Hi,

I need a basic lesson on how trust deeds are treated for purposes of the Form 5500. The way I understand it, a trust deed is a note that is secured by property. Is this treated as a loan (other than to participants) on the Form 5500? Is it treated as an asset that does not have a readily determinable market value? Is it considered a single debt that needs to be taken into account for the 20% question?

I'm thinking the answer is yes to all three, but if I could get some confirmation, I would feel better.

Many thanks!

An employee has joined a union and is no longer eligible to participate in the employer's 401(k) Plan. The employee now wishes to take a hardship distribution for payment of medical expenses. The plan does allow for hardships. Does anyone know if this union employee is still eligible to take a hardship distribution or are hardship distributions limited to active participants?

Thanks,

Steve

Can an employer maintain a section 129 dependent care reimbursement plan outside of a cafeteria plan? I believe they can, thus allowing self-employed individuals (partners) to participate, but I can't find any guidance.

Can VEBA contributions be accrued or do they have to be made on a cash-basis ?

Thanks for any input. Let me know if I need to provide more info.

404(a)(1)(A)(ii)

(ii) the amount necessary to provide with respect to all of the employees under the trust the remaining unfunded cost of their past and current service credits distributed as a level amount, or a level percentage of compensation, over the remaining future service of each such employee, as determined under regulations prescribed by the Secretary, but if such remaining unfunded cost with respect to any 3 individuals is more than 50 percent of such remaining unfunded cost, the amount of such unfunded cost attributable to such individuals shall be distributed over a period of at least 5 taxable years,

This wonderful paragraph has puzzled me for a bit and I wanted the madness to stop. Can anyone give me an example of a situation where this comes into play? I have an idea, but I am not at all sure.

I'm not sure where to post this but came across a unique situation. A DB plan purchased a trust deed from a participant who happens to be the 100% owner of the employer who sponsors the plan.

1. Is this a participant loan subject to the rules of 72p?

2. If not, then is this a prohibited transaction (sale between the plan and a party in interest).

I don't see trust deeds much and wasn't able to find any information in any of my research guides.

If anyone has experiene with trust deeds and the rules, please let me know what you think.

Many thanks

Purported QDRO identifies plan as "XYZ, Inc. Profit Sharing Plan" when in fact the name of the plan is "XYZ, Inc. Amended and Restated Profit Sharing Plan". Technically, the DRO should be rejected, but practically speaking is that what most plan administrators would do? or would they accept it? Thanks.

A participants medical practitioner has suggested that the participant purchase an ergonomically correct key board, mouse and chair, and not just the cheap kind, to alleviate the affects of carpal tunnel syndrome (the participant apparently has the condition). If eligible, how do you determine the difference in cost between what would normally have been purchased and what would you say to purchasing a second set for the home?

Lovely....

We have a new comp plan with 2 highly paid doctors. There are 6 eligible non-highly comp participants.

They have not contributed the last two year. We restated their doc and switched it to a new comp effective 1/1/03. The doc states comp can be waived. There are two groups. 1.) Dr's 2.) all others. We have a letter from them dated in 12/02 that they want to optimize the contribution. I'm confused here. Can I put the two doctors (one with a -0- comp, he worked 1000 hours) in group 1? In otherwords, one Dr. would be in with $1.00 (or -0-) salary and the other would be in with $200,000. Is that ok assuming the doc permits it?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

P

I need to send out two types- One that says the Plan is going to continue the Safe Harbor and one that says the Plan will discontinue the Safe Harbor contribution. If you could point me in the right direction for wording purposes, that would be great. Thanks!

Existing plan has a two year wait for eligibility with 7/1 and 1/1 entry. Upon entry, participants are 100% vested. It's a profit sharing plan for a partnership which has always contributed 15% of total compensation, allocated comp to comp. They want to add a safe harbor 401(k) provision and use their fully vested contribution for the safe harbor non-elective. They would also make catch-up contributions available. Is the two year wait a problem? Site? The objective, I believe, is to let the partners take advantage of going over the 415 limits by the catch-up amount.

Should the 3% safe harbor non-elective contribution be tracked separately from any additional profit sharing money? I'm thinking it should, but maybe I'm complicating things? Thanks for any help and ideas!

We service a sole proprietor's one-man plan, wishing to invest in a real estate property that has rental income. The plan does not have sufficient cash with which to purchase the property outright.

Questions are:

1) If the plan obtains a loan from an unrelated third party, would there be a problem with unrelated business income tax due to the debt financed property? Is there any way to avoid the UBIT?

2) Can the sole proprietor form a "partnership" with the plan, so title would be held by the partnership and each would contribute their respective share of the investment, recognize ongoing gains and losses proportionately until it's sold?

I work for a small community bank that has stock that is not listed. My wife and I are wanting to fund out IRAs with stock this year. Can we do it, and how?

I assume we just need an institution to take custody of the IRAs?

Thanks,

Sam

Two questions regarding QDROs:

1. Is a divorce decree or property settlement required for a person who indicates on their pension forms that they are divorced but it is not subject to a QDRO??

2. When a person is divorced and would like to remove his or her spouse from their account, what type of documentation do they need to provide us? (Divorce Decree or Property Settlement or both)?

Thanks for your help.

freeERISA.com published a Practice Alert that says "Safe Harbor Notice for 2004 Calendar Year Plans MustBe Provided to Plan Participants By December 1, 2003".

I thought the notice only had to be provided initially upon the Plan being adopted or the Safe Harbor Provision being adopted.

Is there an annual requirement?

a non leveraged esop's original intent was for the company to purchase the stock from term. participants so that the owner would be the sole stockholder. later this intent was changed without notification to the TPA. Now there are appx. 43 shares (40 from the 2001 calendar year valued at appx $170280 as of 12/31/01 and 3 from 2002 valued at appx $13745 at 12/31/02). These shares need to be put back into the plan. should the 2001/2002 plan years be amended and run the risk of possible audits(the plan currently has just over $600,000 in assets) or could they deposit the shares in the current plan year as a non-cash contribution? the president of the corp has been approached for a possible purchase of his share in the company and the purchaser is doing due dilligence.

The Board of Trustees recently decided to terminate the death benefit offered by their multiemployer pension plan. A retiree has approached the administrator of the plan and has asked for the names of all of the participants and retirees of the pension plan. Apparently, this particular retiree seeks to rally the masses and attempt to have the death benefit reinstated. Can the administrator give out the names of the participants and retirees of the pension plan without violating any

law(s)?????

Thank you in advance for you advice.

I have a particiapnt who is taking Revival Soy as a daily supplement to ease the eay through menapause. Would this fall under the "Dual Purpose" items?

I am trying to raise enough money for a down payment on a house that I want to buy. I started investing in a Traditional IRA account 3 years ago and opened a Roth IRA one year ago. I am 41 years old. If I wanted to close these accounts now to use this money for the purchase of a first home, would I be able to close them and receive my money? If I can, would there be a penalty? If anyone can answer these questions, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

Having a SEP and ROth both, meeting income limitations