I've got a number of plans that terminated and paid out in 2006. Do they still need to sign a final 401(k) amendment?

I was under the impression that any plan that still had assets in 2006 had to do it, regardless of when the plan actually signed a termination resolution, but I've been hearing some say that's not the case...

Thanks!

Must members (participants) the hold HSA investment account receive a 30 day blackout notice is the investment provider is changed? I'm thinking along the same lines as the blackout notice with a conversion of a 401(k) Plan.

Can anyone direct me to a resource for a sample RFP for a 401(k) Plan? Really don't have the time or inclination to "reinvent the wheel" when I'm sure somebody's already got a good one.

Thanks!

Post-Enron there has been a tremendous amount of press regarding investments in employer stock through tax-qualified plans. As a result, many nervous 401(k) Plan committees are either terminating the investment option or limiting the option in fear of a decrease in the stock price - followed by litigation for breach of fiduciary duty. With that being said - what if a company has maintained an employer stock fund in its 401(k) Plan for several years and as a result of media pressure (not the returns on the fund) decides to limit participant investment in the fund to 25% of their deferrals (the limitation would be on a prospective basis). A year later the company is sold for 2X book value. Can the participant's sue the fiduciaries for breach here? If the only reason for limiting the investment was paternal (i.e. we can't trust you to diversify so we will force you to diversify by limiting your investment in the company stock) or because the company was afraid of a lawsuit. Is there a breach of fiduciary duty for "missed opportunity" on the part of the participants to share in the windfall? Any thoughts???

Does anyone know if a prohibited transaction exemption exists for a company director who would like to provide investment advice for the company's pension plan trust? The director is not a member of the plan committee and is not an employee of the company.

The IRS has blessed the mortality tables contained in IRC 404 regulations under Standard mortality tables. I seem to remember seeing something that also permitted the use of GATT and GAR. Am I mistaken and if not would someone please provide a cite.

Thanks in advance.

The HIPAA regs talk about special enrollment rights for dependents of "current employees." Do we have to give spec. enrollment rights to dependents of retirees?

Are there standards or guidelines anywhere that determine the minimum adjustment to face amounts or the maximum "administrative delay" period before a new policy is issued for a new participant?

Example: Plan provides that life insurance is purchased equal to 100 X the anticipated death benefit. In year 2 the formula would call for a $10,000 increase in the death benefit. The agent says the minimum increase is $25,000. My impression was that an adjustment standard above $5,000 or so was not allowed, but I have yet to find this in print.

In year 2 a new participant enters 1/1 and insurance must be purchased. By when?

The plan document is silent on these matters other than that the insurance face amount must be 100 X.

Is there anything in print that addresses these issues?

Ok do the new vesting changes HAVE to be 6 year graded or a 3 year cliff OR can they be just as generous?

The answer is: J.D. 'Nancy" Drew and Julio Lugo

Sample question:

1. What player signings by other teams might please Yankee fans?

Has anyone ever terminated a plan and not immediately distributed all of the plan's assets?

It has always been my understanding that a plan must complete distributions within an administratively feasible period of time following its termination or else it was considered to be an ongoing plan subject to qualification, funding and reporting requirements. Generally this means the plan must complete distributions within a year of its termination, but the plan may wait until it receives a favorable determination letter until making final distributions

However, the instructions to Form 5500 seem to contemplate a situation in which a plan terminates but does not distribute all its assets within a year.

Specifically, page 7 states:

"If the plan was terminated but all plan assets were not distributed, a return/report must be filed for each year the plan has assets. The return/report must be filed by the plan administrator, if designated, or by the person or persons who actually control the plan's assets/property."

Has anyone ever terminated a plan, but not distributed all of the assets? If so, how long have you kept assets in a plan after "terminating" the plan? Why did you keep some asset in the plan (were some assets illiquid)? Did the plan sponsor continue to keep the document up to date and file 5500s?

We are heading towards paperless and are starting to use a software called file cabinet. (FWIW, there are some really neat features in "file cabinet")

My situation: When I am in excel or relius administration reports, the best way I know to save to "file cabinet" is:

File

Print

choose a printer called file cabinet CS

This works to save to file cabinet in the right drawer and right folder. But it also prints a paper copy on my HP Printer.

My question: Does anyone know how to stop a paper copy from printing?

Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

(This was sent to me in an email; I'm not sure if the 55% figure is accurate. I can read the darned thing almost as fast as usual! Wierd. -- Dave Baker)

More than 6 mths ago the participant paid medical expenses with his credit card. Today he says he can't pay the CC and wants a hardship for these expenses. My gut is telling me that this won't fly as a hardship distribution. Plan document uses safe harbor hardship requirements. Thoughts?

I am working with a company to increase participation in HSAs. Currently, employees contribute to their HSAs on an after tax basis and the Company also makes a contribution to the HSA. The Company has a cafeteria plan and wants to determine whether is makes sense to amend the cafeteria plan to provide for pre-tax contributions, rather than continuing the post-tax procedures -- thoughts???

