We have numerous associates that miss benefit deductions because they are off work for various reasons, short term disability, workers' comp, layoff, FMLA.

We are looking for a software program that will allow us to invoice them monthly, send late notices, track multiple months of fees, has the ability to post payments, AND which will allow information to be downloaded from excel.

We use Travis COBRA and Travis T-Bill for other projects - so we would like something a little more versatile and indepth for this need.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks

I received a quarterly statement for my Schwab 401(k) and notice that the share price listed on the 'Snapshot' for a particular part of the plan is considerably lower than the actual price of the stock. It is listed at $13 per share on the document when the NASDAQ price (as of today) is $48. This statement was for the end of the year and the share price has been no where near that low for a long time.

What I'm trying to do is calculate my plan value as the stock price rises and falls. I'm guessing its not that simple. Can someone please explain what this significantly lower share price applies to? Thank you!

The plan failed to make TH minimums for 4 plan years, 2001-2004. We computed the required contribution and made allocations and deposit plus earnings. Since this failure (at least the first 2 years) exceeds the 2 year correction period for self correction we want to go forward to IRS w/ SVP. This will be our firm's first SVP filing. I want to know from those of you who have experience w/ these filings, what can I expect from the IRS. Not specifics, of course, but in general, will they be reasonable and accept the correcton method? Will they want to dig deeper looking for any other issues, etc?

If an employer has the right demographics so that it can establish two separate plans - i.e., each plan separately passes coverage and discrimination - must the Gateway Minimum requirements under one plan be applied to the other plan?

Example: Company has 2 HCEs and 2 NHCEs. Employer creates two plans; one covers HCE 1 and NHCE 1; the other plan covers HCE 2 and NHCE 2. Both plans will be cross tested. However, Plan number one only provides 3% to the NHCE and 9% to the HCE. The employer would like to fund Plan number two at 5% for NHCE 2 and 15% for HCE 2.

Each plan separately satisfies minimum coverage. Assume that age disparity in each plan is adequate so that each plan passes (a)(4) testing.

I read the regs under 1.401(a)(4)-8 as requiring a "PLAN" to satisfy Gateway requirements. Thus, in the example above, each plan should be able to separately satisfy the gateway without regard to a different/higher gateway requirement under an entirely separate plan.

Does any one see a flaw in this approach? (Don't count the additional cost of administering two separate plans a "flaw".)

While we're at it: Would it be possible for one of the 2 plans to implement a 401(k) Safe Harbor election, and the other not? (I know catchup contributions require universal availability. But is there a universality requirement for safe harbor treatment in separate plans of a single employer, whren each plan passes all testing separately?)

Thanks for the feedback.

We have a PEO client with a Mulitple Employer Plan. They are signing on a new client, and the client is asking...under what section of the code does it state that the portion of a participants income that is 401(k) (CODA) contributions is exempt from Federal and State taxation, but IS subject to FICA taxes? I have found references in the Code that state "CODA contributions are not currently includable in income", which explains the Fed. & State deferred taxation, but does it explicitly say anywhere that they ARE subject to FICA? It seems to me that this is more of a payroll question than a question for us as TPA, but I was also curious.....

Have a plan with a 2/1/05 - 1/31/06 plan year.

We have a participant that made 401(k) contributions of $14,100.50 during the plan year.

For the calendar 2005 he contributed $14,256.04. He had no catchup contributions for the plan year 2/1/04 -1/31/05.

My first question is do I have $100.50 or $256.04 as my catchup for the plan year?

I then need to calculate the safe harbor match without the catchup. Is my catchup based on:

1) 14100.50 - 100.50, or

2) 14100.50 - 256.04, or

3) 14256.04 - 256.04, or

4) 14256.04 - 100.50??

I have a former employee who was covered under a large group self-funded plan that elected to continue coverage for her family during her COBRA election period. The election period has now elapsed. The 45 days from election date to make first COBRA premium payment has not yet elapsed, but the member now wishes to cover herself and husband only, as of the inception date of COBRA. Since COBRA coverage is not effective until premium is received, can the member do this? Where can I find specific language allowing/disallowing this very thing?

