One person company maintains a SEP and a MPPP. Combined assets are over $100,000. SEP alone does not require 5500, and MPPP with assets under $100,000 does not require 5500 but are SEP assets combined with MPPP assets to require a 5500-EZ filing for the MPPP?

I have a SH 401(k) plan with 70 doctors. Each one wants to decide what amount of discretionary PS contribution he/she will get each year. Some want to max out, some want to have no contributions to the plan (they want it as comp instead) and the rest are somewhere in the middle. One recommendation that I've received for the plan design is to set up several groups, each with a specific dollar amount assigned to it. The doctors would have to decide which group they want to belong to and their name would then be listed in that group in the document. Has anyone had a plan designed like this? Can you do this?

Another option is to set up 70 groups; each doctor would be his own group. I know this is one of those gray areas. Does anyone know if the IRS has clarified whether you can do this or not?

I am reading a 2003 report on trend that our broker sent to us. At the end, there are ideas for different cost management strategies. Under Plan Management, it says "Provide coverage incentives for support services and complementary care to motivate employees to improve their health".

What do you think that means? Examples?

Thank you.

We have a married Dr. (Dr. X) who owns 100% of his LLC (Co. A), there are no other employees...there is no pension or p/s plan.

We have a Partnership owned equally owned by 6 LLCs' Dr. X's LLC is one of the 6. The Partnership pays Dr. X compensation dirctly to his LLC, i.e., the check is cut by the partnershp, payable to Dr. X's LLC. The Parnershp sponsors a profit shring plan that covers all 6 partners and all 30 eligible employees (all Drs receiving the maximum $40,000 allocation).

Dr. X's LLC pays $100,000 annually to a Management Company (a C Corp); it's only employee is the owner (the owner is Dr. X's wife or Mrs. X). A DB plan is to be established and sponsored by the C-Corp for Mrs. X (Dr.'s wife)... see any problems?

Does anyone know of any restrictions (aside from the double counting ones) on shifting elective deferrals to satisfy ACP testing???

I am being told that in order to shift elective deferrals, the adp for the nhce's must be at least 2%. From my understanding, as long as the adp test passes before and after the paper shift, the plan can "shift" elective deferrals to satisfy acp testing. The only reasoning I could see for the 2% would be for the MUT which was eliminated by EGTRRA.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Is a Non-Erisa 403b considered an "employer retirement plan" that precludes Traditional IRA contributions and the tax deduction thereof, for a married couple earning more than $54,000?

Thanks

A 501©(3) org. has maintained a non-ERISA 403(b) arrangement since 1990.

In 2002 the plan is "restated" as an ERISA 403(b) plan with employer matching contributions.

Is this in fact a restatement, or is it a creation of an entirely new plan?

More specifically, should the plan document/Form 5500 identify the initial effective date as being in 2002 or 1990?

I am thinking the former, but cannot recall any statute, regulation or guidance that is directly on point as to the correct answer.

When does a spouse have to give consent for someone other than the spouse to be a beneficiary of a 401(k) plan? I have a situation where the couple is in the process of a lengthy divorce and the husband wants his two daughters to be the beneficiary of his interest in his company's 401(k) plan. It is fairly certain the wife would not want this to take place if she can help it.

Does the wife get first crack at the money while she is still married? And what happens once the divorce is finalized?

Please provide suggestions/guidance on this issue.

First year of plan (large plan, hundreds of participants) -

Intended that HCEs would not defer for first year - did not want to have an ADP/ACP test issue - however, employer failed to consider family members and therefore son of owner deferred to plan.

Can these deferrals be returned to the employer as "mistake of fact"?

It would appear that if within 12 months of plan year end, they could be returned and any gain may be distributed to employee. Any loss would reduce amount returned to er. (?)

What if paid directly to participant rather than employer? (no distributable event has occurred.) I'm thinking this isn't an option - cleaner if paid back to employer.

Please provide reference info, if any.

Thanks!

What would the procedures be (assuming they exist) for requesting from both the DOL and the IRS a waiver of all late filing fees due to facts and circumstances, rather than using the DVFC?

I have heard several conflicting opinions regarding changing enrolled actuaries.

Is it considered a change of enrolled actuaries if:

1) A different actuary inside the same firm signs the Sch. B.

1b) If 1 is "no", what if it's a national firm and the work moves from the NY office to the LA office, so that a completely different group of people work on the case?

2) The actuary leaves one firm and joins another, but retains the case.

