A 401(k) plan, with only 1 key employee (also the only HCE), became top heavy for the 2005 plan year. The top heavy contribution only has to go to those participants still employed on 12/31/05. If there were 10 non-key participants, and 5 were employed on 12/31/05, while the other 5 had between 501 - 999 hours but were not employed on 12/31/05, would only the first 5 get the top heavy contribution? Would the plan have 410(b) coverage problems since only 50% of the NHCEs are benefitting?

Thanks for any comments

I just received word that the owner of tow of my plans has passed away. I knew he was sick, but did not realize how bad.

He had been getting an RMD from each company's plans, as he was a more than 5% owner. At Company A, he and his wife are the owners. In Company C, he and another person are the owners. I don't know if his wife is his designated beneficiary for his ownership in either or both companies, nor do I know if his wife is his bene for his plan accounts (the client keeps copies of the enrollment forms), but for my quesiton, I will assume that the wife gets it all. The document states that a distribiton due to death may be processed as soon as administratively feasible after death. The plan is with American Funds.

If the accounts of the dec'd owner are not distributed before the end of the year, does an RMD need to be processed? I have been doing RMDs for 10 years, but never had this problem. Thanks!

How are most of you handling the reminder notice that needs to be sent out? Since there is no sample language provided, and the reminder needs to tell employees how to request another notice, isn't is just as easy to send out the full notice instead of the reminder?

I swear I read or heard somewhere that the IRS ruled that a change in ADP/ACP testing method was a discretionary amendment and must be executed prior to the plan year end in which the change is effective....

Can someone tell me if I'm just making this up? Or, if it is in fact true, can you point me in the direction of the regs so I can cite this?

Thanks!

Vicki

Partners make their salary deferral deposits in January for the 2005 plan year....(when their partnership income is determined). Employer deposited deferrals in excess of the 402(g) limit. Deposit went into the account in January, 2006. Can we use the amount of the excess toward 2006 deferrals? Both partners had draws in January sufficient to cover the excess.

Thanks.

I could use some feedback on the below. Thanks in advance

Account owner is age 73, not married, NY resident, living with non-spouse partner.

Account owner wishes to share proceeds of IRA with daughter and partner.

Advice of attorney is to change existing IRA beneficiaries (required minimum distributions began in 2002) to 50% to the daughter and the remaining 50% to the estate so the non-spouse partner can receive his share.

Is this plan the most tax-efficient way to accomplish the stated objective? Wouldn't the inclusion of the estate impact the daughter's ability to stretch out?

My thought is that naming the estate will result in a lump sum distribution with a large tax bill. If instead the individuals were named, they could take distributions based on RDM requirements and stretch out payments, thereby (potentially) lowering the tax bill

Under final 401(k) regs, does this still work?

SH QMAC is 100% on the first 4% - Not subject to vesting, no hours or employment status

Discretionary Match = 50% of deferrals up to 6% of comp. - Subject to Vesting, 1000 hrs. and last day

Is any of this subject to adp testing?

Is any of this subject to acp testing?

I put in $4000 in 2005, never bought any securities, then withdrew $4000 later in 2005 for an emergency.

Using tax software it is telling me that I need to pay $1800 tax but I don't think that's the case. My understanding is that this is a Unqualified distribution but it is also originally contributed funds so I'm ok.

What is complicating things more than they already are is that the 1099-R I received from my broker doesn't explicitly say everything related to the background for the distribution (of course).

What should I do? Do I use the software or print it out and send in with some notes? I know that to ignore the 1099-R would send a flag since its being sent to the IRA also.

If anyone has any ideas on how to proceed, please let me know.

Is a governmental plan allowed to use a vesting schedule longer that that which is allowed for in EGTRRA? For example, a 10 year schedule for a matching contribution?

I imagine that there are threads on this board somewhere on this topic, but I can't seem to search them out. I am looking for a good set of self-audit guidlines for a DB plan to conduct an internal audit. Anyone know where some could be found?

I realize that the IRS has audit guidelines, but think they would be too much for most plan administrators. For some reason, I thought that someone (IRS, DOL, Corbel, ASPPA, etc.) had created something like this, but I can't seem to find them anywhere.

Thanks in advance!

What section of the Code sites someone has to take a RMD from each retirement plan? (Not referring to lumping of IRAs to determine RMD but rather true retirement plans). Thanks.

Owners of Subchapter S Corp have the following info on their W-2:

Box 1 Wages $111,204.33

Box 5 Medicare Wages $120,000

Box 12a Deferral $18,000 (catch-up included)

Box 14 Other: $ 9,204.33 SCor Med

So - what compensation would you as a TPA use for 401(k)? If you're a CPA, what compensation would you tell TPA to use?

