Hi

First off - I am looking for a CPA who understands IRA law and real estate investing within an IRA. I live in New York so I thought it would be easy but I am coming up short. Are there any good directories for CPA's ?

I currently have a large sum in an IRA account that I am considering rolling over into a roth. My tax rate in 2004 was very low but am expecting to make more (self employed) income this year. I have an opportunity to invest in real estate with an expected return of 30%-40% and thought the roll over would be a good idea. I am currently 40 so have at least 20 years to invest. Are there any reliable ways to calculate whether or not this is a good idea?

In addition if I pay the taxes out of the IRA do I pay a 10% early distribution penalty and the pay taxes on that amount? ie. Rollover $100,000 tax rate %15 - taxes owed $15,000. If paid from IRA taxes would be 15% of $115,000 and I would incur a penalty of $1500. So toatl payments out of the IRA would be $18,750.

At the risk of asking too many questions in one post - am I correct in the knowledge that the rollover does not count as part of my AGI?

Thanks

VAl

Would this situation run afoul of 409A? SAR for non-publicly traded company is exercisable for cash. Notice 2005-1, Q&A 4(d)(i) states that SAR generally will be subject to 409A, but that they may be structured to comply, and notes that a SAR with a "fixed payment date" generally will comply. Could our plan provide that SAR becomes exercisable 3 years after grant and that the participant may exercise at any time up to 10 years from grant? Haven't been able to find anything that discusses exactly what "fixed payment date" means.

Thanks for any insights or references.

Does anyone know where I can find the HCE definitions from 1991 to 2005? IIRC, it was in 96 or 97 when the ownerhip attribution rules were added to the definition.

I'm looking for the definitions each year, including dollar amount changes.

Any help would be appreciated.

Is money from either an employer's disability plan or from SS considered compensation in order to make an IRA contribution?

I have a DB Plan with 3 EE's (2 HCE's, 1 NHCE). They are funding for a maximum DB benefit for the owner which makes the contribution well over the maximum 404 deductible level. Can I add a Safe Harbor 401(k) plan so that the owner and his spouse and contribute the 402(g) limit plus catch-up into that plan. If the safe harbor 3% non-elective is used, the additional required contribution for the NHCE would be around $300. As I understand the deductibility rules, This contribution would be non-deductible and the sponsor would be required to pay an 10% tax on the $300 ($3.00). The total cost would therefore be $303 to add an additional $36,000 to the owners/Spouse account.

Do I have this correct? Is there any other reason not to do this? If we use the Match safe harbor and the 1 NHCE does not defer, there would be no contribution nor a tax. Correct?

is this one too aggressive or does it fall under the rules?

HCE 5 4

NHCE 3 1

Plan passes ADP. now, I shift 1% of NHCE to ACP and arrive at

HCE 5 4

NHCE 2 2

plan now passes ACP, but one of the rules for shift is plan must pass ADP afterwards. It doesnt.

so can I now treat 1% of HCE as catch up?

Profit Sharing plan that excludes union added 401k. Union are eligible to defer into the plan, but not eligible for ps.

Am I correct that Union Employees are tested separately for the ADP test?

I am 53-yr old with only $10,000 in SepIra at ETrade to trade some stocks. Did not do well there. There is no IRA or 401k anywhere. I am thinking to put $4500 in some Roth IRA. Seek some astute input from you folks.

Have 6-month or so in emergency fund at Capital One Money Market account that pays 2.45% (through Costco deal).

Plan to work for another 15 yr or so (on 1099).

Spent all money that I had to fund two kids in colleges. Now, they are on their own, I need to fund my retirement. I know it's late, but my house and truck are paid off.

Thanks.

Greetings. I am currently a Tax LLM Student, and I was wondering if under a plan where an employer pays the premiums on insurance for employees and the employer also pays the deductible required to be paid by the employee for hospital visits whether the employee can exclude from gross income the payment by the employer for the deductible. Wouldn't this be eligible for the 105 exclusion because its essentially reimbursement for medical expenses because to incur the cost of the deductible, the employee must have engaged in some medical services? On the other hand this seems to be a gain though too...Im so confused...anyone help me?

Have a 20 participant frozen DB that is covered by PBGC.

A 50% owner participant has reached NRA and the document allows for an in-service distribution after reaching NRA. This participants benefit represents 60% of all plan benefits. Is there a problem distributing his entire benefit now?

PVAB's based on 417(e) rate is approx $1,800,000 and assets are approx $1,500,000.

The problem is that his PVAB will decrease with each future year.

