Is anyone having any doubts about implementing this grace period in light of some of the questions raised with respect to COBRA? We have put the brakes on implementing at this time after having read some of the concerns raised in the administration of COBRA (we handle it internally so are even more concerned about compliance).

If professors are given paid time off each year to go on monthly (or longer) sabbaticals, do they earn hours of service for allocation and vesting purposes? The school states that they are given sabbaticals to go research, meditate, etc. and feels that they should be given service while they're away. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Am wrestling with how much to get involved with clients. Interpretation of CMS guidlines on CC Determination (Not Actuarial Attestment) seems to indicate this can be done by someone w/ claims/analysis background. Yet, carriers are charging up to several thousand to do this, which makes me wonder if I’m missing something

This 5500 season, our law firm has received auditors' request for information that include "non-standard requests" falling outside the scope of the ABA's Statement of Policy Regarding Lawyers' Responses to Auditors' Requests. In particular, we have received requests to "confirm all information brought to [the law firm's] attention indicating the occurence of a possible illegal act committed by the Company, the Plan, or any of their agents or employees." Our malpractice carrier has generally advised that we should not respond to such non-standard requests and tell the auditors that it would be inappropriate to respond under the terms of the treaty.

I am curious whether others have received similar requests and, if so, how are you responding.

I asked this on the terminted plan board, but it does not get much activity, thought i would try it here.

I have a company that terminated their k plan in January of 2005 when they got bought out by another company. The February deferrals started going to the new company's plan.

Do I test the terminated plan just for Jan. deferrals?

Something feels wrong about that...?

thanks all

A time-consuming task is the organizing and filing of monthly statements we receive for participants with brokerage accounts (Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, etc.) Does anyone know of any brokerage firms which have a procedure whereby TPA's can automatically receive electronic copies of statements? If so, could you provide me with a contact person at the brokerage firm.

And if anyone has a suggestion for an efficient way to deal with brokerage statements, please let me know. Thanks.

Multiemployer PS Plan credited account of p for year in excess of 415© limits. RP 2003-44, App. A indicates that excess amount should be put in unallocated expense account to reduce ER contributions in future years and while suspense account remains, the ER is not permitted to make additional contributions to the plan.

Does this mean that the suspense account should be applied (allocated) to reduce contributions of all the ERs in the plan as to the entire universe of participants, just as to the participants on whose behalf this particular ER contributes on, or just as to the account of the participant whose account exceeded the 415© limit?

Employer is terminating a profit sharing plan that provides for joint and survivor annuities. TPA is suggesting elimination of this distribution option to help speed things along. However, termination date has already passed. Can employer amend the plan to eliminate the JSA post termination date? I am aware of PBGC Reg. Section 4041.8, which would prevent this amendment to a terminated DB plan. Is anyone aware of any comparable guidance for DC plans?

Thanks in advance,

Amy

An employer has a 401(k) plan that excludes union employees. The employer acquired another company which has some employees (who enjoy the benefits of salary deferrals) who will be forced to go union. They will be enrolled into a collectively-bargained plan which does not allow employee contributions.

The acquiring employer wants to appease them someway by looking for options for them to defer. My thoughts are to amend the plan to allow union employees to participate in the salary deferral component of the plan but not the employer portion. Are there any concerns that I should be aware of? My understanding is that the union employees are tested separately for coverage testing. If no union EEs are HCEs, there should be any testing issues.

Is there a point at which you can "give up" trying to retrieve overpaid pension benefits from an estate?

We have four pension plans in a Master Trust. 3 participants from two of the plans died in 2004, but we were not notified until after an additional benefit was paid (example - we paid on the 1st of April, but the retiree died March 29th; he/she wasn't eligible to receive the 4/1 payment). We send our entire retiree database for a death records search twice a year, and 2 of the notifications came from there.

We have made several attempts to get the money back from the estates, but with no luck. Plan 1 is owed $3,000 (total Plan assets = $83.6M) and Plan 2 is owed $2,000 (total Plan assets = 19.5M).

