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?

If big chested women work at Hooters

where do one legged women work

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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.

Under HIPAA, how long does a medical clinic have to maintain a patient's records?

Anyone hear anything about a major firm outsourcing some/most of its actuarial work?

I do some work in benefits, so a friend approached me for advice about a situation. I'm hoping that some others may have ideas as well! Friend's husband had a medical condition that resulted in him receiving short term disability through his employer last year. Shortly after returning to work, his company was bought out by another company (Husband has remained in the same position throughout this ordeal). Several months later, New Company decided to consolidate benefits and moved all Old Company employees to New Company benefits, including STD. Husband then had a recurrence of medical condition and filed for STD. His claims was denied as pre-existing because New Company's policy states that it doesn't cover pre-existing conditions until the employee has been covered by the policy for 12 months. Based on initial conversations with me, Friend and Husband requested SPD, plan document, and any minutes, records, or resolutions during the company sale related to benefits. The company sent a certificate of insurance and the generic communication materials sent to employees (neither of which comply with ERISA SPD content requirements). They declined to send any corporate records; however, they recently told Friend that the broker was to have processed the benefits as a transfer and not a new group. So, now what? The insurance company is following the terms of the policy, the employer is not keen to get involved with the insurance company's decision, and I'm not sure how to help Friend and Husband from here--any thoughts?

1) Aver that DB plans are a scheme to enrich plan sponsors.

http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=5997

2) Bring up tax law changes or IRS policy.

http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=18334

http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=18329

http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=13702

3) Mention anything about insurance commisions or 412(i) plans.

http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=27473

http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=31208

4) Harp on ethics or the lack thereof.

http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=25810

5) Find creative ways to avoid taxes.

http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=3510

6) Discuss sports.

http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=26212

7) Provide an opportunity for stress-relieving, innane babbling.

http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=25886

http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=23084

ADP test - told system to print correction report asked it to calculate related match

it told me "You selected correction report, but did not select a correction method"

thus, it doesn't calculate the related match amount.

Relius response: calculat related match is actually a subreport of the refund to HCE, so you have to select both.

Something to watch out for - In the particular plan I have the system can not calculate the related match. it was a 50% match, but the match was stopped midyear. (Per payroll match rather than end of year match) so looking at the deferrals over the whole year it appears there was no related match. however, first in first out, so I have to dummy things up to show the related match. always something to watch out for.

also, it does not appear it helps to selct don't print soc sec number in plan specs, as these reports print them anyway. same hold for nondiscrim reports.

Relius response is that not all reports have bility to supress soc sec numbers. I was not aware of this.