Thanks....

Participant has submitted a claim for reimbursement for premium for group health coverage from spouse's group health plan. Is this the type of coverage pernmitted under IRS Notice 2002-45?

Thanks.

I want to start a Roth IRA account, and deposit the max $4K for 2005, possibly another $4K for 2006.

Right now I'm looking at Fidelity & Vangaurd (leaning towards the latter because of low expense ratios) but it looks a bit more involved than just giving a company my money and have them invest it. So many different plans to choose, and I could use some advice! Looks like each company has many different funds, small cap, large cap, growth, value, blend, international, domestic, etc. They also have targeted retirement year funds (2030, 2040, etc), which seems like an easy choice, but do they perform well?

Vanguard Target Retirement 2035 Fund (VTTHX)

http://flagship3.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/Fu...&FundIntExt=INT

Fidelity Freedom 2035 Fund (FFTHX)

http://personal.fidelity.com/products/fund...shtml?315792655

One thing I haven't really found in any FAQ of the companies: I'm wondering which of these companies will be more flexible... what if 10 years from now the economy changes a bit and I realize that my money would be better invested in a mid-cap value fund rather than the large-cap growth fund that I chose at first? Will these companies allow me switch funds like that? Will there be a fee/penalty? I don't know if that's a dumb question or not, but I want to invest NOW and not worry too much about choosing the perfect fund.

I'm 27 years old, also looking to buy my first house soon. Which brings up a 2nd question:

I have $18K right now, would my money be better served with a bigger down payment? ($14K down/$4K IRA) Or starting off with a bigger chunk of money in an IRA? ($10K down/$8K IRA)

15 year loan probably, around 5.5% APR? Looks like an extra $4K down for the house would only save me $350 a year, not much. And with lots of new bills, I doubt I'll be able to make the max $4K contribution to the IRA each year, $2K a year sounds realistic. Investing that sounds better, yes?

Thanks for any advice!

Hi,

I'm 53 years old and my company is an S corp with a SARSEP started in 1976. I am the only employee. I didn't pay myself w-2 wages last year because of the economy, but did have about $40,000 commission that the company received on the last day of the year.

Here is the question.... Is the contribution to a SARSEP dependent on W-2 wages only? So if I didn't pay any W-2 wages... can I make a contribution to my SARSEP?

Thanks in advance...LaRae

This message board has participants from all sorts of companies, and at varying levels of experience. I'm curious about what everyone's professional title might be.

I'll start this off: my title is "Senior Tax Manager" (although I usually force my colleagues to address me as "Her Loveliness").

On a qualified trust's financial statements, every number is rounded to the nearest $1,000. For example, interest income of $859,247 gets reported as $859,000.

The client wants the related plan's Form 5500 to be prepared using actual, precise dollar amounts (the $859,247 instead of the $859,000). In other words, the financial statements, as attached to the return, won't agree to the numbers disclosed on the return.

I've never encountered this situation until now, and I can't find any guidance. Every cell in my body, however, is screaming "foul". I think that the two documents have to be consistent. Or, if the consistency isn't required, surely the inconsistency would raise a flag with DOL?

Has anyone ever dealt with this matter? What did you do?

I think I'll change my username to "I Hate Benefits".

Please forgive a silly question, but a doubt has been placed in my mind.

An individual working for a public school system participated in a 403(b) plan, left employment, found new employment working in a for-profit corporation, and is told by 403(b) custodian that deferrals from the corporate wages can still be made into the existing 403(b) account. Does this make sense?

ESOP owns a modified endowment contract ("MEC") on the life of insured/participant. ESOP also has unrelated taxable income ("UBTI").

Q: If the ESOP withdraws money from the MEC, what type of taxes and penalties apply to the ESOP and to what extent?

A: If the ESOP becomes taxable while it owns the MEC (say, the ESOP receives unrelated business taxable income "UBTI") and then withdraws money from the MEC, those withdrawals would be taxable as ordinary income, at least to (i) the extent of the gain in the MEC and to (ii) the extent that the ESOP is a taxpayer (that is, has UBTI). As for the 10% penalty for early withdrawal, that penalty depends on the age of the policyowner, not the insured/participant. The ESOP itself has no age, so my read is that there would be no 10% penalty applied.

Any thoughts, particularly as to the (ii) part of the above analysis?

Can a person under age 50 contribute $14,000 to a 403(b) plan during the year, leave his/her job, start a new job and contribute $14,000 to 401(k) in the same year? The second plan allows for immediate contributions. But is that considered excess contribution for the year? Or is the annual addition limit of $42,000 for 2005 the magic number to look at?