I have a client where the employer pays 75% of the premium for his short term disability, and he pays the other 25% of the premium.

Is the 25% of the premium eligible to be a pre-tax deduction or is it a post-tax deduction on his paycheck?

Union currently has a money purchase pension plan, which plan requires the the fund to pick up the tab for any delinquent contributions that cannot be recovered. If the Union were to switch to a profit sharing plan would the fund still be required to pick up the tab for any delinquent contributions that could not be recovered?

Thank you in advance for your thoughts.

My understanding is that when otherwise excludable employees are tested separately for ADP/ACP the coverage test must also test otherwise excludable separately.

Any ideas on how should this be reported on the Schedule T if an exception does not apply?

When does the employer need to adopt the provisions for HIPAA as far as the Plan documents are concerned? Is it by the end of their current plan year?

Thanks for any help you can give.

We have a SH PS 401k plan that only allows for distributions after termination, retirement, disability. Each participant has a self-directed account with a large brokerage company.

One of the participants (still employed) called the broker directly and asked for an $800 distribution from her account. The broker made the distribution directly to the participant without asking for the Trustee to sign any papers. No taxes were withheld.

I found this distribution the following month when I was reconciling the monthly brokerage statements. The Trustee of the plan was furious that the broker made this distribution without any authorization.

The broker has now agreed that his company will give $800 back to the plan since it was their mistake. The broker is wanting to put the $800 into an unallocated PS account. My position is that the $800 should go back into the participant's account to make it whole since she wasn't eligible for a distribution.

Needless to say, this has caused turmoil among the other participants in this plan.

Should this be handled in a different manner?

Does anyone know of a provision which allows a plan to apply for a determination letter, but if a favorable letter is not issued, the plan is null and void (as if it never existed)? Thanks

I am 19 years old and a second year student at the University of Georgia. I understand the benefits of investing early in life and that doing so could pay off significantly in the long run. I have about $3000 sitting in my bank account that I would like to use to get started on investing. I am unsure on where I should invest the money: Stocks, Bonds, Money Market, Mutual Funds, IRA, Roth IRA. I am not afraid of a reasonable risk with the investment and will not be needing the money for anything other than investing.

If you have any advice or knowledge that you could send my way on where I might want to get started and the ups and down of that route it would help me out tremendously. Thanks in advance for you time.

I am 19 years old and a second year student at the University of Georgia. I understand the benefits of investing early in life and that doing so could pay off significantly in the long run. I have about $3000 sitting in my bank account that I would like to use to get started on investing. I am unsure on where I should invest the money: Stocks, Bonds, Money Market, Mutual Funds, IRA, Roth IRA. I am not afraid of a reasonable risk with the investment and will not be needing the money for anything other than investing.

If you have any advice or knowledge that you could send my way on where I might want to get started and the ups and down of that route it would help me out tremendously. Thanks in advance for you time.

If an employer has a safe harbor 401k and for the current year is making a 3% nonelective contribution - and he decides NOT to make that contribution in the next Plan Year - what is required? A Notice to that effect? I assume a Plan amendment would be needed?? Is the safe harbor plan designed so that each year a decision must be made about the safe harbor contribution?

What recourse does a TPA have against a former business owner/plan trustee who has failed to pay the TPA's bills, where:

* The business has terminated; and

* The plan has terminated and plan assets have been distributed?

For purposes of this question, I'm assuming that there are no written contracts which would make the individual personally liable for payment of the bills.

In addition, this question could apply regardless of whether the former business was a corporation, partnership, or other type of business entity.

Thank you in advance for any ideas.

Can I get a yea or nay on whether a terminating volume submitter DB plan needs to have the document updated for the 2002 final and temporary minimum distribution regulations? I can't determine a definitive answer from Rev. Proc. 2003-10 or Notice 2003-2, which clearly suspends the requirement for active plans.

Is there any requirement that you break out unrealized and realized gains/losses on assets that are invested in mutual funds? I am curious as to how other practitioners handle this on the SAR. I have always broken the amounts out but I have recently started to think that since I don't have to break it out on the sch. H or I, why should I have to break it out on the SAR?

Participant in her employer's fully insured medical plan got married on April 01, 2003. She can be covered on her new husband's employer medical plan.

How many days after her marriage does ERISA/IRS allow her to wait before she must inform her employer that she wants to elect out of her employer's cafeteria plan (medical) because she got married ?

