What is a reasonable transaction fee for buying and selling employer stock in a retirement plan? Are there typically any other fees associated with maintaining employer stock in a retirement plan?

Does an actuary have a (legal/professional) responsibility to minimize or maximize a DB plan's contribution by exploring the effect of different cost methods etc?

That is, can an actuary be held liable because the client did not get higher deduction which could be been attained by use of "permissible" funding method etc?

Or the contribution was not minimized (and could have been), as a result of which there is a funding deficiency and the client had to file Form 5330 and pay the penalty?

If an actuary does have such a responsibility, what if the client does not want to pay for the extra time & effort involved in doing so!?

Has there been a case where an actuary was held responsible for not computing higher permissible / lower required contribution?

Hi,

Upon a pension plan's investment in a partnership which causes the assets of the partnership to become plan assets (no exemptions apply), if the partnership agreement calls for additional partner contributions, in particular a drawdown of a partner's initial capital contribition, will such transaction be considered a prohibited transaction with a party-in-interest?

Thank you

Hi,

Does the requirement that a 103-12 IE list all of its assets for investment purposes under Part IV subsection i of Schedule H mean that the 103-12 IE has to list all of the partnerships it invests in? What if the 103-12 IE want to keep its investments in the partnerships confidential?

Thank you!

Read an article that says IRS Notice 2003-20 states that employers must report contributions to 457 plans on individual w2's. Has anyone heard of this? would this mean that contributions are now taxable?

How do I change the email address attached to my user name?

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

IRS reg 1.417(e)-1(b) states that a qualified joint and survivor annuity is an annuity that commences immediately. The same reg proceeds to state that thus, for example, you cannot offer a separated participant a choice between an immediate single sum payment at separation and a J&S that commences at normal retirement age (rather than immediately). (Of course, some here debate whether this portion of the reg is invalid ala BBS Associates.)

A qualified preretirement survivor annuity is defined by IRS reg 1.401(a)-20, Q&A 18 as an immediate annuity for the life of the surviving spouse. However, unlike for the QJSA, there is no "thus, for example," a plan cannot offer the spouse a choice between an immediate single sum and a deferred annuity.

Does this mean that following a participant's death, the spouse eligible for a QPSA can be provided with a choice between an immediate single sum or a deferred QPSA? Or not?

This has come up under a db plan where the plan sponsor want to offer a non-QPSA death benefit payable in single sum immediately upon the death of a vested participant.

However, the plan sponsor does not want to pay a spouse both a QPSA and the non-QPSA death benefit. This means that the QPSA would have to be reduced by the value of the non-QPSA death benefit, which is awkward and likely a single sum distribution of part of the QPSA in any case. Thus, the desired alternative is to provide the spouse with a choice between an immediate single sum distribution or a deferred QPSA. The single sum distribution would be the higher of the non-QPSA death benefit or the present value of the QPSA.

We seem to be getting conflicting information on how the annual compensation limit of $200,000 (401(a)(17),404(l),408(k)(3)©, and 408(k)(6)(D)(ii) ) should be used in a 401(k) plan.

The basic question is: If an employee has reached $200,000 in compensation, but has deferred less than $12,000 ( limit for employee deductions) of his/her salary, should the employee's deduction stop? Please list any references that may be helpful in your responses.

Governmental employer wishes to offer an employee an incentive of one year's salary to retire. The arrangement is voluntary. The offer would be made to only that one employee. The offer would be to pay one-half on 8/1/03 (which is when the employee would retire) and one-half on 1/2/04. The employee will not have the option to receive the money at any other times. Assuming the employer considers the incentive payment to be compensation, could this arrangement be considered a "severance pay" plan that would fall outside section 457(f) or is it clearly a "deferred compensation" plan subject to section 457?

Thanks,

Ken

Other than Veit and Oates cases, and some degree of acquiescence by the IRS, what's the authority for allowing a deferral election of compensation earned but not yet paid?

