Assuming a client missed the 9/15 deadline for making the profit sharing contributions so the deduction for 2003 is gone. We can still make the contribution today and it would be deductible for 2004 but considered a 2003 contribtion correct? Can we continue doing that for a few years until the deduction for the missed contribution has been recouped? IE making a portion of the contribution prior to September 15 to reach the 404 max and the rest after september 15; continuing to do this until she has "regained" her lost deduction?

If the plan was originally a stock bonus plan (not subject to diversification) and was amended to be an esop, do you count years of participation for diversification from the original plan date or from the date it was amended to an esop?

Thanks

Dee

An esop declares a dividend of $1 per share for a virtually new plan. let's assume there are 100,000 share and $100,000 is deposited into the plan's other investment account as a dividend. this was done so as to have cash available to pay out soon to be retirees.

since only 10,000 shares are currently allocated in the plan and 90,000 shares are still unallocated, can the declared dividend be allocated among the participants currently in the plan or does $90,000 need to be accounted for separately and placed in some sort of unallocated dividend account?

thanks

$8 million contribution for plan sponsor was inadvertently booked to VEBA on 9/14/04. Then offset and rebooked to pension fund on 9/17/04. Is it OK to use 9/14/04 date received on Schedule B?

May seem silly to ask, but in the SOX world....

Understand if husband dies with Roth, wife can adopt/inherit and no distribution required until her demise. Also understand she can disclaim to the Bypass Trust as beneficiary of Roth. On portion retained by wife, can she still withhold taking distribution? On the portion going to Bypass, can the three children each receive a tax free distribution based on their life expectancy, or does if defer to the age of the oldest child? Any problems I should be aware of in funding the Bypass and setting up the required Roth distributions?

I'm designing a plan for a group of emergency room physicians. The group includes physicians (all HCE), physician's assitants (some HCE, some NHCE), and the office manager (NHCE). The first try resulted in a plan the satisfied the calculation-based safe harbor. Then some of the docs asked for lower contributions, which will mean lower formulas. Will this blow the safe harbor because I no longer have the same formula, or can I still avail myself of the exception that allows for benefits of lower value to HCEs?

What is the best way to calculate lost opportunity earnings on employee deferral contributions that have not been deposited in a timely manner. Are there specific regs on how those earnings must be calculated? I can't find anything specific.

I'm a personal finance/tax guy with a client whose employer is telling us that even though he elected to begin deferals into the 401k in August, he will be receiving no match in 2004 since he had already earned $205,000 before his deferal election became effective. Company is saying that he can defer, but he gets no match.

"There is a legal stipulation by the IRS that you can only contribute for the first $205,000 that you earn to get the company match."

Doesn't seem right to me. Any thoughts?

Does anyone know where I can find easy access to the Puerto Rico 401K tax rules and regs? Other than purchasing a copy of the laws or resorting to Puerto Rican counsel?

My 401K is underperforming. I plan to reduce contributions down to 1%. My company does not match. This move will not throw me into another tax bracket. I have calculated what the after-tax amount will be to invest and plan to start a ROTH IRA. This will be my first trek into taking control of my retirement (only 15 to 20 years left to go) and I really am under-educated. Advice has been sturdy but looking for verification. Care to weigh in? Thanks!!

I have a client that is terminating their SIMPLE IRA effective December 31, 2004. Can the assets from the SIMPLE IRA plan be rolled into the new 401(K) plan that they establish?

Isn't there some rule regarding taking money out of a SIMPLE IRA before being a participant for two years?

If yes, please provide the name of the software and why it works well for you (along with any problems you have).

Thanks!

can trustee decline making a second loan on grounds of creditworthiness? loan program does not say so specifically but allows trustee to consider creditworthiness.

We have a premium conversion plan that is used solely to pay health and dental benefits pre-tax, no FSA component. I understand that the underlying health and dental plan is subject to COBRA, but is the cafeteria plan that is used to pay the premiums pre-tax subject to COBRA (Sec. 54.4980B-2, Q&A 1 of the regs strongly suggests that a cafeteria plan is a group health plan subject to COBRA), and if not, why do most cafeteria plan documents include a COBRA discussion?

I appreciate any advice.

I have a client who has a 401k plan and has elected Simple 401k status for the past several years. When they saw that the statutory limit increases every year, they asked if could they put a plan limit on the participant's elective deferrals during simple 401k years, i.e. they want to keep the deferral limit at $8,000.

Is this allowed?

Top Heavy rules provide that, for purposes of determining whether a plan is top-heavy, you must exclude the account of any non-key employee if that employee was a key employee in any prior plan year.

What if an employee is a key employee (a partner), then is TERMINATED AND RE-HIRED as an of-counsel non-key employee. Can we consider the re-hired employee a non-key employee and consider their account for purposes of top-heavy testing?

The ability to do this would turn our 68% top heavy plan into an under-60% non-top heavy plan!

In filing the Form 5307 and attachments to request a determination, a Form 2848 was filed with the tax matters specified as Form 5307 and related forms. This provided us with power of attorney. Now, can the power of attorney sign off on the certification for exemption from user fees on the Form 8717?

Todays NY times has a front page article on the reduction of the retirement benefit of a 61 year old retiree from 151k to 22k when the employer filed for bankruptcy. I know that the max insured benefit is about 45k for a 65 year old but how does the reduction operate for ees less than 65?

I just recently looked at Code Sec. 7702B re long term care. Appears that it is to be treated as an accident and health plan. Do the same discrimination requirements apply? Employer wanted to provide e/ee's with choice between long term care insurance and cash knowing that only one of the highly compensated e/ee's would choose the long term care insurance. My thought was that would fail the discrimination req's for cafeteria plans. Employer then gave me a brochure from insurance agent which stated that an employer could provide long term care insurance under 7702B under a discriminatory basis. I am trying to find the Code justification for this. In the past, what I had found was that if an insurance company was willing to write it, then it wasn't discriminatory. Anybody able to shed some light on the discrimination rules which may or may not apply to long term care insurance? Thanks.

Does anyone here know of some good precious metals index funds and mutual funds? (funds in precious metals companies)? That is, funds with low expense ratios, preferrable low or no load.