The PPA extended the participant disclosure period for distribution notices and consents to a 30 to 180 day period. Can this same time period be applied to the safe harbor notice?

A PS plan has 2 different PS allocations. One gives a flat percentage to all eligible participants. The other one allocates on a service & comp weighted basis. The same group of participants share in each allocation. Would 410(b) be tested separately for each of these allocations, or can we combine and test together in 1 410b test?

Thanks

The church plan provisions in sections 865 to 867 of the Pension Protection Act took me by surprise. Can anyone satisfy my curiouslty as to the process by which they got into the legislation?

I am an financial advisor and was approached by a prospective client with a question I don't know the answer to. Hopefully somebody here can help.

He is a business owner and is the only employee in the business. He has a DB plan of which he is the only participant. The plan has a normal retirement age of 65, but he turned 70 in June of this year. When does he need to start receiving his benefit payments?

Thanks in advance.

I'm looking for help. Our investment services department wants to put together 404© notices for some clients. To meet the requirements to provide a general description of the investment objectives and risk and return characteristics of the investments they are going to lists the risks from the fund prospecus. Is this enough or should they be describing the risks as high, low moderate, etc.?

Does anyone have comments on the following?

I have a client that is a staffing company with salaried and temporary employees. They want to offer one type of medical coverage to the salaried employees and another to the temporary employees. The salaried people get the better plan; however, all employees will have to pay the same percentage towards the premium costs: 25% (through the 125) while the employer picks up the rest of the cost (obviously the employer will be paying more for the salaried folks but that is outside the 125 plan). Although I've told them I don't recommend it, it should be tested and could be discriminatory, they are putting up a huge argument it is not since all employees have to pay the same percentage. Do you have any private letter rulings or other code section you can refer to (other than the testing regulations) and I have to give them more concrete examples before they will set up the plan?

I have read excerpts from the PPA as well as many articles re the provisions of the Act. I have found references to several EGTRRA sunset provisions but none relating to the ESA contribution amounts. Has anyone found an extension of the EGTRRA contribution limit of $2,000? If so, please advise where it can be found. Thanks.

I can't find anywhere the clearly definds what changes to the AA require an amendment and which can be accomplished with just an SMM. Can anyone help me? Do you amend the AA for just an address change? What about a phone number change? HELP!!!

Do we know yet whether the ability to send balances of "lost participants" in termed dc plans will only be available to Plans terminating after a specific date? Or will the opportunity be available for all terminated plans, even if terminated in the past (or near future)?

Corporation with ongoing SIMPLE 401k will dissolve as of 11/1/06.

2 unrelated corporations that will not have any affiliation will be formed; the employees of the old corporation will be split down the middle.

I read something that I thought said Simple plan year must be full plan year (thru 12/31). Are there any exceptions in a situation like this? If it must be a full year, can both new corporations be part of the plan for the last 2 months of the Plan year (one being the new plan sponsor and one being a participating employer)?

Thanks

Can a terminated participant receive a distribution from a 401(k) plan that is to be rolled over into an IRA, "hold" the money for 59 days, then make the deposit to the IRA? (The person wants use of the money in the meantime). I don't like the situation, but is there any rule against doing this? I should also mention it is one of the trustees of the plan.

Thanks for any help.

Section 1101 of the PPA requires the EPCRS to become more liberal. The clause that struck me talks about IRS having the power to reduce/eliminate income and excise taxes. If that means literally what it says, it represents a significant change from the past, when IRS didn't have such authority. Any thoughts?

For a welfare benefit plan, if the company pays all of a service provider's fees (the plan does not pay any fees), do the fees paid by the company have to be reported on Schedule C?

401(k) Plan does not permit participation of Union Employees, which was not an issue since there was no union. Recently, a large percentage of the workforce goes union. It is understood that going forward Union Employees do not accrue additional contribution under the Plan as an excluded class, but do continue to be credited with vesting service. Furthermore, it is understood that we can't simply pay these people out as unionizing is not a distributable events. The Plan does, however, permit transfer of benefits to another qualified plan provided that person is "fully informed" and elects for the transfer. This would be desirable as 1) the Union Employees want to transfer their benefits to their union plan, and 2) the employer would like to allow them to do so. Does anyone have any thoughts on this situation, or processing of "plan benefit transfers"?

Company repurchases stock from employees.

Are there any tax implications and if so what are they?

Does this create a triggering event to distribution from the plan for the employee?

At renewal we want to do an audit to verify that covered members are still legally married and that their dependent children still meet the insurance company's definition of an eligible dependent.

Does anyone have a sample form to do an audit of eligibility for benefit plans?

Can anyone tell me how they are handling HSA enrollments with regard to the Patriot Act requirements?

I have been told by an HSA custodian that employers can not electronically enter election form data directly into it's data base because there are questions the employee must be present to answer to the bank to open the account.

Such as--your mother's maiden name, etc.

If this is true, this is a huge stumbling block to data entry especially if there are numerous locations and a high level of computer illiteracy among the employees.

There are numerous custodians that brag about their capability of direct data entry via "employer portals".

What is the answer to this?

We all know that a plan sponsor may cover PREVENTATIVE prescription drug coverage below the deductible without endangering the HSA eligibility status of a plan participant.

My question is what is a "Preventative prescription drug"?

IRS Notice 2004-23 sets the standard as "any service or benefit intended to treat an existing illness, injury or condition." The IRS had requested comments on "the extent wo which drug treatments, either solely by prescription or as part of an overall treatment regimen should be treated as preventative care and the appropriate standards for differentiating between drug treatments that would be considered preventive and those that would not." I have not been able to locate any further guidance on the definition of preventative prescriptions.

Various PBMs have different interpretations of what prescriptions are "preventative" under this standard. If the IRS later determines that a plan has reimbursed something as preventative that did not qualify, is the whole plan no longer a HSA compatible HDHP?

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Is anyone familiar with Hawaii's speciific requirements for medical plans?

Please provide a site if possible on further detail

Merci!

When advising on 2006 deduction limits, we get to use the value of 150% of current liability, reduced by 100% of assets. My question is: what interest rates are allowable in 2006 for this determination?

The law essentially says to continue using the same rules as 2004 and 2005, and the IRS has allowed the use of the old 90% -105% weighted Treasury rates during those years. I am a little uncomfortable that the IRS will hold us to the 90%-100% corporate bond rates.

Anyone think there is definitive guidance on this issue? Any cite?