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

I feel as though I am starting so late but I know that now will still be better than later but I was just wondering on anyones opinion of TD Waterhouse.

I am 38 years old and have run the numbers over and over again on the Roth and traditional IRA calculators(on different sites Legg Mason, TD Waterhouse, my credit union site, ect.)

It seems that if I contribute the full amount to a Roth IRA for 30 years and start taking distributions at the age of 68 I will have aquired roughly 1.5 million (at 9%) and will be able to live off of an annual 50k to 70k (annual interest only )after switching to a conservative 7%.

Can anyone help me with these figures , I have never invested before but have always had it on my mind and feeling that I must do this now.

I have an appointment with a TD Waterhouse financial planner next week so I can start with 2005.

My two questions are: is this very realistic and what is your opinion of TD Waterhouse (I know they are suppose to be a discount brokerage) just want to feel ok with working with them.

I will also be contributing at least the same amount as the Roth IRA to a seperate fund outside of an IRA so I can have other income opportunities that I can always work with (I know I have to be diligent for the next 30 years and I will)

Thanks

1. IRA owner Ed takes a withdrawal from IRA.

2. Ed loans the money to Tom with a promise from Tom to repay the loan within 60 days, so that Ed can replace the money in an IRA.

3. Tom uses the money for a real estate development.

4. The entire development and all of Tom's worldly goods are destroyed by Katrina and Tom can't repay the loan.

Does Ed get any relief from any of the Katrina related legislation? I don't think so. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks.

Company A's 401(k) permits the employees of Company A's affiliates to participate in the plan. Company B (an affiliate of A) was formed in 2004 and it adopted a 401(k) plan of its own with a more generous match than Company A's plan. However, employees of Company B were never offered participation in Company A's plan (by mistake of course). Does this have to be corrected?

The reason why I ask is because the benefit that the Company B employees received was better (matching contribution) than the benefit they would have received under Company A's plan. There is just no way that deferring under Company A's plan would be better. If there was no harm, can't we just amend Company A's plan to exclude Company B employees prospectively? Would it make a difference if Company A's plan permitted hardships or had more distribution options than B's?

I will earn about 4K from a part time job. At this job, I am a participant in a SIMPLE plan. I want to contribute all of my income from this job to the SIMPLE and then contribute 4K to a Roth IRA using other money.

Is this possible? Would contributing all of my income from this part time job to the SIMPLE result in me having no earned income and not being eligable for a Roth IRA contribution?

Thanks.

Any updated word on Roth 401(k) model amendments?

I assume a Plan will be able to treat regular before-tax deferrals and Roth 401(k) contributions differently for some provisions, e.g. in-service distributions, loans. Allow them from one source and not the other. Anyone operating that way pending amendment clarification?

A colleague of mine thinks he can set up a safe-harbor 401k plan with a 3% QNEC and a year end "cash or deferred" PS contribution. I tried to explain to him that if only a few participants defer their contribution into the plan and all the rest take it as cash, the plan won't pass the ADP test. He says it is a safe-harbor plan and not subject to the ADP test. Am I wrong? He says you can have a CODA with a safe-harbor plan but I think he is twisting the facts. Please help!

When implementing a Disease Management program or Wellness Program, when is it necessary to include the information in the Plan Document for a self-funded plan? These are not required programs but do they follow under ERISA? Can employee communication of these programs be separate from the Plan Doc or SPD?

Financial institution did not get an RMD processed until 6 days after 12/31/05.

We are requesting a waiver of the penalty.

Should a 1099 be issued for 2005 or 2006?

Thanks

I am doing research on H1b visa. I am considered "resident alien" for tax purpose although I am not green card holder. According to the tax treaty between my home country and US, my income for conducting research (my only income) is exempted from federal tax. My employer does provide 401(k).

Can anyone please tell me if I am eligible to open Roth IRA? Thanks a lot!

An owner of a company has been receiving an RMD for several years and is now age 77. He is still actively employed by his company.

He is interested in receiving a lump sum now.

To my knowledge, he would either have to retire or terminate his plan in order to do so. This is set forth in 1.401(a)(9)-6 Q&A 13.

Does anyone know of a way he can receive his pension as a lump sum and remain an employee? Conceptually it does not seem like a radical payment form, as long as he takes at least the RMD and rolls over the rest to an IRA.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

Question 1: We distributed 100% of a participants account balance. Later they receive a true-up of the employer contribution for less than $10.00. The cost of a check and 1099-R is more than $10.00. Can we forfeit or gain/loss the participants account or do we need to send them another distribution check?

Question 2: Plan has distribution fees of $85.00 charged to the participant the day before a distribution is processed. Do we charge a distribution fee if the participants account is less than $85.00?

If you know the answer to either let me know. Thanks!

A defunct professional corporation has two participants in the plan. Once is deceased and the beneficiary is unlocatable. The plan has not been funded in years and we have encouraged him to terminate it. The doctor, age 61, is the remaining participant. He already has one outstanding loan from the plan wishes to take a seond loan for $40,000. We have determined that the amount of the loan is o.k. and the document does allow for a second loan. The current loan is being repaid by automatic draft from his personal account. He is disabled and therefore is not drawing income from the p.c. which is the plan sponsor. What would be the problems associated with him taking this loan?

Company has a SEP and makes contributions on a monthly basis. Employee has been terminated. The way I understand it, under a SEP each employee must share in any contribution the employer makes for a particular year. Does that mean that the employer must continue to make contributions on the terminated employee's behalf? (Employee has already received contributions for Jan, Feb. and March 2006; question is whether he must receive contributions for April - December 2006?)

I have a client (C Corp) who wants to amend their plan for a last day requirement for PYE 12/31/ 2006. The match is discretionary, they fund the contribution after the end of the plan year (before 4/15), and so far in 2006, no one has terminated. Here's the kicker: they do not have an hours requirement.

Currently, the plan document has no hours of service requirement or last day.

Can we put in place an amendment for PYE 2006? Or, does the amendment have to be effective 1/1/2007? I was told it cannot be done for 2006 because it's taking away a benefit, and if that is the case, are there any exceptions?

Thanks!!