Hi Folks,

I hope you can help me out with this...

I have a person that wishes to claim the COBRA premiums from a former employer through the current employer's flexplan.

Can this be done?

TIA

Kevin

Has anyone looked at the issue of whether PHI may be disclosed to the sponsor's independent auditor for FAS 106 purposes?

My initial though is that this disclosure of PHI is not covered by any of the exemptions and would not be permitted under the HIPAA privacy rules. Also, not being an auditor, I don't know why summary or de-identified health information would not be sufficient for this purpose.

Any thoughts?

papogi:

I've heard of employers trying to design eligibility conditions for health plans that being covered or not being covered under your spouse's employer's health plan affects your ability to participate in your employer's health plan. The inclusion or exclusion rule might have been designed to only apply to dependents, my memory is very fuzzy on this point. In fact, I honestly don't remember precisely what the configuration was or what objetive the employer was trying to achieve.

Have you heard of any such arrangements? Do you have an opinion as to whether they are legally permissible? Do they achieve their desired results?

Actually, I would like to hear from anybody that has any experience and/or insight regarding the legality and/or efficacy of such plan design features.

My financial advisor is trying to get me to invest in a plan from Wachovia call "FundSource." Minimum investment is $25,000. It allows switching mutual funds without front or back-end fees anytime you want. But there is a 1.5% fee. Is it a good deal and what else can I do with that $25,000. I already have an IRA.

Is a DB plan maintained by a non-profit corporation (501©(3)) covered under PBGC? I can't find anything that says it isn't.

Is there anything wrong with defining rate groups as follows:

Rate Group 1: owners

Rate Group 2: non-owner HCE who defer statutory max deferrals

Rate Group 3: non-owner HCE who do not defer statutory max deferrals

Rate Group 4: All others

The owners have agreed to fund non-owner HCE up to $30k per year ONLY if they make max deferrals

They do not want to give it to a HCE that does not defer the max each year

My colleague insists that the IRS "busted" someone who took a 60-day rollover and temporarily used the $ for a down payment on a home, but still completed the process within the 60-days. Have you heard of such a case? I have been unable to find anything more about the issue, but I think that Pub 590 is pretty clear:

"You can withdraw, tax free, all or part of the assets from one traditional IRA if you reinvest them within 60 days in the same or another traditional IRA. (2002 590 p. 23).

Am I missing something, or is my friend up in the night?

An employee works for both company A and B, members of the same affiliated service group. The only plan in the ASG is a DB plan that has a 1,000 hr. requirement for accruals. The employee had over 1,000 hrs. with co. A and less than 500 hrs. for co. B. The plan defines compensation as using the 415 safe harbor definition. Is it correct to only use co. A's compensation for plan purposes?

We are seeking Volunteer Representatives to represent the USMWF in their state. Interested candidates are encouraged to send their resume (or reasons interested) and contact detail for consideration.

info@usmwf.org http://www.usmwf.org

Thank you

My nonprofit employer has a 403(b) with employer matching contributions. Is bond insurance required under ERISA? One of the questions on the form 5500 prep. sheet we received from our preparer asks "Did a fidelity bond cover this plan during the plan year?" Thank you.

Is anyone familiar with the following scenario:

U.S. employer sponsors a 401(k)/profit sharing plan. Presently, none of the U.S. employer's wholly-owned foreign subsidiaries have adopted the plan. May the plan be amended to provide that only employees of adopting employers who are citizens or permanent residents of the U.S. will be covered by the 401(k)/profit sharing plan? In other words, could the plan exclude nonresident alien employees from coverage?

Thank you for any comments.

D.L.

I just took over a 401(k) plan whose previous administrator notified them (correctly, by the way) that they needed to make a 3% Top-Heavy contribution for the plan year ended 12/31/02. I just got the accounting records for 2003 and the contribution was never made, and the client just verified that it never got done. I have normally treated this as a Form 5330, failure to meet minimum funding, 10% excise tax. It's been so long since I've had a client not meet their contribution requirement that I want to make sure that I report this correctly.

Thanks for any replies.

When an employee goes from subsidy status to non-subsidy status with an employer due to employer rules (commissioned sales person not meeting sales targets to get subsidy), is this a qualifying event that starts the COBRA process? With notice of the loss of subsidy does the employee have 45 days to opt out of the plan if they are paying the full freight from the time the subsidy is lost?

If one of the plans in a multiple employer plan has a disqualifying event, does it make the whole multiple employer plan disqualified?

Thanks

Could someone tell me if, based on the following information, do any of the companies constitute a controlled group?

Co. A Co. B Co. C Co. D

Jim 19% 0% 27% 25%

Steve 19% 0% 0% 25%

Joe 40% 100% 0% 0%

Tim 13% 0% 0% 25%

Mike 0% 0% 0% 25%

John 3% 0% 73% 0%

Thank you so much!

Auditor sent typcial FAS 132/87 request to us on a client's 412i plan. I'm having a hard time imagining that much (or any) of FAS 132/87 would apply to a 412i plan since benefits are as provided under the contract (except maybe top-heavy if greater) so would there be any required disclosures under FAS 132/87 for a 412(i) plan ? Should they show a pension expense on financial statements equal to the premiums of the 412(i) contracts ? Thanks for any thoughts/opinions.

T’is the season where a taxpayer may be just realizing that he/she is ineligible for that IRA contribution, and that the contribution must either be removed or recharacterized.

The final regulations for calculating the income of these contributions (and Roth conversion that are being recharacterized) are available at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-regs/td9056.pdf

An X-spouse of a participant in a 401(k) is about to get her QDRO distribution... question, can she roll it into her Simple IRA where she works???

We have company AB, PC and BD, PC (individuals) who each own 50% of EF, LLC. AB's husband owns 100% of GI.

2 employees split their time between AB and GI. GI has a plan and EF has a plan. Which plan do these 2 employees belong to? GI is an eye doctor and EF is plastic surgery. (AB and BD are also plastic surgery)

In addition, AB has $75,000 in compensation from EF, LLC and $100,000 from AB, PC. For EF, LLC's plan, do AB, PC and BC, PC need to adopt the plan in order to use compensation related to the individual entities?

July 2003, an ER cut a manual check for a participant's commission and the ER held $270.02 for his 401K... but somehow it did not get transmitted and sent in to the plan's trust.

The participant's 401k earnings on his W-2 includes this amount, but it is not included in plan's trust statements as an amount contributed because it was not.

Late deposit of a 401k deferral is a fiduciary breach that may be corrected under the VFCP by having the ER contribute the amount delinquent plus earnings (greater of plan's actual earnings or the interest rate under Code 6621(a)(2) [currently 6%]).

Late deposits are also prohibited transactions which, to correct, require a filing of Form 5330 and payment of a 15% excise tax.

My question is that since the late amount was segregated from the ER's assets, is this still a prohibited transaction requiring the above corrective measures? Is the PT itself the late deposit or the failure to segregate the deferral/assets or both?