Can a plan that has made the top paid group election also carve out otherwise excludable ee's for testing purposes? Or is it one or the the other?

I am a regulatory compliance officer for a state retirement system, a defined benefit plan. Presently, my primary focus is to ensure compliance with the Internal Revenue Code and state statutes which contain the provisions of the plan.

Is anyone aware of any associations or groups of individuals who are employed in a similar function?

Any newsletters or continuing education opportunities geared to governmental plans?

Can a Roth IRA that was established in 1998 with new IRA funds (not converted funds but new tax year IRA funds) be converted to a Traditional IRA? In order to consolidate yearly IRA account management fees, I want to end my Roth account and move those funds to my Traditional account. The Roth balance is small ($1,000) so the account fees do not make it worth keeping it as a Roth since I have only been eligible to contribute to Traditional IRAs since. I see a lot of comments about "converting back" to a Traditional IRA (recharacterization) but these funds were never in a Traditional IRA. Is there a way for me to keep these funds as part of my IRA but as part of my Traditional account vs. a Roth account?

A small MP plan has several violations going back to the plan's 1999 inception, including no 5500 filings, document not updated for starters. The accountant determined the annual contribution for the plan, but did nothing else plan related. Our TPA firm was brought in to help clean up the mess, which apparantly has ruffled the accountant's feathers. We would like to see payroll records going back to 1999 to confirm that deposits were correct, as well as to get accurate partiicpant figures in order to complete the 5500s from 1999 - 2005. Accountant has told the owners "since you have hired a TPA, we are not going to retrieve this data".

Is the accountant obligated to provide this information? A reasonable fee would be in order of course. How would you proceed?

What kind of retirement plan is this? Can this be rolled into a 401k?

My employer will match only 25% of our contributions and only at the end of the year for contributions made to our 401K and may even announce a 50% match at the end of the year. The mutal funds availabe in our 401K plan are not really satisfactory to me, so I would prefer to invest my money in an account that has accesss to stocks, options, and bonds. I am searching for a way to get the employer matching but still move the money I've put aside out of the account. For example, Could I make contributions to the 401K plan and then withdraw them and pay the 10% penalty, before those contributions are ever matched? In this way I end up basically netting a 15-40% gain. In other words, will taking a loan out or withdrawing funds affect the employer matching(I realize I can't withdraw the employer matching till I am vested)? Then I could increase the contributions we make to my Wife's SEP to reduce our taxable income to compensate for not using the tax advantages of the 401K.

Any ideas? The funds really stink 4-8% returns, and I am getting about 30-60% by investing on my own, this makes a HUGE difference.

ADP test failed, refunds made by 3/15/06. Later discovered that an HCE was coded as an NHCE, so test fails worse. HCEs were not happy about getting refunds in the first place, now will have to get more. Before calling the client, my supervisor wants to know all options. One I am not sure of, can they re-deposit the refunds they got and do QNEC instead?

Any help is appreciated!

Are you interested in a C4 Study Group for up coming exam in May?

Does anyone know, or care to venture a guess, as to what the "phase-in" over 4-5 years might mean for replacing the 417(e) rate for lump sum purposes under the Senate & House Bills ? I keep seeing a snyopsis of the two currently passed bills (House, Senate) stating lump sum rates a yield-curve "phased-in" over 4 or 5 years and wonder if it's likely to similar to the Gatt rate phase-in where you had an option to adopt it within a window period of a few years, or likely to be a mathematical phase-in where the impact is slowly phased in (e.g., 20% the first year, 40% second year....) ? Any thoughts or guesses ? I have a client's considering a plan term and the plan's somewhat under funded so I'm wondering if there's likely to be any relief on the lump sum values in the next couple of years (of course if it only applies to new accruals it won't help much).

hello,

Wife and I are planning to open up a ROth account. SHe is ten yrs older than i am and will hit 59 and a half sooner. My question is if there are any limitations to us opening up the roth in her name and then contributing the maximum amt allowable. This way, we will have access to the distibutions when she hits 59 and a half.

thanks for any inputs

My wife and I made $4k 2006 Roth IRA contributions in Januay,2006. However, due to an unexpected income last month, our 2006 AGI will exceed $160k. What are our options?

Thanks in advance!

I have a question about whether to pay taxes on a Roth IRA conversion for 2005 or whether to wait until 2006.

I had money in a state Teacher Retirement System account (pre-tax). I took it out in late 2005, and put it into a Traditional IRA, which was then recharacterized into a Roth IRA. But, by the time it was recharacterized, it was already January 2006.

