Can someone please point me to where I can look up the rules for spousal consent for distributions from a DC plan? I know it should be for amounts over $5000 but is it only on Money Purchase Plans or only for plans with annuities or is it for all distributions over $5000? Thanks for any help.

Pursuant to IRC 401(a)(11)©, ESOPs are exempt from the QJSA & QPSA requirements if they satisfy the three requirements of 401(a)(11)(B)(iii). One of those requirements is that a participant's vested benefits are payable in full on the death of the participant.

Does that mean that when a participant dies, whether before or after commencement of distributions, that the beneficiary must receive the entire vested amount in one lump sum?

For instance, we have a participant that terminated service with the employer. Before the terminated participant started receiving benefits he died. According to 401(a)(11)(B)(iii) [to maintain QJSA exempt status] do we have to distribute 100% of the participant's vested benefits to the beneficiary in a lump sum, or can the beneficiary receive the benefit over the installment schedule that the participant would have received the benefits? I guess the question is what the term "in full" means?

Any assistance with this would be appreciated! Thanks.

Has anyone approved a claim for sunscreen? In South Florida, everyone is advised to wear sunscreen every day. We have a claim from an attorney (actually a litigator) who bought sunscreen at his dermatologist. We were not able to develop a history of skin cancer. We have denied the claim, but want some other input in case he appeals. Thanks for your help.

Can anyone lead me to a good site that has material on Non-Q plans?

Thanks!

I have a plan that allows for installment payments or lump sum. Participant has chosen installment option (yuk..from administrative end!).

The participant has asked if they can reduce installments if they find that the amount they are getting is too much.

The corbel election form for distributions says that installmetn period can be accelerated, but says nothing about reduced? Therefore, I believe that it can not be reduced, probably to avoid the possibility of payouts beyond the life expectancy. However, do you know if there is anything in the regs that would allow reduction, as long as it is not extended beyond life expectancy?

What i'm getting at is that i'm not sure if this is true for all documents or if we could amend our document???

Thanks.

Dee

I have a question, I am currently a Plan Administrator and have a STRONG interest in taking the CFA exam(s). Does anyone know what areas (Compliance, Client Services, etc.) within the Retirement Services industry that a CFA charter would compliment well (if at all)? Thanks in adavnce to anybody that can answer this question.

John

Real Estate Sole Proprietor (Schedule C) wants to setup a SEP.

He owns 100% of another company with 5 employees, which he does not work for or receive compensation. The company is a C-Corp that 2 years ago terminated a 401k plan.

What issues do you see for the Sole prop? I thought a SEP did not require discrimination testing which would allow us to ignore the employees of the other company.

Thank you

Is there any duty under HIPAA to disclose to group health plan participants the identity of business associates, for example a third party administrator maintaining a Web-based claims information center? More specifically, does the covered entity (plan sponsor) have to disclose the fact that it does not maintain the claims info center, that is otherwise designed and "branded" to appear that it is maintained by the plan sponsor alone.

I'm amending a client's sch C, but now there's an excess SEP contribution. What is the proper way to correct this and will the excess be subject to a penalty? Thanks for the help.

If a pension plan provides for the payment of medical expenses (not its primary purpose and the payments are subject to certain restrictions) is it subject to the Privacy Rules?

I'm looking for feedback from those of you that have negotiated with the IRS regarding penalties/excise taxes/etc. that arose from an audit of DB plans. The IRS is giving the client an initial sanction of $45,000 and I'm trying to get it to $0 (of course). If you have any experience in dealing the IRS attitiude, especially in So Calif., I would like to hear what you learned.

Here's the barebones of what's going on with my client. The DB Plan FSA omitted quarterly contributions and interest thereon on the Sch B (for 02). The local IRS actuary has done his calcs on what it should have been, what the excise tax should be, and wants to collect $45K from the client.

The Plan has since been terminated and all participants were distributed their benefits, 100% vested of course, and no waivers of any kind. The termination was audited and passed with no change. My opinion is that this is a "no harm no foul" situation. Any monies desired by the IRS are rationalized by technicalities (isn't all of our work?) and are unreasonable.

Discussion anyone?

Our plan has a qualified preretirement spousal annuity default and option. Many young widows and widowers prefer a lump-sum payment.

When their minor children are the contingent beneficiaries, couldn't the surviving spouse defeat the QPSA requirement by disclaiming his or her own benefit and accepting a lump-sum payment as the guardian of the minor children?

Couldn't find a better forum for my question. Since you are dealing with spousal rights and benefits here, I thought someone might have run across this before.

Does anyone have participants residing in Puerto Rico in their plan? If so, are their distributions handled differently (taxes, etc.)?

I have a 401(k) with a limited partnership as an investment. The LP was sold by the broker who works for one of the big investment houses. I wasn't sure if the LP was considered Unrelated Business Income reportable on 990-T?

Anyone have an example of a One Page Summary to give to the EEs for an upcoming meeting? One page, not the SPD. Something to quickly outline the plans provisions... Vesting, cont formula, eligibility

Thanks!

A client recently had an employee terminate because he was an illegal immigrant. That employee has profit sharing and deferral amounts in the plan, fully vested. What happens to the terminated illegal immigrant's retirement money?

I have a company that terminated an employee over two months ago. On the date to termination they completed a distribution request form, Sponsor and Participant. To date the company has not sent the distribution request form to the Custodian. Is there a statutory requirement that the Sponsor must submit the form to the Custodian by? Is there a statutory requirement as to the latest date the Participant must receive their distribution by? Is there penalties and/or can the Sponsor be liable for losses incurred if they do not request the distribution in a timely manner? Thanks for your time and have a great day!

Closely-held ESOP makes annual stock contribution. Year-end annual valuation cannot be completed before April 15 of next year. What amount is properly deductible? Assume filing an extention in order to allow more time to complete the valuation is not an option and that completing the valuation by April 15 is not an option. Must the 12-31 valuation for the applicable plan year be used or can the prior plan year's valuation be used since the applicable plan year's valuation cannot be completed in time for tax filing? Employer really does not want to use the prior year valuation (even if this is ok). What are the options?

I believe it is common that valuations for closely-held ESOPs are not completed until 5-6 months into the next calendar year, so this question must come up fairly often for employers making stock contributions to closely-held ESOPs.

Any help would greatly be appreciated!

A 100% owner of a company - his wife who has an account balance under the plan died over a year ago, and the owner rolls over his spouse's account balance into a segregated account under his name in the plan - would this be considered an "unrelated" rollover and therefore not counted in the top-heavy test?

Could somebody please shed some light on the differences between the two types of plans?

It is my understanding that 403(a) plans are "qualified" plans funded through annuity contracts purchased by the employer for the employees, and that 403(b) plans are not considered "qualified," can only be sponsored by an eligible employer (i.e., 501©(3)) and can fund the plan through custodial accounts or annuity contracts.

I'm not finding any detailed information providing me with the major differences. Thank you in advance.