I noticed the (excellent) Davis & Hartman LLP chart on the American Benefit Council page that seems to categorically state that case law supports deferrals made any time prior to the amount being paid - seems like a pretty broad statement to me. Am I missing something?

The plan allows participants to take a principal residence loan for a term of 15 years or less. The plan only allows one principal residence loan at a time.

A participant requested a principal residence loan for a term of 5 years. The participant has requested the loan term be extended to 10 years (no additional dollars).

Can this be done or would it be considered a separate loan and thus not allowed by the plan.

Thanks and Happy 4th.

Any thoughts/authority on the following: (Carol Calhoun - I would really appreciate your comments - I have ordered the Govermental Plans Answer Book which possibly would be of help when I get it, but I need answers ASAP.)

Gov'l entity, via merger, inherits an underfunded DB plan that was originally established by a non-governmental non-profit (501©(3)) entity. Is the plan now a governmental plan for purposes of ERISA and the IRC? More particularly, does IRC 412 no longer apply following the merger such that the 412 amortization for the underfunding no longer applies?

Assuming that the plan is now governmental and that there are no state funding rules that apply, it appears that the only funding rules are the pre-ERISA IRC 401(a)(7) rules which would require 100% vesting, to the extent funded, upon plan termination or complete discontinuance of contributions (subject to the non-discrimination rules set forth therein).

Last, any thoughts/authority on the application of "to the extent funded" under pre-ERISA IRC 401(a)(7)? Surely a seriously underfunded gov'l plan cannot just be terminated to avoid the underfunding?? Maybe so, but the obvious reasons that it would not likely be done are: emplyee morale issues and the huge invitation for state lawsuits based on breach of contract, fiduciary duty, fraud . . . since preemption would not apply to a gov'l plan.

Can anyone comment on a plan termination (IRS approved) where the plan assets were placed in a non-interest paying account for the purpose of paying out participants. Where most of the assets were paid within a reasonable time, there are still remaining a few that have not responded or can't locate. There balances are being held in the paying account under the name of the plan, but it does not pay any interest. Any problems here?

A particular participant (an NHCE) is experiencing a financial hardship. The 401(k) plan does not allow hardship distributions. Can the employer amend the plan to allow only this single participant to receive a hardship distribution?

Is it possible to impose a 1,000-hour or end-of-year requirement to remain as a participate in a nonelective Safe Harbor 401k?

A plan had an excess Safe Harbor contribution deposited in 2000 which is waiting to be allocated.

In the 2002 plan year, there is a 3% Safe Harbor contribution which is the only contribution for the year besides 401(k).

Can the deposit for that 2002 Safe Harbor contribution be reduced by the excess amount from 2000?

Thank you.

I think I know the answer to this one but am hoping for a different one

I have a formerly large plan that terminated and is in the process of distributing all accounts. However, they missed a small portion of 4 participant's accounts and the plan still had a balance as of the end of 2002 (of $10.78).

Do I need to file a Schedule H for this plan since there is still a remaining balance or is there any way to file a Schedule I? Also, I am assuming if a Schedule H is required, then they will need an audit attached... is this correct?

The money has since been distributed and I will be filing the final 5500 shortly. Do they need an audit for the few months in 2003 as well?

Thanks,

Rachel

This is probably a stupid question, but anywoo... When distributing a SAR for a welfare plan, is it to be distributed to all participants for the year the SAR applies to, or all current participants? (I'm thinking an employee who went on the plan last month will not care about what happened in the plan last year. But then no one cares about SARs anyway....)

Wanted to make sure this course of action was ok...

A partnership consisting of four partners has a 401(k) plan. The partnership is terminating and becoming two new, completely separate partnerships (each with two of the four previous partners).

They would like to terminate the existing plan and each new partnership wants to create a new plan, crediting prior service with the old partnership.

To add to this scenario, it is determined that the plan is top heavy for 2003. If the plan terminates mid-year is a top heavy contribution required? (This issue seems unclear in the reference material that we have.)

Would be interested in any opinions on the top heavy issue and any successor plan issues.

Thanks.