Is anyone familiar with the rules relating to participation and/or accrual in a DB plan in this situation:

An employer has maintained a union shop, and was contributing to a collectively bargained plan for his union employees. The employer has never had a plan of his own.

This business is no longer "unionized" and he wants to start a qualified plan of his own. The employees are still the same people (ie they are no longer in a union). Can the plan, for eligibility/vesting purposes, assume that these ex-union employees have a date of hire as of their exit from the union?

Likewise, if the new DB plan is a unit credit plan with past service credits, for accrual purposes, can the plan ignore the union employees' service while they were in the union?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Participant dies, qualified plan provides for Death Benefit as a Lump Sum. Beneficiaries are 2 non-spouse survivors living in Puerto Rico. Which withholding and tax form reporting rule applies: Non-Spousal Death Benefit or Puerto Rico Lump Sum Payment?

company A 401(k). The company (Company B) that is not in the plan has been excluded and has their own plan. Company B is a union shop.

We found out today that company B is going into union negotiations and they wanted to know if there was a way for them to pull out of the (global) union plan and "roll" those proceeds into the company A plan.

The way I see it there is not a distributable event, so what transaction allows this to take place (if indeed it can)?

I am not sure what other specifics to furnish so I will watch the post and answer questions as they arise.

Thanks to all who have or will help me on this one!

Jim

How does an employer file 5500 when their contract year changes? For example, for years, the 5500 was filed on a calendar year basis, but the contract year with the carrier was October thru September. Last year, the employer extended the contract to 15 months so that the contract year would end in December and thereafter, they would have a contract year equal to a calendar year. The question is about reporting the extra three months since 5500s only allow for a 12 month reporting period.

I have an employee who was covering his dependent due to a child support order. The order has now been terminated and he is no longer required to carry the coverage for his son, who will be turning 18. Under COBRA, would this qualify for 18 months or 36 months of coverage?

Is there something, either informally( from IRS or DOL) or in the reg's, that allows a 401k plan to test ADP/ACP on partial yr comp --even if the doc says to use full yr comp?

We added 401(k) provisions to an existing profit sharing plan in 2003. They were added in November, 2003 and we anticipated using the 3% assumed deferral rate for the prior year to get through the testing hoop. Of course, all of the doctors immediately deferred $10,000, but the employees were only able to defer small amounts for the remaining 2 months. ADP test passes, of course, using the assumed 3% prior year NHCE ADP. Doctors would now like to fund additional employer contribution(s) to achieve maximum $40K. By funding a 100% match, we can achieve another $10,000 towards the $40K and significantly reduce the remaining PSP contribution for the staff. This appears to be permissible, but would you do it? Is it too abusive? And obviously, with such a low ADP for 2003, we anticipate amending the plan to current year testing method in 2004.

------ Are Conduit IRAs "aggregated" along with with all other Traditional IRA assets when converting to a Roth IRA? --------

- An individual converts 100% of all her Traditional IRAs assets ($10K) to a Roth IRA in January 2004.

- All contributions to her traditional IRA were pre-tax.

- A few weeks later her employer goes out of business and mails her 401(k) distribution paperwork.

- She distributes 100% of the $90K in her 401(k) to a Conduit IRA.

- The rollover distribution consists of 50% post-tax assets & 50% pre-tax assets.

- A few weeks later she finds a new job and rolls the Conduit IRA into her new employer's 401(k) plan as "plan assets" (not as a "Deemed IRA").

Does the she have to aggregate both the Traditional IRA assets and Conduit IRA assets in 2004 for purposes of determining the taxable portion of the conversion?

What if she simply left the assets in the Conduit IRA through the end of 2004 - would that make a difference with respect to the aggregation rules for determining the taxable portion of the conversion?

:angry:I am looking for information regarding questionable practioners who are in this plan and whether CIGNA does anything to screen the providers that are in the network. My information is that the CIGNA DMO is about to be the Defendant in a suit in NJ and Federal Court along with the PEO Extensis because they do not screen their providers, respond to customer complaints or enforce the network contracts when things go wrong. If anyone has the information I need before I review the RFP please respond.

Can anyone provide information regarding the law as it relates to acceptance of electronic beneficary designations? If the beneficiary designation form is provided online and we don't require a signed, printed copy, is it ok to accept the digital signature at the bottom of the online form? Thanks for any information you can provide.

A (non-PBGC covered) plan was terminated in 2003. The 2003 Valuation & Sch B were prepared on plan termination basis.

No assets have yet been distributed from the plan. The client now wants to keep the plan alive and make contributions to the plan!

How does one Void a termination and what are the implications for the 2003 Val & Sch B?

If an employer A sells fully owned subsidiary M during the plan year, is there a grace period where the subsidiary M's employees can continue participating in employer A's 401(k) plan?

Since Church plans are exempt from ERISA, the usual "reasonable" standrds and prohibited transaction rules do not apply. Other than the exclusive benefit rule, what limits the expenses charged to church plan participants?

My situation is a regional church organization sponsors a plan that local congregations participate in for the local's paid staff. Regional employees provide all the administrative functions (processing contributions, distributions, participant questions, etc.) excpet for investment management services. Regional org wants to charge expenses of doing so to the plan.

What limits will apply?

Can anyone provide information regarding the law as it relates to acceptance of electronic beneficary designations? If the beneficiary designation form is provided online and we don't require a signed, printed copy, is it ok to accept the digital signature at the bottom of the online form? Thanks for any information you can provide.

Recently we were involved in a discussion regarding how to fix a plan that had made non safe harbor formula contributions to a profit sharing plan. It was discussed that a corrective amendment could be prepared for 401(a)(4) testing for all three years (2001, 2002, 2003) as long as the amendment was signed and dated before Sept. 2004. Does this sound correct to anyone? Thanks

Is there a restriction or requirement on who can/must be named as a beneficiary on a 423(b) plan, requiring a spousal waiver, similar to an ERISA plan. Since 423(b)s are not governed by ERISA, would the requirements be strictly based on state law? And, if so, is anyone aware of some restrictions/limits due to states being community property states as opposed to non-community property states?

All help is greatly appreciated!

This question has been passed through a few people so i only have a few facts. The sponsor of a DB plan has given plan money to a company that owns ATM machines. the ATM machines provide income to the owner based on the surcharges incurred by users of the ATM. Every month a check is written to the DB plan for its share of the surcharge fees.

The plan sponsor has received a notice from the IRS saying they need to file form 990 for the past 3 years to report the Unrelated Business Income Tax.

Is there a way to see this as something other than Unrelated Business Income?? Thanks.

I am looking for information on Bank One's tuition assistance programs. Does anyone no anything about them. Maximums, credit per semester etc.

im pretty sure the short answer is no, but a 5% owner was wanting to transfer his rmd to a charity without paying taxes. can a portion of a rmd be transferred without the tax penalty?

If someone is collecting social security can they still be eligible to have their health insurance premiums pretax?