I have a client that has 5 companies all are Sub Chapter S corps. with 2-3 people owning shares of that company. The question came up as to whether or not they could set up and administer 1 plan that covers all companies with 1 common person with shares in every company or if they should split up into 5 separate plans.

The want to set it up to allow as many of the owners to participate in the plan. If they set it up separatly, the shareholders cannot participate. But, if they were to set up 1 plan, would any of the other shareholders be eligible to participate ? Would they be considered a shareholder or would only the 1 person with common ownership be considered the sole shareholder ?

I hate tricky questions !

I have a client that is hovering right around the 100 employee mark. Sometimes the size of the group dips below 100 employees, and sometimes they are above 100 employees.

As you may know, the 100 employee mark is crucial to determining if medicare is primary for disabled individuals on a group health plan. Over 100, employer plan primary, under 100 medicare primary.

Does anyone know how to determine the size of the group so we can decide if the group plan should be paying or medicare should be paying? Is it month to month? Year to year average? Other?

Thanks.

Form 5305-SEP says you can't use it if the employer is part of a controlled group. Not that you can't have a SEP, just that you can't use the IRS form.

An investment company's adoption agreement has the definition of employer pasted below. Based on that language, it appears that if companies A and B are part of a controlled group, then either A or B could adopt the SEP and both can (must) participate in it. i.e if A adopts it, B doesn't have to do anything else to adopt the SEP other than make the contribution. All service with either company will count.

So...if the owner started company A in 2002 (with no other employess), and then started company B in 2004 (with employees) he can adopt a SEP for company A with 3 year eligibility this year, and contribute from A and B for himself only, of course at the same percentage and subject to 415 limits.

Any arguments against?

Employer. Any corporation, partnership or proprietorship that

adopts this SEP Plan, including any entity that succeeds the Employer

and adopts this SEP Plan. For purposes of this SEP Plan, Employer shall

also mean the Employer that adopts this SEP Plan and all members of a

controlled group of corporations (as defined in Code §414(b)), all commonly

controlled trades or businesses (as defined in Code §414©) and

all affiliated service groups (as defined in Code §414(m)) of which the

adopting Employer is a part. Employer shall also include any other entity

required to be aggregated with the Employer pursuant to Code §414(o).

We have just recently began offering HDHP's w/HSA's. I am trying to fully understand what can be reimbursed through a "limited purpose" and a post-deductible FSA.

I think I understand that the post-deductible FSA can only reimburse eligible medical expenses after the deductible of the HDHP has been satisfied. Don't see any real issue here.

My questions surround how the limited-purpose FSA works. The IRS Notice says that it can pay or reimburse expenses only for preventive care and permitted coverage (eg dental and vision care). Since this limited purpose FSA is able to reimbuse for preventive care expenses, can the FSA reimburse expenses for preventive care, such as well-child doctor visits and immunizations, that would be applied against the deductible of the HDHP?

Also - should the FSA TPA offer a separate plan document or plan amendment for the post-deductible and limited purpose FSA's as opposed to offering only one FSA and with the understanding that those HDHP/HSA participants only submit reimbursement for qualifying expenses?

Did you get this E-Mail. This would be a good designation

Reminder - ERPA Credentialing Survey Due Date: December 14th

The IRS is considering a new Enrolled Retirement Plan Agent (ERPA) designation to permit retirement plan professionals, who are not otherwise approved to represent employers before the IRS, to communicate with the Service regarding retirement plan matters. Announcement of the ERPA designation may effect changes in the professional credentialing and management decisions of individuals and firms within the industry. New challenges and opportunities may also arise for organizations to customize their credential and education programs in response to the changing environment.

ASPPA and NIPA, two noteworthy retirement professional organizations, have partnered in a survey to collect information regarding the ways in which ERPA might affect you and your firm. The link below will take you to additional background information about ERPA and several survey questions that we ask you to answer. Your input will provide a window on how the industry will respond to ERPA with respect to management and professional education decisions.

If clicking on the link does not bring you to the survey, please highlight the link, copy and paste it into your Web browser.

Survey link: http://inquisite.smithbucklin.com/surveys/H48PJR

Your ideas and opinions are important to ASPPA and NIPA as we consider the impact of ERPA and further improvements to our credential and education programs. SmithBucklin Corporation's Market Research & Statistics Group, a third party research group, has been contracted by ASPPA and NIPA to conduct the ERPA Credentialing Survey. SmithBucklin will maintain the confidentiality of all individual responses as only the aggregate results will be released. Please direct your questions or comments regarding the survey to Mandy Frjelich at afrjelich@smithbucklin.com.

The National Institute of Pension Administrators (NIPA), a national educational association representing the pension administration profession, fosters the highest standard of ethical and professional conduct by retirement and benefit plan practitioners by offering comprehensive educational programs; by sponsoring a certification program with professional designation; and by promoting local chapters to provide opportunities for self-improvement to all members and interested parties. 401 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 2200, Chicago, Illinois 60611

National Institute of Pension Administrators - "Education for a Brighter Future"