I'm trying to gather a collection of QDRO horror stories. If anyone has any, could you please pass them on?

Is it a good idea to distribute SPDs that have benefits described in them that are not offered by the employer? For example, the employer offers a health FSA but not a DCAP. The TPA provides an SPD that includes information about health FSAs and DCAPs. On the front of the SPD it would indicates that the employer only offers the health FSA. Anyone foresee problems with this?

Does anyone know if the Archer MSAs have been extended into 2004, or will only existing plans be allowed. Or do you know the status of any legislation that might once again extend the MSA concept for new plans into 2004?

If an employer sponsors an experience rated medical plan which operates on a 3/1 to 2/28 plan year, can the insurer charge more when the person terminates from employment? A detail I should share is that the employee turned 65 in January, the premium did not adjust at that time, but when the employee termed in June the insurer adjusted the premium (by increasing it).

I have a 401(k) plan whose payroll cycle is bi-weekly. However, they only remit the contributions on a monthly basis. I know that the DOL's view is that the deadline for 401(k) deposits is as soon as they can reasonably be segregated from the general assets of the employer. Should I have this customer remit their contributions after each of the bi-weekly payrolls? They recently were audited by the DOL and they did not make this recommendation.......

Any opinions would be appreciated.

MPP merged to PSP in 2002. Owner, wife and 1 other participant. Self directed broker accounts.

"other participant" did not merge her account but took a distribution from the MPP. No signed paperwork and amount taken exceeds 50% of the combined MPP/PSP balances so loan does not work. Also no 1099R.

Any suggestions to correct would be appreciated.

I work for a company that uses an employee leasing arrangement, so technically I'm employed by the leasing firm. We are paid weekly, and I participate in the 401K plan. The 401K plan administrator is an independant company, serving other clients nationwide.

The problem I'm having is the timeliness of investing the funds deducted from my paycheck. My employer says that 401K deductions are sent to the plan administrator "twice a month". I thought it was every two weeks, but they corrected me on that. As I write this (9/20/03), my deduction from my 8/22/03 paycheck still has not made it to the 401K firm. Or maybe it has, but the 401K administrator hasn't posted it to my account (purchased the mutual funds I've selected) as of tonight.

So, the first question, is there any regulation as to the time an employer has to forward 401K deductions to the plan administrator?

Which brings me to the second part of the problem. Since I can review my 401K account online, I have noticed (and have actual proof) that they have received the funds from the employer, but take as many as 3 weeks to "settle" the funds to the proper mutual fund selected. In other words, it takes them as many as 3 weeks to buy the shares in the funds. In reality, it appears that they are playing with my money. I've noticed a number of times that they would get a check from my employer, allocate the funds to the 2 mutual funds I've selected, and mark that as "pending settlement". 2-3 weeks then pass by, and the account is then marked "settled". If the price of the shares went up during that time, they "settled" the purchase at the higher price at the later date. If, during the 2-3 weeks the shares went down, they settled the purchase at the price prior to the shares going down, but at the later date. I am convinced they are pocketing the difference each time.

The second question, is there a regulation as to the time the 401K administrator has to invest those funds per the instructions of the contributor?

And the last question, when I buy shares in a mutual fund through a plan administrator, do I actually buy those shares directly from the mutual fund, or does the administrator buy those shares (along with other contributors wishing to own the same mutual fund) and allocate my ownership through in-house bookkeeping?

Carl C

My son is 17, working part time-would like to encourage him to start a Roth IRA-can he do it on his own or will he have to wait until age 18? He will not make more than $3000 this year, but will next year. Not sure how to get started with this but do want him to start a Roth as soon as he can. Any direction you can offer would be appreciated.

A profit sharing plan is to be set up as a new comparability plan. The employer is a small company owned 100% by one individual. The owner's wife is also employed at the company.

The targeted group is just the owner, excluding his wife who will be in the "all other" group.

Is it acceptable to list the owner as a classification by name?

If we listed the classification as "All Owners", could it be argued that the spouse should be included in that group, due to attribution?