Can anyone direct me to the paragraph of IRC 125 that states the number of days (after marriage date) that she has to inform her employer. It is my understanding that if she waits too long, then she is prohibited from electing out of the plan ....until the next regular enrollment date.

ESOP Plan Document states that distributions made to participants with account balances in excess of $5,000 will be paid over a period of time not to exceed 5 years. Also, distributions can only be made in cash. However, the Plan currently does not hold cash. Therefore, in order to make distributions, Employer must contribute enough cash each year in order to facilitate cash distributions.

Q1: Employer is S-corp. Can we restrict distributions to cash only? I thought participants must be given the option to receive stock distribution?

Q2: If participants with an account balance in excess of $5,000 are to be paid over 5 years, and distributions cannot be made in stock, does he or she retain a balance in the ESOP despite having elected a distribution (Employer effectively makes a cash contribution each year for five years until account balance has been distributed)? If so, is the participant's remaining stock account subject to gain/loss while it is being distributed?

Should Employee Loans be added in as inservice distributions for Top Heavy Calculations?

does anyone have any thoughts as to whether or not a local union is required to enter into a business associate contract with its health and welfare fund?

thank you in advance for your thoughts.

A prototype PS plan provides that the one-year holdback rule and the Rule of Parity do not apply, which essentially means that the plan has no break in service rules. The plan also switches to the plan year for subsequent eligibility computation periods. Plan entry dates are July 1 and January 1. What if:

(a) An employee starts work on April 1, Year 1, earns 1,200 hours of service, and then quits December 15, Year 1. The employee returns to work on August 15, Year 2. This is how I think the minimum service rules would apply: Because the employee earned at least 1,000 hours of service during his initial eligibility computation period (April 1 - March 30), his normal entry date would have been July 1, Year 2. The employee should be permitted to begin participating immediately upon his return on August 15, Year 2.

(b) Same as above, except the employee only earns 800 hours of service from April 1 to December 15, Year 1. Because the employee did not earn at least 1,000 hours of service during his initial eligibility computation period, he is not entitled to participate immediately upon his return on August 15, Year 2. When he returns, he has to start over. Question: what is the eligibility computation period when the employee returns? Is it the 12-month period beginning on his reemployment date, or is he now on the calendar year when he returns? Note that the break in service regulations provide for another initial eligibility computation period for employees rehired after a break in service beginning on their reemployment commencement date. However, since the plan has effectively waived application of the break in service rules, it would appear that this rule would no longer apply.

Here are the specifics to the best of knowledge. Can you help?

"A" company maintains a 401(k) plan with a calendar plan year

"A" company acquires "B" company in a 100% stock purchase on 09/30.

"B" company maintains a 401(k) plan.

"A" company directly transfers assets of "B" company to the "A" company 401(k) on 10/01.

For ADP testing purposes, how are "B" company employees treated:

1. For the period 01/01 - 09/30

2. For the period 10/01 - 12/31

I know that there is a plan termination section on the message board, but there doesn't seem to be the same amount of activity. If any additional information is needed, please let me know. I greatly appreciate any responses. Thanks

I was wondering what any of you thought about the Musmeci v. Schwegmann Giant Super Markets case (Musmeci v. Schwegmann Giant Super Markets, Inc., 2003 WL 21221728 (5h Cir. LA), 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 11602 (5th Cir. 2003)), which held that a grocer's distribution of grocery vouchers to its retirees constituted an ERISA pension plan. The case focuses on the termination of the plan and the lack of funding, but it seems to open a pandora's box of issues--Form 5500 reporting, SPDs, SARs, plan documentation, etc. But because the plan was not funded, it also raises issues about how to and what to report, etc. Since payable to retirees only, it looks a lot like a retiree health plan in that eligibility is determined based on past employment status, yet it is considered a pension plan. How do you characterize it--a defined contribution plan, with accounts? but an employee would not vest unless he retires...so is it a nonqualified plan? Would it instead be a defined benefit plan? But how do you determine accruals? Vesting would not satisfy the Code and ERISA...

In short, what are your thoughts...i.e., your take on this case?

Thanks!

does erisa require plan administrators of union plans to provide documents, etc. upon request just like the private plans are required to do?

do those same rules apply to union plans?

thanks.