Since our company just hired a corporate attorney, we are going to have him send a letter, but are not anticipating a response. In the total scheme of things, the amounts seem so small that it's not worth doing anything, but do we have to?

HELP!

How do you handle repayments on a previously defaulted loan, both for accounting and 5500 purposes? defaulted loan was treated as a deemed distribution, participant is still employed, and there is no distributable event.

We filed the extension form 5558 for a client for their profit sharing plan for plan year ending 12/31/04 in time but they just called to tell me that their other vendor did not file the 401k extension in time. Does anyone know if they can still send the form in and are there any penalities if they send it in late. thanks

HELP!! I have read everything I can find that is remotely related to this situation and have given myself a headache.

Sub-organization of church has a part-time employee who will, effective 9/1, be no longer eligible under the church-sponsored health plan which is changing the definition of eligible employee from 20 hours per week to 30 hours per week. The health plan is offering COBRA to the now ineligible employee. Organization would like to continue paying a portion (80%) of the employee's premiums, which are now COBRA premiums. I believe that this can be done under Code section 106 without being included in the employee's income; I also believe that the employee can keep using the employer's cafeteria plan to pay his portion pre-tax. My question is HOW?

If it will only be for one employee in this one situation, does the employer need a written plan? Can the employer simply keep paying its portion to the insurance company or must it reimburse the employee after he pays? Would it be sufficient for the employer to send the employee a letter outlining his COBRA eligiblity and stating that the employer will continue to pay 80% of the premium either directly to the insurance company or to the employee upon receipt of proof of payment?

WHERE can I find some practical guidance on setting this up??

Thank you in advance!

If an ESOP is terminated in connection with a merger and the consideration for the merger was all cash - do participants in the terminated ESOP have the right to request a stock distribution? Does the answer change is the deal was part stock and part cash? Since ESOP participants were given the right to choose cash or stock merger consideration - is the company obligated to give them a second choice?

We have a self-insured long-term disability plan which requires LTD recipients to apply for social security benefits within 6 months of disability. Our plan currently, however, does not require the appeal of the SSA's decision, nor do we offer to help the LTD recipient appeal the decision.

I've been asked to find out what other employer's are doing in regard to the above. So, help me out here....

1. Do your plans require an LTD recipient to appeal the SSA's decision?

2. If an appeal is required, does your company provide financial help in the way of attorney's fees?

Thanks everyone!

By what date must a 403(b) sponsor deposit a discretionary matching contribution for a plan year?

For instance, assume a calendar year, plan year. The 403(b) sponsor calculates the match based on each pay period, but does not deposit the matching contribution for the 2004 plan year until March 1, 2005. Is that OK? What if the deposit was not made until July 1, 2005? Or September 1, 2005? Or December 15, 2008?

I cannot locate any funding due date for 403(b) employer contributions. Thanks in advance for your help.

is there anything in ERISA that says the assets must be located in the US? we have clients that want to invest in offshore hedgefunds and other types of investments. i dont think there is anything that prohibits it.

Has anyone heard whether Congress will allow employees to contribute to both a Roth IRA and a Roth 401(k), or will employees be forced to stop contributing to their Roth IRA if their employer offers a Roth 401(k)?

Could someone help me out with the 3 year cycle for schedule T? I have been looking for rev. ruling 93-42 but cant find it. I usually file every year for small 401(k) plans that i administer. Just started with another firm and they file every 3 yrs.

All our plans are about 50-60 ees, with terms and hirings every year in most plans. I dont know what "relying on prior year testing" would mean?

I also searched the board, but only found one message on the topic, and it said filing every year was just "easier" than proving that a plan could file every 3 years. Is there some test that you have to pass to prove that you can file every 3?

Thanks much!

Are disability benefits received by a participant from a qualified retirement plan on account of disability subject to mandatory withholding?