Can one plan cover salaried, hourly, and collective bargained employyes ?

Classic medical Affiliated Service Group (ASG) has an LLC with employees and then 2 professional corps for each of the 2 doctors. All conceded it's an ASG but still want a DB plan in each P.C. and a 7.5% MP plan in the LLC for staff. I can permissively aggregate plans and pass 401(a)(4), but have to still bring in staff at "meaningful" benefit levels into each DB to pass 401(a)(26). I haven't looked at any DB offset arrangement possibilities but let's ignore for this question.

Question: Since I have staff in the DB plans for 401(a)(26) I have common participants so I presume 404(a)(7) combined deduction limitations kick in ? The only reason I'm asking is I don't see a tie in the 414(m) code regarding an ASG being subject to Section 404. Is there any argument that each P.C. can deduct it's own DB contributions (including some staff from the LLC) and the LLC can deduct it's own MP contribution without the ASG group being combined for 404(a)(7) purposes ?

Our company pays for STD for all PT and FT employees. One of our employees received benefits for her FMLA under this plan, but is now terminating her employment before the full FMLA leave has been exhausted. Can we recoup any of the employer paid premiums for her benefits now that she has terminated voluntarily?

How should a more than 5% owner of a company, who does not take a salary, be treated for purposes of the top heavy test? We take the conservative route and classify him as ineligible since he has no comp, that he's not included in the ADP since he of course is not able to defer anything with no comp. The question is, should he be included as a key employee in performing the top heavy test, even though he is ineligible?

I know that there are several previous threads about this topic. I've searched for and read the earlier discussions, but I can't find a comprehensive answer to my questions. I'm hoping you'll bear with me as I raise this issue yet again.

There's a direct rollover from a QP to an IRA. The TPA goofs and distributes too much money. The individual gets to keep the overpayment, because the plan fiduciaries successfully recover the full amount from the TPA.

1. I'm certain that the overpayment is the participant's taxable income and isn't eligible for rollover. Can anybody cite an authority for this?

2. Would you issue two separate Form 1099-Rs? My thought is to use one Form 1099-R for the amount of the "real" rollover, with Code G, and another Form 1099-R for the taxable overpayment, with Code 1.

3. Doesn't the plan administrator have some obligation to notify the IRA trustee about the overpayment?

4. Does the individual have IRA basis for the taxable overpayment?

I thank you, in advance, for both your help and patience.

I have very little experience with church plans and would appreciate some help.

If a private college is "affliated" with a church convention, does that automatically qualify them as a church plan? If not, what are the key points to review in order to determine if an employee benefit plan is indeed a church plan?

Thank you.

I have a top heavy 401(k) plan that has a match and also provide an additional PS contribution that is integrated. The doc states that the match will go toward satisfying the top heavy minimum. My question is basically "can the match be used in integration"? For some reason I thought it couldn't, but when I allocate the additional contribution it is considering the match in the integrated formula.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Carson Vaughan

I'm looking at a tax-exempt 457(b) plan document using a TIAA-CREF prototype. The base document provides for lump and annuity options. It's my understanding annuities shouldn't be offered by a tax exempt 457(b) plan if a lump sum option is also permitted. The amounts become available and taxable. Am I wrong?

I WOULD JUST RATHER HAVE ONE THING TO WORRY ABOUT. BUT WHEN I SPOKE TO THE GUY AT OTHER COMPANY HE SAID THEY WOULD TRANSFER THE IRA FROM MET LIFE TO THEIR BANK BUT KEEP THE ORIGINAL YEAR AS TRADITIONAL. HE SAID THE NEW CONTRUIBUTIONS WOULD GO TO ROTH. i DIDNT UNDERSTAND WHY HE WANTED TO DO IT THAT WAY. i JUST WANT IT ALL IN THE ROTH. i DONT WANT TO LEAVE THE ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION AS TRADITIONAL. PLEASE EXPLAIN WHY HE WOULD WANT TO DO IT TAHT WAY. IS IT A PAIN FOR HIM TO TRANSFER IT?

Ours is a TPA firm, no product, so we work with a lot of different financial advisors, many of whom bring admin business to us. When an employee terminates employement or retires (particularly those with larger balances or benefits), we normally let the financial advisor know ASAP so that she can get a jump on talking to the employee about rolling the money or providing other advice on how to handle their money. Is there anything wrong with this, technically or ethically? Normally the advisor would know about it anyways when it comes time to move money to pay the person out so I don't really see a problem here, but wanted to check to see what others think.