Can someone tell me if there is a required limit of time in which a former employer must provide written notification of a deferred vested pension benefit following the employment termination date?

The plan provides that the plan administrator may forfeit a missing participant's account balance after reasonable time and effort spent trying to locate the participant.

What is considered reasonable time? Where can I find guidance on this issue?

Thanks

Where in the regs does it say that pre 87 distributions from after tax can be taken from principle first and then from the earnings, whereas post 86 has to be taken pro rata between principle and earnings?

Does anyone have a clear definition of what makes a plan fall under the guidelines of ERISA? The new HIPAA privacy guidelines state that an employer may be a covered entity if they fall under the ERISA guidelines. Does the fact that an employer deducts their employees' premiums on a pre-tax basis make their plans an ERISA plan?

Employer sponsors two (non-multiemployer) profit sharing plans. The plans are required to be aggregated and are top heavy. The employer also contributes to a number of different collectively bargained plans. I believe the multiemployer plans can be permissively aggregated with the two profit sharing plans for top heavy determination IF contributions or benefits under the multiemployer plans are comparable to the contributions or benefits provided under the other two plans (1.416-1, Question T-8). The employer says that benefits/contributions under the collectively bargained plans are MORE than under the profit sharing plan. Do you think I can permissively aggregate? Since the contributions cover different populations (pipe fitters, plumbers, etc), it would be a project to actually gather the balances to include in the top heavy test. Any suggestions?

I appreciate your input!

A participant died and willed his 401k benefit to a friend. The friend subsequently died and left no will. At the time of the friend's death, she had 3 surviving children and a grandchild of the a deceased child who predeceased the parent. The "Affidavit of Heirship" includes the 4 children as heirs (3 living and 1 deceased) and the one grandchild. If their is no designated beneficiary for the pension plan (i.e. just the estate), should the plan administrator rely on the "Affidavit of Heirship" in allocating the pension?

Thanks

When considering the max amount for a 401k loan, I know that you take into consideration the highest outstanding loan "balance" in the past 12 mos. My systems uses the highest principle and interest balance in the last year, but I thought it was just the principle that counted.

Which is it? And do the regs anywhere define what a loan "balance" is? I just know the client will be wanting it explicitly spelled out.

We are a self-insured "Health Plan" HIPAA Privacy Rules requires Health Plan to account for uses and disclosures of PHI not related to TPO, or related to a signed authorization. Has anyone develop a list of situations that would require to be accounted for in a log?

We have just converted from a SIMPLE retirement plan that ended in 2002 and have started a 401K plan for 2003. The owner of the company has a partner and we have an S-Corp. They are treated as employees and draw a paycheck, but they also take cash disbursements and receive K-1 forms at the end of the year on that income. Does anyone know if the 401K money that they want to defer MUST be run through payroll, or can they just take it out of their cash disbursement money which avoids FICA and unemployment taxes? Thanks for your help. One partner wants to defer the full 14,000.00 at this time.

Does anybody have a sample suspension of benefits notice (i.e. for employees working beyond normal retirement age) or know where I can find one?

I am filing for a Determination Letter for an Age Weighted Profit Sharing Plan. We used one of Corbel's volume submitter plans and made so significant modifications. The plan has to pass the General Non-Discrimination test each year. Do I have to file a Schedule Q or not. I have read different opinions and am confused.

i have a client that is a sole proprietor. he has set up a 401(k)/ps plan for 2002-he is the only participant. he os over 50. can he contribute $12,000 in deferrals as well as make a 25% profit sharing contribution using his sch c info? if so, do you take deferrals out of sch c figure when calculating the 25% ps contrib? sch c info is approx $91,000 (line 31). we have mixed opinions in my office and cannot find any answers in our resources....

thanks for any help.

Hi:

I made excessive contribution to Roth IRA in 2001. Instead of 2000$ max I put in 4000$. I removed excess contribution in December, 2002. How do I report this (penalty etc.) to IRS.

which form should I use?

thanks,

M D

I am planning to open an Roth IRA accounts. But I don't know what financial Institute offer this service. Would you please advice

Thanks

7777

My kid is going to college and I'm looking for ways to fund it. I've got a regular IRA with a LOT of money in it and a Roth IRA with a little money in it.

Can I use the funds in my regular IRA to pay for college and not have to pay taxes on the $?

Can I use the funds in my Roth IRA to pay for college and not have to pay taxes on the $? Does the 5 year rule apply?

Can I convert funds from my IRA to my Roth and then withdraw them from the Roth to pay college costs?

Thanks

I am pretty confused on the procedure. A 2002 adp distribution completed by 3/15/03 is taxable in 2002, correct?

The 1099 for the 2002 excess would show a distribution code of P and be issued in 2004?

Since the distribution is taxable in the prior year, does the 1099 suggest that the recipient of these distributions amend their 2002 individual tax returns?

The distribution company erronously withheld 20%. Does this need correcting?

We were recently notified of the death of a deferred vested participant who had terminated in 1979 and who was married at the time of death. The preretirement death benefit from the Plan document in effect in 1979 was the greater of the 5 Year Certain & Life benefit, paid for the guarantee period only, or the survivor portion of the 50% J & S benefit. After calculating the benefits, it appears that the 5 Year C&L benefit is the greater of the two.

Given what the QPSA rules are now, I'm wondering if any of the legislation regarding survivor benefits, such as REA '84, might apply retroactively and that we really should pay the surviving spouse the survivor portion of the 50 JS for her lifetime rather than a benefit for 5 years.

Employee to become eligible in employer's profit sharing plan and MPP plan. Employee has told administrator that she has not seen her spouse in 8 years. I know Code Sec. 417(a)(2)(B) allows for spousal consent to not be obtained if plan administrator is satisfied that spouse cannot be located. What does/should a plan administrator do to become "satisfied" from a fiduciary point of view? try to obtain last known address of spouse, use letter forwarding service to get form to him to sign, etc............??

A new client currently has (1) physicians getting formula A and (2) non-physicians getting formula B - and all the appropriate non-discrimination tests are performed annually.

Question 1: Does anyone see a problem with amending to (1) physicians get A (2) non-physicians except John Doe get B and (3) John Doe gets C

and

Question 2: More generally can you have plan covering 3 NHCE's which has formula A for Mary Smith , B for Joe Jones , and C for John Doe ??

I have a group of churches (diocese) who has adopted a 401(k) plan that we are now the TPA for. Under their old 403(b) plan, they had a church plan election. I'm not sure if something special needs to be done to have the church plan election or do they automatically have it (ie. do we need a private letter ruling?)? It appears as though Forms 5500 have been filed for the last two years. What do I do about that? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!