I'm primarily a 401(k) person, so please be kind...

Performing ACP testing on a 403(b) plan and it fails - is shifting allowed as it would be in a 401(k) Plan to pass ACP?

Thanks in advance.

A company sponsors an underfunded DB plan and an overfunded VEBA. Can the excess assets in the VEBA be transferred to the DB plan to cover the underfunding? Thanks.

What are the ramifications for having plan assets titled in the name of the plan sponsor as opposed to the trust? This was merely an oversight by the plan sponsor.

Please clarify/furnish an example.

Thank you,

Joel L. Frank

We use a third party disabiilty case manager to handle our disabiity claims. Our plan requires that employees notify the DCM before the 8th day of their disability. We have a very generous salary continuation policy for employees away from work due to disability. I'm interested in knowing if other employers have timliness reporting requirements and, if so, what are the penalties, if any, for not making timely notification.

Can a plan have a 6 month and 1,000 hour requirement? I have a takeover plan with that provision!

We are a medium size employer with a small location in Omaha, NE. We are interested in offering a group health plan at this location if possible. Can someone suggest an insurance carrier besides BCBS? We've already been in touch with our Aetna rep with no luck. Thanks.

Greetings:

I am a new member to the forum. Can a 457(b) governmental employer sponsor two 457(b) plans and a 401(a) plan simultaneously? One 457(b) will match mandatory contribs dollar for dollar, with the match contributed to the 401(a). The second 457(b) plan has no matching feature. Is this possible?

Pls advise re the follwoing two scenarios:

1) An ER, because of a computer coding error, has been making contributions for a CBA EE into the wrong plan. CBA EE should be in a money pension plan and instead, contributions are being made for him to company's other 401(k) plan. How do we get the money to him in the plan he should have been in to begin with?

2) ER has miscalculated the amount it should have been deferring on 18 of its EEs' behalf for the past 6 months (e.g., ER should have been contributing 2% of EEs' wages but instead has contributed only 1.5%). Is there a way to fix this w/o asking the ER to cough up the amount owing in a lump sum (e.g., could we increase ER contributions to the plan for the next 8 payperiods of the year?)

does anyone have any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

A 401(k) plan has Auto Enrollment feature starting with 3% deferral rate, plus annual increase of 1% to a maximum of 6% of pay. If an employee makes an affirmative election to defer less that 3%, is he subject to the automatic increase each year.

I am new to employee benefits taxation for residents of Puerto Rico-any light anyone can shed would be greatly appreciated.

Are benefits under 125 on a pre-tax basis also pre-tax for Puerto Rico residents?

Other benefits?

It is my high-level understaning Peurot Rican residents don't pay US federal income taxes

Therefore I am trying to understand the tax adaantages of offering a pre-tax flex plan

My boss wants to switch our company from a fully insured plan to a self-insured plan. We are small (7 employees). Basically, he wants to take the money the company is spending on premiums each year and dump it into an account for each employee. Each employee's "pot" of health dollars can be used for claims each year until it is used up. Thereafter, the employee must fund his own health care costs.

In addition, older employees have more put into their "pot" than younger employees. If an employee doesn't use his entire amount, he can roll it over to the next year.

I have several questions:

1. In general, I know that self-funded plans are not subject to the same amount of regulation as fully-insured plans, but my boss' design seems really strange. Can this kind of plan design even be done?

2. He says he wants to self-administer claims. Would a third-party administrator be feasible for a company as small as ours? If we self-administer, what kind of HIPAA privacy implications are there?

3. Does anyone know of a good TPA in Virginia for a company of our size?

I appreciate any and all insight you can provide. Thanks.

I understand that under EPCRS there is a $250 fee for SEP/SIMPLE filings. We have been approached with a situation as follows:

Company has a SEP plan; only the owners participate and they max out

Company adopted a SIMPLE IRA plan 3-5 years ago; only the employees are in it and the company does the matching contribution approach

Owners also apparently contribute to IRAs….

Could we file this situation under EPCRS using the $250 fee?

Could this be filed anonymously?

Any suggestions as to the best way to handle this?

Plan year is cal year. E/er (medical practice) to dissolve as of Nov. 1, 2006. Appears that if circumstances approach those that would allow for a funding waiver then the final short plan year would be treated as meeting the safe harbor 401(k) rules. I know the grounds for a funding waiver are generally tied to economic hardship, etc. of the e/er, but could the argument also be made that dissolution of the e/er is similar? As an aside the e/er is dissolving as the principals (doctors) will be employed as independent contractors(? says them?) by the local hospital and the e/er to dispose of all assets. Thanks for any feedback.

I was told by Fidelity that I could email our SAR's to our employees but I would need delivery notification. With 1800 employees that could be trouble for me and our IT department. Even if I do that how could I make sure that they all receive it. Anyone have feedback on this matter.

Also, Do I need to have return receipt when I mail them out to our terminated employees. Thanks

Assumptions:

Plan year is 5/1/02 through 4/30/03. Participant terminated employment 5/24/02 with zero vesting. Plan document says that terminated participant with zero vested balance is deemed to have taken a distribution. Forfeitures are allocated in year of distribution.

Assets are in a pooled account. Balance forward recordkeeping.

Question:

Forfeitures from this participant’s account have never been allocated. Is it permissible to go back to pye 4/30/03 and allocate the forfeiture and reallocate gains for all plan years since then? Can we “self-correct” using this methodology? Or would we need to go through VCP? We would need to reissue participant statements with corrected balances.

There was one participant that received a distribution in pye 4/30/05. His vested balance would be affected…he would be due an additional distribution.

Any comments are appreciated. Thanks.

If a safe harbor plan is frozen mid year - is a safe harbor notice required to state that the matching contributions are being discontinued? Please note that since the plan is being frozen - deferrals are being discontinued too - so there is not decision for a participant to make as to whether he or she wants to continue to defer into the plan. Since IRS Notice 2000-3 does not speak to termination or a frozen plan - I don't see how a notice would be required -- thoughts?

I have searched the plan document to no avail. A former participant is rehired after incurring a ten year break in service. Is the employee eligible to enter the plan immediately, or must they satisfy the plan's eligibilty requirement? Thanks for your inut!

A number of employers engaged in the same line of business in the same geographic area that are not part of a controlled group (although they have some common ownership) want to establish a multiple employer 401(k) plan. They have existing 401(k) plans. Will the creation of and the joining in the multiple employer plan be a merger of plans and/or transfer of plan assets requiring a Form 5310 filing? Same answer true for later employers joining the multiple employer plan? Thank you.

How do you fix a plan which has exceeded the incidental insurance benefits percentages (i.e. more than 49% of the amount of employer contributions for a participant have been used to pay premiums on an ordinary life insurance policy for that participant)?