Doctor owns 50% of a C-corp and maxes out his PS contribution each year. This doctor also receives self-employment income unrelated to his medical practice.

Can he establish and fully fund a SEP based on his self-employment income?

Retiring under FERS from Federal Gov on 2 Jan 2007. Cashing out accumulated leave - about $10,000. Only other compensation for 2007 will be my pensions which are not eligible for IRA contributions. Would the accumulated leave cashout qualify for an IRA? I believe I get a W-2 showing the leave cashout as earned income?!? and taxes are taken out. IRS Pub 590 does not address this. If I took terminal leave starting 2 January, I know it would qualify. But then I wouldn't be drawing any pension while on terminal leave and my total net would be less for the year.

Several participants who work for company A have outstanding loans in the Company A's 401(k) plan, Plan A.

2 employees are leaving company A (amicable) to form their own company, Company B and a few of the other employees will be joining company B as well. Company B will be completely separate from Company A, no controlled group. Company plans to adopt a new 401(k) plan, Plan B immediately.

Some of the partiicpant in Plan A have plan loans. Can Plan B be written to allow for rollovers of loans from Plan A? Can Plan B allow such a transaction to occur? The desired result is that most of the Company B employees wish to rollover their Plan A account balances to Plan B. They'd also like to avoid taxation on the remaining loan balance they have in Plan A.

Thanks

Client (incorporated dentist) is winding down his practice and will likely shut down entirely and "unincorporate" in the next year or so. Currently sponsors a PS Plan and would like to maintain the ERISA protection of the plan assets for as long as possible.

Once the "sponsoring employer" ceases to exist, wouldn't the plan have to be terminated and assets distributed? If so, he'd do a rollover to an IRA, which has protection in the event of "bankruptcy" - but not the extent of protection against "creditor's claims" as his qualified plan - IF I understand the current state of such things(?).

Any other possibilities for continuing to maintain the plan - and/or continue ERISA asset protection?

Thanks to all who take the time to respond!

HIPAA permits plans to offer incentives such as smoker vs. non-smoker rates, paying a monetary incentive (through cash contributions to an FSA/HRA or lower cost-sharing) for participating in certain programs such as weight loss, tobacco cessation, disease management, etc., as long as they are done through a bona fide wellness program. However, we've heard that certain states prohibit some of these practices, but we're unable to locate anything. Does anyone know of a resource (online or printed) that could lead me to these types of state laws?

Employees are participating in the employer's Premium Only Plan. I understand that FICA should not be withheld from those salary deferrals, but what about FUTA?

I'm from MA and have worked in Plan admin for a good 5 years. A few years ago I left my career to help the family business. Now the business is sold and would like to go back into my old career. I am currently completing the CEBS cert and am moving to South Carolina.

Any suggestions on what employers are looking for and how can I explain leaving my career to help out my family.

Can anyone point me to a survey that would show types of benefits and designs (if possible) offered to part-time employees. I'm having a heck of a time finding that data.

Thanks for your help!!

Does anyone want to take a stab at whether or not a Med Time Planner or pill storage box is an FSA eligible expense? The box contains a compartment for each day of the week in which the patient is to place medicine / pill(s) for each day. Personally, I use my pants pockets to keep track, but thats just me.....

Does anyone know if the IRS is planning to release a model 402(f) notice updated for Roth(k) deferrals? I was just starting to draft one, and it's rather a bore. Would be a lot easier to wait if they are going to be doing one!

the initial and only plan document was never executed. what is the proper correction method. one of the trustees is now deceased.

A group health plan has 70 employees covered on the plan, but 130 covered units.

All information says that a 5500 needs to be filed if there are 100 "participants" or more on the plan.

The DOL (via a phone call) indicates that a "participant" is an employee. The insurance carrier indicates that a participant is a covered member, which makes sense from the insurers standpoint.

Does this group health plan need to file the 5500? Is a plan participant the employee only?

Thanks very much!

One man money purchase plan pays an in service distribution to a sixty year old participant in 2005. Plan does not allow for in service distributions. The amount paid was $600,000. No withholding no spousal consent. What should we do? I know that we can obtain spousal retroactively but what about the plan provision and the withholding?