Can I pay taxes on this for 2005? I haven't gotten any sort of form from the company handling my IRA (they said they will send it out for 2006). I'd much rather pay it in 2005 than in 2006, since I'll be in a completely different income bracket next year.

Thanks,

Brendan

One of my plans has six divisions and all adopted the same plan document. I used to attach six Schedule T with 5500. Since there's no schedule T any more, shall I just check that one box on line 9 of schedule R? Thanks.

I'm not sure which forum is most appropriate for this question. We have a plan that was a controlled group. Two of the participants (owners of each entity) participate in both plans. Ownership has changed such that there is no longer a controlled group so we are now going to go to a multiple employer plan. I understand that TH status is determined separately for each employer in the plan. My question relates to these owners who have balances from each of these former control group members. How do I allocate these balances to the new separate entities for TH computation purposes? Do these prior balances actually come into play at all?

Can someone help interpret the answer to Question M-19 under 1.416-1 regarding matching contributions treated as minimum top heavy allocations? The last sentence of the answer states that the contributions must meet the nondiscrimination requirements of 401(a)(4) without regard to 401(m). If a plan provides a 50% of deferral match up to 6% of comp in a traditional 401(k) plan, i assume that this meets 401(a)(4) because it is a unifiorm formula and is not discriminatory, but after reading the Q&A of M-19, i'm not so sure that the match doesn't have to be general tested. Thanks.

I know that gains from an excess contribution are taxable, but I think this scenario might be a bit different than usual.

I have a cash account at a brokerage designated as a Roth IRA. I use this account to buy and sell stock.

Since this is a cash account (and adding margin privileges would void the IRA), Regulation T compliance is especially important. My question is, how are gains on the sale of securities taxed when there is an excess contribution made in order to comply with Regulation T (where the contributions are subsequently withdrawn on the settlement date)?

In other words, are the gains 'attached' to the excess contribution (and thus required to be withdrawn and taxed) or are they attached to the (unsettled) proceeds from the original sale?

My opinion is that since Reg. T's Free Rider stipulation concerns the amount of time that banks are permitted to settle the proceeds from a sale of securities, any excess contribution made to cover a purchase does not produce the gain from the 2nd sale, but the contribution is made in order to cover a position in case the funds from the original sale are not *available* to make the 2nd purchase.

Seems to me that the excess contribution is an insurance policy against the possibility of funds not clearing in time, but that the gains from the transaction are the result of a sale that uses albeit unsettled funds.

If I were to make an excess contribution in order to avoid a free ride, could I then withdraw this contribution without the gains from the sale being taxable?

Failing this, can the gains be pro-rated in some way between the unsettled funds and the (excess contribution) extra contributed funds involved in the purchase? Perhaps at the time-value attached to the extra contribution in lieu of the bank marking up the unsettled funds to settle at the speed of the transaction rather than the 3 day period (or perhaps this isn't possible under regulation T, that 3 days is 3 days, period)?

We have a self-insured medical plan. An ex-Exec (who is also continuing to work for us a 1099 Consultant for a period of 5 years) is coming off COBRA

As part of an agreement when he terminated employment, lifetime health benefits to he & his spouse on same conditions as a continuing active Exec were promised in wriiting

The COBRA 18 month period saved us from having to search for other medical coverage equivalent to our current group plan

Our benefits attorney recommended not continuing him on our self-insured plan for discrimination reasons under 105(h)

He turns age 65 end of this year. We have a fully-insured retiree plan we can put him on then but problem is spouse is only 56 and can't join that plan until she is Medicare eligible, basically another 9 years

Am finding it difficult to get group coverage for just 1 inviidual. Individual conversion plans don't have RX coverage or medical coverage similar to group plan is really hadr to match. Am looking at executive supplemental medical reimbursement insurancepolicy to suppllement

How have others handled this situation?

Would anyone have an RFP to do a search for a Trustee

thanks

I was wondering if anyone would know the best place to open a Roth IRA. I mean, I guess it would be easy to go to a bank or even easier to find a place online and I'm sure any bank or broker would love to take my money for a Roth IRA. I have a couple of specific questions:

1. Is it safe online? Or is it better to go somewhere where I can physically walk in the door?

2. Will I dump thousands into this fund and one day, 20 years from now, wake up and the company and my $ are gone? Is there any safeguard against this? Is one company more reputable than the next.

Any advice and/or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Tanks in advance.

Is it permissable to contribute to botha simple plan and a SEP plan in the same year? My wife received a bonus in January with which she contributed the yearly contribution limit to her Simple Plan. Now she is leaving that company and starting her own, so she is going to set up a SEP for herself. Will she be limited in what she can contribute to her new plan?

Thanks,