Would a reasonable classification be something such as:

"All Owners, excluding those participants who are owners due to stock attribution rules".

Thanks.

I know the 401(k) elective deferrals & matching contributions cannot be used as an offset for a "safe harbor" Floor Offset DBP.

Can the 3% contributed to make the 401(k) safe harbor be used for offset?

Client dies at age 69, having taken no distributions from her IRA. Three adult children inherit IRA, all of which are less than 59 1/2. Are they required to take a RMD based on their life expectancies? If so, do they have option to select settlement option, such as life only or 10 yrs certain, etc.? Additionally, is there a site that will provide approx. calculation of the amount they'll have to take each year? (None want to take any distribution so I want it to be for the least possible). Thank youl.

Has anyone see this? Comments?

National Employee Savings & Trust Equity Guarantee Act of 2003.

This is the Senate Finance Comittee Chairman's Modification as published by the JCT

<a href='http://www.house.gov/jct/x-78-03.pdf'>http://www.house.gov/jct/x-78-03.pdf</a>

I know its only proposed but it is interesting. Bringing back some changes to 5500 reporting dropped from EGTRRA and some IRA changes as well.

I realize this question has been addressed before but I have a client who applied for a personal loan for a vehicle and the loan officer claims that his loan from his retirement plan is showing up. First of all, I don't know how this would show up on a credit report, second the liability for the loan is to the participant himself so how would this affect his credit rating or ability to qualify for a loan. Does anybody have anything in print form I can give to the participant discussing this?

Can anyone provide a list of carriers who offer erisa fidelity bonds for nonqualifying assets. This plan will have close to 1 million in nonqualifying assets.

If a retirement plan's trustees have changed, do we have to amend the plan document, or would a resolution suffice?

Who signs it? The old trustees and the new ones, or just the new trustees?

Does anyone have sample language?

I have a participant who recently died. Mother is the beneficiary and the participant had a large outstanding loan balance. The mother will receive the 1099 R for the death benefit portion. Who receives the 1099 R for the outstanding loan balance and what code should be used?

I just read Corbel's September 18, 2003 Technical Update on the Final Catch-Up Regulations. See http://www.corbel.com/news/technicalupdate....asp?ID=223&T=P. It states that all participants must have the same effective opportunity to make catch-up contributions. However, "A plan fails to provide this effective opportunity if there is any applicable limit, such as an employer-provided limit, which a catch-up eligible participant is not able to exceed (e.g., 60% deferral limit which applies to total elective deferrals). . . . It states that the final regulations provide four options, one of them being that "the plan can impose a payroll deferral limit (normal and catch-up) of not less than 75%". This seems to be an incorrect reading of the Final regulations. I interpret the 75% rule to apply to the cash available for deferral and not the actual deferral % limit. That is, a 401(k) plan can state that an employee may elect to defer between 1 and 50% of their "compensation"; provided that their "compensation" is limited to 75% of their compensation (after withholdings).

If Corbel is correct, I have a number of plans to amend by year end.

Any thoughts?

I would like to know if a publicly traded corporation that, sponsors a qualified profit sharing plan with a 401(k) feature with participant-direction investments, adds its own common stock as an investment option for all contribution sources in the plan (ee salary reduction, match and discetionary profit sharing), does the corporation need to re-register with the SEC?

Thanks.

Even with the combination of the IBM court decision (which is being appealed) and the House bill to prevent Treasury dept. from issuing any proposed regs blessing cash-balance plans/conversions, is there really any reason to hold back on implementing a new cash-balance plan that meet existing regs?

Practically speaking, are people still getting IRS determination letters on new plans ?

I'm curious what people are telling new clients interested in starting up one of these plans in 2003 and would appreciate any comments.

Client filed both of their qualified retirement plans (one DB and one DC) with the IRS under the GUST program in proposed form but failed to adopt finalized versions within 91 days of the determination letter. In addition, the client failed to adopt EGTRRA amendments by the end of the GUST remedial amendment period. Are we stuck with a VCR submission under EPCRS?