Any help appreciated

What books/publications are out there that are recommended for a broad discussion of ESOPs? I'm thinking of ordering The ESOP Handbook by Steven Etkind. Thanks.

A taxpayer has established a SEP plan for his Schedule C income (with no other employees) and has a profit from that enterprise. He also has a farming enterprise with a loss for the same year (also no employees).

Am I correct in thinking that he can use the income from Schedule C to calculate his SEP contribution without combining it with the loss from Schedule F ?

Help, having trouble putting up a post, if this is not right place sorry. Does anyone know if ersia counts layoff time as vesting if you are a plan participant. I know leave of Absence does not but don't know about layoff. Thanks for any help

Is it allowed to have shares of PFIC (passive foreign investment companies) in an IRA account? Some PFIC are traded on the U.S. exchanges and could be easily bought through an IRA account.

Would income still be tax-free / tax-deferred?

Are the respective reporting forms (form 8621) required in this case?

Is it allowed to have shares of PFIC (passive foreign investment companies) in a 401(k) account? Some PFIC are traded on the U.S. exchanges and could be easily bought through a 401(k) account.

Are the respective reporting forms (form 8621) required in this case?

I have Fidelity Self-Employed 401(k) account. I am the owner and sole employee of the S-corporation. My W-2 salary has some components that show only up in box 1 but not in box 3 (e.g. health insurance premiums, HSA health savings account contributions), and some components that only show up in box 3 but not in box 1 (employee elective deferrals).

I can contribute 25% of my annual "compensation".

I know that the elective deferrals count towards "compensation".

Question: Do the health insurance and HSA contributions, that are taxable but excluded from social security tax, count toward "compensation"?

Attached are excerpts from publication 560 and the Plan document, but I can't figure out under which category the health insurance and HSA contributions fall, whether they are fringe benefits, deferred compensation, ..., if "taxable" means income-taxable and/or social security taxable, etc.

Compensation for plan allocations is the pay a participant received from you for personal services for a year. You can generally define compensation as including all the following payments.

1. Wages and salaries.

2. Fees for professional services.

3. Other amounts received (cash or noncash) for personal services actually rendered by an employee, including, but not limited to, the following items.

1. Commissions and tips.

2. Fringe benefits.

3. Bonuses.

However, an employer can choose to exclude elective deferrals under the above plans from the definition of compensation. The limit on elective deferrals is discussed in chapter 2 under Salary Reduction Simplified Employee Pension (SARSEP) and in chapter 4.

Other options. In figuring the compensation of a participant, you can treat any of the following amounts as the employee's compensation.

* The employee's wages as defined for income tax withholding purposes.

* The employee's wages you report in box 1 of Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement.

* The employee's social security wages (including elective deferrals).

Compensation generally cannot include either of the following items.

* Reimbursements or other expense allowances (unless paid under a nonaccountable plan).

* Deferred compensation (either amounts going in or amounts coming out) other than certain elective deferrals unless you choose not to include those elective deferrals in compensation.

Fidelity Basic Plan Document:

"For an Employee who is not a Self-Employed Individual, “Compensation”

means, subject to the limits of this Section 2.9, wages, tips and other

compensation paid by the Employer and reportable on Internal Revenue

Service Form W-2, excluding deferred compensation, but (for Plan Years

beginning after December 31, 1997) increased by amounts withheld

under a salary reduction agreement in connection with a cash or deferred

plan under Code section 401(k), a SIMPLE retirement account under

Code section 408(p), a simplified employee pension under Code section

408(k), or a tax-deferred annuity under Code section 403(b), and any

amount which is contributed by the Employer at the election of the

Participant and which is not includable in the gross income of the

Participant by reason of Code section 125 (cafeteria plans), Code section 132(f)(4) (qualified transportation fringe benefit programs) (for Plan Years beginning on or after January 1, 2001), or Code section 457 (deferred compensation plans of tax exempt organizations)."

My question surrounds the eligibility definition of a Dependent FullTime Student. If a Health and Dental Plan

allow the definition to be age 19 unless FT student under AGE 26, but HCSA follows IRS dependent definition of FT student thru Age 23, then HCSA claims filed for expenses on FT dep child covered under health plan that is 25 years old would HCSA reimbursement really be allowed based on IRS definition of dependent?

Vickie