Anyone have any additional information?

http://www.plansponsor.com/pi_type10/?RECORD_ID=22021

http://www.fasb.org/board_handouts/08-20-03.pdf

(pages 14-23)

I have a controlled group situation were there are two separate plans. I have a participant who terminated employment with one of the companies in the controlled group and was hired by the other company in the controlled group.

His job will be completely different. Can this participant transfer his money from the "prior employer" to the "current employer" as a rollover to another qualified plan? (Basically considered a "Trustee to Trustee transfer" type of distribution)

The issue I am having is that the investment company is telling us that the distribution has be labelled as a "cash" distribution and my concern is that they will withhold the mandatory 20% withholding and not complete the 1099 correctly. They are indicating that this is the way they need to handle the distribution since no distributable event has occurred.

Thank you in advance for everyone help on this one.

I have an interesting situation. During 2002, Company S had a 401k plan-not safe harbor. On Dec. 23 of 2002 Company G started a new 401k plan. At that time all of the employees of Company G had been participating in Company S's Plan. All of the participants moinies were moved from Company S to Company G early in 2003. Deferrals did not start for Company G until early 2003 also. The 2002 5500 for Company G was a bunch of zeros.

Company G's document says they use the prior yr testing method. There are not any prior yr numbers to use because they did not defer from Dec. 23-31. I am hesitant in using the deemed 3% because 2003 is not the first yr of the plan.

Basically, I am trying to find out how much the HCE's of Company G can defer for 2003. They use the prior yr testing method so what numbers do I go by????

Any help would be greatly appreciated.....

Thanks,

Carson

Hi. I have reviewed prior posts related to the question I am going to ask and would like confirmation of the following:

A profit sharing plan that has a 401(k) feature elects the 3% non-elective safe harbor for the 2002 calendar year. The plan uses a cross-tested method to allocate contributions. The plan is top-heavy. For the year, the employer makes the 3% fully vested contribution to all employees. The employer provides an additional 6% to its HCEs (which satifies 401(a)(4) requirements).

Please confirm that the plan has satified the top-heavy minimum benefit, the gateway minimum and the ADP test, i.e. does not matter what levels of salary deferral contributions have been made between HCEs and NHCEs.

Thank you.

Can anyone tell me how to do coverage testing for a 401k plan in the year of an open enrollment? Plan's eligibility requirement is 2 months of service, but the service requirement is waived for employees employed on date X. This is a brand new business and the HCEs have less than one year of service, so the otherwise excludable rule doesn't help me. If anyone knows where I can find an example of how to do the test that would be most appreciated - there was no example in the ERISA Outline Book.

Our client did a complete transfer of plan assets from one custodian to another. The transfer was in-kind - no disruption, etc. I am wondering though if this falls under the category of a 5% transaction, since it was 100%?

A union client called and asked questions relating to

his negotiation of a "stand alone" contract. The union

is in the construction industry and its plan is a multiemployer

arrangement. However, the contract in question is

negotiated with one large company that employs

several members of the union.

At some point in the past, the company agreed to

contribute to the union's multiemployer db plan on

behalf of its member/employees.

The db plan calculates a person's retirement benefit

by multiplying the years of credited and partial

service by a dollar amount ($90). Based on the

usual contribution amount of roughly $4.00 per

hour, a person needs to work approximately

300 hours to earn 1/4 credit.

Now the problem...

When the union negotiated this stand-alone

agreement several years ago, the parties

agreed to put only 20 cents per hour into

the plan. This means a person who works

2200 hours per year will never have sufficient

contributions to earn even a 1/4 credit.

Is this a situation where the trustees of

the plan could return the contributions

under a "mistake of fact/law" theory?

Has the union breached its duty of fair

representation by negotiating such a

deal?

Wouldn't this arrangement violate the

IRC/ERISA vesting and benefit accrual

rules?

I'm quite frankly not even sure where to

begin on this mess.

This is a theoretical question. The way a Roth IRA works is that initial contributions are taxed, but any growth of those contributions, no matter how great, is completely tax-free. So, could someone set up a Roth IRA, and invest in his own company, of which he has complete shareholder ownership, and then place the profits generated in the Roth IRA, by passing off cash as dividents on the stock? (of course, this assumes that one could run a profitable company, which most people can't do).

A friend of mine can't get paid. He is owed a commission from a boat he sold for a wealthy man in his neighboring town in Connecticut. No contract. He has email correspondence between himself and the buyer to help prove that he brokered the deal.

How can he get his money?