer in the private sector - serve it just on defendant?

As far as the survivor annuity, I presume that the wife doesn't have a right to it any more, as likely the service member has named another survivor beneficiary.

Anyone with some knowledge of military pensions -- if you could provide some input, that would be really appreciated. Thank you.

We just discovered that several participant loans were processed from our 401(k) plan using prime rate. The Plan says prime plus 1%. Is this an operational error that could be filed with the IRS under the VCP? How do we fix past loans vs. currently outstanding loans?

We have a retirement plan that allows participants to take a maximum of two hardship withdrawals. With news of the ecnonomy getting worse, there is some pressure to amend the plan and allow for three hardship withdrawals. I haven't seen anything which says there is a limit to number of hardship withdrawals. Anyone care to weigh in?