I have an end of year one participant plan. The benefit is 100% of high 3-year average compensation. The participant is 68 years old and has 10+ years of plan participation as of 12/31/2004. His high 3-year average compensation is $205,000.

Two questions:

1) How do I calculate his age adjusted 415 $ limit at 12/31/2004?

2) What is the present value of the age adjusted 415 $ limit at 12/31/2004?

I'm sure I will need to provide more information, so just tell me what you need.

In 2004, I have recharacterized my traditional IRA into Roth and at the year-end I got a 1099-R showing the total amount as taxable distribution. Unfortunately, I lost all the money in this Roth IRA through some bad investments. I still have my account open and this is the only Roth account. My understanding is that I can claim the Roth IRA loss under misc itemized deduction subject to the 2% floor, but I need to close my Roth IRA account. In 2004 I do not have any other income other than this distribution which I completely lost, so I was thinking I should NOT be paying any taxes (I have some other capital losses which offsets more than the 2% floor I cannot deduct, thus making my taxable income zero). However, if I close the account, this will be considered an early withdrawal of the original traditional IRA and I need to pay a mandatory 10% penalty. Is my understanding correct and is there a better solution?

Can an inherited IRA be rolled into a Roth IRA by paying the taxes?

Can anyone point me to a link or other references that briefly explain ERISA compliance requirements as they apply specifically to public agency retirement plans, e.g. a 401(a) plan sponsored by a school district for its non-teaching staff?

I understand that there are some differences in ERISA compliance here versus for private sector employers' plans.

Thanks.

Would anybody be so kind as to tell me what ITO Amortization is with regards to PEBOPs and FAS 106?

I read suze ormans Young fabulous and broke book..and I want to open a Roth Ira, I am 26, married with 2 small kids.

I am looking at scottrade.com to open an account, but I really dont know if thats the best way to go. My credit union says to call AIG for financial advising, but I think they are commission driven.

I want to invest in mostly stocks, but I do not understand how to see if they are no-load or what they charge. When I look at the prospectus, I don't feel comfortable that I'm reading the all of the fees correctly.

Can someone please recommend a few good places to invest. Suze reccommends "85% in an index fund that tracks the entire market and 15% in a foreign stock fund"

I'm fine with that, but I need a few names...you know the no load, low annual fee. I'll put my 85/15% there...I just need to know the symbol...

I'd like to get in before the 15th deadline for last year. So my questions are:

What company should I use to open an acount?

What are some investments that have great ratings, low/no fees? (i know this is a broad question...but I'm so lost in all the small print)

thanks,

Stacey

General question on SH 401(k) cross-tested plans that allocate the 3% SH and allocates the rest under profit sharing. Using cross testing, what is the effect of adding a discretionary match? Wouldn't this lower the highest allocation rate for the HCE's thus lowering the NHCE's rate? This seems like a better design, especialy if very few NHCE's contribute to plan. Disregard the matching cont. for rate group testing?

any thoughts appreciated

A client has put down a deposit for a unit in a development which is still far from being completed. Does "Escrow Deposit" count as real estate?

Thanks.

Doctor participates in SIMPLE - he is 52 years old & will defer $12,000 max into plan for 2005 ($10k max plus $2k catch-up). W-2 income is $360,000. Assuming employer elects the 3% matching option, what will the employer contribution be? One webite calculator showed the 3% figured on $210,000 (similar to the cap on the 2% nonelective option) while another showed the 3% figured on total comp.

Is there any exception to having the independent qualified public accountant audit for a plan that has over 100 participants at the beginning of the plan year?

In particular, what if the plan was terminating during 2005, but had over 100 participants as of January 1, 2005, do they still have to have the audit?

Thank you for any insight!

If a plan provides for both pre tax and post tax contributions, with a combined limit, can a person exceed the "plan limit" on deferrals and be eligible to make age 50 catch up contributions?

For example, a plan offers pre tax contribs up to 15%, and post tax contribs up to 15%, but the combined contribution total cannot exceed 15%. In the extreme, say an age 50 person contributes 15% on a post tax basis. Since they are then technically limited to 0% pre tax, can they then put in an additional amount of pre tax dollars up to the age 50 catch up limit for the year?

