Our plan has gone to Safe Harbor as of 1/1/05. We just found out that the existing non-vested funds would continue to vest under the old six year schedule. Can this be liberalized to fully vest those 'older' funds retroactively? I can understand not changing a vesting schedule to be unfavorable to the employee, but wouldn't it be ok to consider all employer match balances fuly vested? Our 401(k) provider is telling us no, but I don't have much faith in my contact there. Thanks.

Hi,

Partnership profit sharing plan partner/participant died June 2004. All RMD were taken during 2004 based on year end 2003 plan value and the plan balance was rolled over into spouse's IRA. In March 2005 a plan contribution was made by the partnership for 2004 partnership earnings for the Jan - June period.

Questions:

1. Does an RMD have to be made in 2005 (plan balance was 0 12/31/04)?

2. If so, what is the RMD based on?

3. If not, can the spouse roll over the entire amount to her IRA?

Thank you for your help.

Steve

I have a calendar year plan that is freezing benefit accruals as of 1/1/2005. How do I account for this under FAS 88?

Can a maximum deferral percent for the highly compensated employees be imposed after the beginning of the year.

I am trying to determine what contributions could be made to a Roth IRA. I think I have the contributions worked out except the provision on deducting contributions to traditional IRAs. The bit I have not worked out is if any of my employers compensation plan would fall under the category of traditional IRA. It consists of 3 components:

401(k) - partial empoyer match

Profit Sharing Account - payed into by employer

Defined Benift Plan - augments distributions from Profit sharing account if distributions do not meet a minimum ammount

I am 75% certain that these do not apply, but I probably should properly understand what qualifies as a traditional IRA anyway.

Thank you for any information you can provide.

Regards,

Joe M.

Im looking into the Franklin Templeton, Corefolio ( C Share )

anyone have any experience ?

Need something with not too much risk, just in for the long haul without too much chopping and changing.

I see that Code Sec. 79 applies a $50,000 cap on the amount of life insurance that can be received by an EMPLOYEE under a group term life insurance plan. I presume this means that self-employed individuals (partners) who receive group term life insurance through the firm's plan are not subject to this limit.

Who has a cite that describes the life insurance tax rules that apply to the self-employed?

Hello

This is my first time on this board, so I appreciate any help on my question.

I understand the PBGC has a maximum benefit that this year is somewhere in the low $40,000 range. If so, what would happen to a Delta airline pilot who has been a participant in their DBP for the last many years, is within a year of retirement and his last 3 year average earnings were $120,000. If Delta's plan gets taken over by PBGC, are people like him just out of luck, or is there a provision to provide a higher annuity than the PBGC maximum?

And for those employees whose benefit would be in excess of the PBGC maximum....does PBGC just truncate them back to their max...or is it proportionate...that is, if their benefit would have been 50% of the maximum ($170,000 this year), would the PBGC benefit then be 50% of their max?

Is there a good online source for this kind of information?

Thanks very much for any help in understanding this somewhat difficult topic.

Bruce Miller, CFP

We would like to file an amended final Form 5500 for a short plan year ended 4/1/2004. The form 5500 was originally filed with a 3/31/2004 plan year end. However 4/1/2004 was the date the Plan assets were transferred out of the Plan, to a new trustee (4/1/2004 the Plan was terminated) hence we are amending the 5500. The former trustee who signed the schedule P has provided us with a Schedule P year ended 3/31/2004. Will the DOL care if the Schedule P has a year end 3/31/2004 while the other Schedules will have a 4/1/2004 plan year end? Any suggestions?

How exactly do large publicly traded companies get required 404© information to participants.... prospectus, confidentiality information, etc. Is there any guidance out there for the practical operational things a new plan needs to know? You know.... Running a 404© for Dummies!!

May a 403(b) plan use "Separately Managed Accounts" as the investment medium?

Our enrollers are looking for software for one-on-one enrollment meetings where the participant's age, NRA, salary and deferrals are entered and the software projects account balance at NRA based on rates of return. Does anyone currently use anything like that?

Company X is a large employer maintaining self-insured medical coverage for its employees under a cafeteria plan. One portion of the plan provides that if an employee is terminated under the Company X severance plan, then if the employee elects COBRA, the employer would pay the share of premiums it wo uld have paid had the employee remained active for the first 6 months after terminating employment. Company X has acquired Company Y, a subsidiary of Company Z, and expects the closing to occur as of 5/1/2005. Because Company X expects to terminate the majority of Company Y employeees shortly after the closing, it would like to condition the 6-month emloyer subsidy of COBRA premiums upon the execution of a release by the affected Company Y employees during the remainder of 2005. The issue is does this condition need to or adversely affect testing under Code Section 105(h)? How would it be tested under 105(h)? Would putting the Company Y employees into a separate plan prevent an adverse test result?

Has anyone seen any updated guidance surrounding the application of the automatic rollover requirements for employer-sponsored plans that cover Puerto Rico residents? In the Federal Register issued on September 28, 2004, there were comments that the IRS and Treasury would be issuing prospective guidance on this issue prior to the effective date (March 28, 2005)

I would like to confirm my understanding about PHI.

A group health plan that provides benefits though an contract with insurance issuer or HMO is still a covered entity but is exempt from most HIPAA Privacy rules if it only receives summary health information or enrollment/disenrollment information.

If a participant comes to the "plan administrator" with a claims dispute:

1. The information the participant gives the plan administrator is not PHI.

2. When the plan administrator calls the insurance company to discuss the claim, it then becomes PHI because the information is coming from one covered entity (the plan) to another covered entity (the insurance company). If yes, is the plan then subject to all HIPAA Privacy rules? I think yes unless the plan administrator gets an authorization from the participant to discuss the claim with the insurer.

Please let me know your thoughts.

We have an on-site fitness center that is generally limited to employees with health insurance. We are considering opening up the entire center to all employees, whether they have our health insurance or not. If we do this, can we require the employee to demonstrate proof of health insurance (because they do not have our insurance)? We currently and will continue to require all employees wishing to participate to get a release signed from his/her PCP, but I was wondering whether we can go the extra step and require proof of health insurance from those employees not on our health insurance?

Thanks

We have an on-site fitness center that is generally limited to employees with health insurance. We are considering opening up the entire center to all employees, whether they have our insurance or not. If we do this, can we require the employee to demonstrate proof of insurance (because they do not have our insurance)? We currently and will continue to require all employees wishing to participate to get a release signed from his/her PCP, but I was wondering whether we can go the extra step and require proof of insurance from those employees not on our insurance?

Thanks

In 2004 I took a 401k inservice withdrawal, the amount was reduced by a 20% Federal Tax and some state tax. Now the IRS tells me I need to pay an additional 10% penalty. reading the tax forms, I do not qualify for the 10% penalty

excemption. Any thoughts on how to get around paying this penalty??

Thanks

Does anyone know when the IRS first started issuing determination letters for qualified plans?

Hi,

I am totally new to this area as work offshore and not familiar with the US at all. Can anyone help with some guidance on the following:

If someones father dies, leaving a number of IRAs to the child, who lives outside the US and wants to encash them and reinvest elsewehere, other than the estate tax to be paid, is there any further tax implications I should be aware of?

Thanks