I have an employer who switched from using an insurance company as their trustee to an individual sometime in 2005. They did not execute a trust agreement. I know they are required to do so. Is the delay a violation of the trust requirements? Can the trust agreement be retroactively adopted? Should I use the VCP? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

I don't have experience with 403(b) plans, but will soon enough. A client has a 403b plan and would like to possibly add a new comparability ps plan. I see the previous topic discussion where it is ok to add a MPPP and keep the 415 limit whole for the ERISA plan. First question is can a New Comp plan be paired with a 403b and if so....Would i have to consider the deferrals to the 403b plan when perforning non-discrimination testing on the New Comp plan, specifically, the average benefits test?? Any other thoughts or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I am sorry to have to report that, after "upgrading" the software again to prevent attacks, the message boards have a new bug-- when a person tries to register as a new user, he or she is told that the username must be between 3 and 24 characters, no matter how many characters are in the username being submitted. So people are effectively prevented from registering, as it now stands. I am working on this and will let you know as soon as it has been fixed! I sincerely apologize for this trouble.

I saw a similar thread on this topic but I need to clarify something. The 401k/PS plan provides that EE's may immediately make deferrals but must wait 1 year to be eligible for PS contr. The Owner (sole proprietor) does not defer, but his one employee does. the Owner is the only one eligible for PS contribution based on the entry date requirements. Is TH minimum required since this participant isn't yet eligible for the PS contributions?

I have a group that has two young HC's and a mixture of young and old NHCE's. Is there anyway to run a new comparability formula for young HC's. It seems impossible to pass the Non-Discrim. test. Suggestions are appreciated.

I know that a sole proprietor can't set up a medical expense reimbursement plan for himself, but what if he hires his spouse? Can he set up the plan for her to participate in?

An Employer has an existing 401(k) plan that currently covers everyone who meets the age and service requirements. They decide to add a defined benefit plan.

When the DB plan is started, they decide to cover only half of the HCEs and half of the NHCEs in the DB plan. At the same time, the 401(k) plan is changed to cover only the employees who are not covered by the DB plan (the other halves).

Can the DB plan exclude service prior to the plan's effective date for vesting purposes?

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Husband and wife own the company and they have 4 children , the youngest is 12, the oldet is 16. If the plan has no age limit, can the children contribute to the plan? They were paid $5000 each and they want (the parents actually want) to put $2500 in deferral for each.The children did not receive W-2 ( I don't know how exactly got paid) ...what would actually be the best answer, I tried to explain they suppose to have W-2, otherwise, how you defer??? Can you have W-2 for a 12 year old?? And if so, can they defer???

A company currently contributes to a multiemployer plan. All employees will cease work for about two years. During such time, a new warehouse will be built. When the warehouse is built, all interested employees will be brought back. The current CBA extends beyond the time of the re-opening, so there will always be an obligation to contribute. However, there will be no actual contributions during the 2 year period.

Would this meet the second prong of the complete withdrawal test:

"permanently ceases all covered operations under the plan."

The cessation will not be permanent. The company fully intends to re-open the new and improved facility and start making contributions to the plan. It would obviously like to avoid making withdrawal liability payments during the temporary shut-down.

We have spent hours searching the case law, regulations, ... Any comments or suggested direction?

Plan is a Safe Harbor Matching calendar year plan. Terminated 6/30/05. Do they have to contribute the Safe Harbor Contribution in the year of termination? Also, are they only required to contribute the amount from 1/1/05-6/30/05? Or does it have to be the entire year?

if a plan has over 120 ELIGIBLE participants but lets say only 50 are actually participating, does this require an accountants opinion?

S Corporation distributions on allocated and unallocated shares can be used to make loan repayments. Because they are earnings and not contributions, they are not subject to the requirements of 404 or 415. However, are the shares released by using such distributions to make loan payments subject to 415? If not, and the company makes a contribution in addition to using earnings to make the loan payment, then are the shares released tracked by the source of the funding and only those released as a result of the contribution would be subject to 415? Seems like quite a loophole. Thanks for any responses.