Thanks for any thoughts.

A client filed last year's return late (his wife found it laying about and put it in a drawer - sounds familiar to me!). He got a late letter from the IRS (that's when he called me) so we did a quick DFVC filing.

The IRS wrote back and said they wanted a copy of the cancelled check or letter of acceptance from DOL.

Since checks aren't returned anymore, and I want to save him the trouble of asking for it, does the DOL routinely send a letter of acceptance? I've don't remember seeing one although it's quite possible clients received them and didn't forward.

thanks for anything.

How does the deduction rules of 404(a)(6) apply to a not-for-profit employer who sponsors a profit sharing plan? My client, decided to make a contribution to it's profit sharing plan for the PYE 6/30/04. Normally, if this were a for-profit employer the contribution would have to be made by 4/15/05 in order to be deductible for that year. However, there is a possibility the funds will not be available to the employer to fund the contribution by this deadline. Given the fact that the employer is not paying taxes because of their non-profit status (and not deducting this contribution), how does the deduction rules of 404(a)(6) effect this situation?

I have searched the ERISA Outline book and other materials but can't find much guidance. Your help would be appreciated.

I have an alternate payee who provided an executed QDRO with instruction to pay out approximately $2,000. The Order was executed and dated for April, 2004, but delivered to our office during April, 2005. This was the first notification of a potential QDRO we received.

However, during January, 2005, the participant requested a hardship distribution representing virtually his entire balance (only earnings remain).

The end result is a QDRO requesting distribution of an amount greater then the participant's account balance.

Pursuant to the terms of the Plan QDRO Procedure, this disqulaifies the Order from being Qualified.

Does the alternate payee have any recourse in this instance? And to what extent can the employer be held repsonsible for approving a hardship even though they were never informed of the potential Order?

Is a mutual fund considered a single security for purposes of Schedule I reporting? Thank you.

After a horrible start by Mr Wells... Redsox Nation is pretty silent. But then we are only 1 game back. Hope they do better today! Pedro was fabulous for the Mets... we should have forked up the $$!!! my opinion

I am wondering from any practicing ERISA Attorneys if an LLM is necessary to get into the job market?

I am graduating soon and have over 7 years of HR experience with 5 years of Employee Benefits experience and I am wondering if an LLM is necessary or would give me any advantage in getting into the ERISA practice area. I have other graduate degrees and certificates in HR. I don't want to go to school forever, but I am wondering if the LLM is really something I should seriously consider.

I'm running some numbers on a sole-proprietor age-weighted profit-sharing contribution. The document is a prototype with a grafted-on amendment to the allocation formula (essentially individually-designed). (Have some dashes!)

Owner is 70. When calculating "points", what does your software do? Use current age (no discount), premium (age 65 - current age, an increase)?

I shouldn't have to ask, except that I wrote the software and spreadsheet. I can't double-check against myself.

Document says discount from NRA to current age. Silent on what happens after NRA is attained.

A corporation has 2 employees.

One of the employees is also on the board of directors.

Say the employee receives $100,000 as an employee and $30,000 as a director.

Based on the 414(s) statutory definitions of compensation would the director fees be part of pension compensation?

It seems since the employer is compensating the employee for services on behalf of the employer it would be part of compensation.

I presume the plan can actually include it or exclude it (based on the plan provisions) as long as there is no discrimination based on applying the statutory definition for testing purposes.

Logically, if the director fees were NOT part of the statutory definition of compensation then if the director is a HCE it only serves to help the NHCEs, since we would be using a lower comp for the HCE for testing purposes and thus result in potentially a higher ABP for the HCE.

Thanks.

I understand the employee is responsible to give the employer notice after the qualifying event. But, how much and what kind of notice is necessary? If the employer knows that a divorce occurred and starting providing benefits to the ex-spouse, is that enough notice? Or does the employee or his attorney have to write the employer and specifying tell them that a qualifying event occurred? Or is a telephone conversation enough? Does it matter if the conversation happened before or after the divorce?