Does any one have a sample RFP for a defined benefit plan that they could e mail me?

Hi,

A client's TPA is advising them to limit/deny plan loans where the repayment amount would exceed a stated percentage of the participant's paycheck. I believe they were recommending 25-30%.

TPA says lot of plan's doing this.

Concern - Is this now the norm, and if so, what is the motivation, legally

- Is there a new piece of guidance indicating this is a requirement?

I can see it as a factor the plan MAY consider, as it is a factor which "would be considered in a normal commercial setting by an entity in the business of making similar types of loans" (DOL reg.) But is it a MUST do?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

Casey

Hi,

We have some loans in default for failure to remit loan payments. The grace period for deeming the loans has not yet occurred.

One question asked was could we just refinance the loan to increase the payments so that it is still paid off by the original due date and ignore the fact that 2-3 payments were missed. I'm a bit concerned about whether this truly cures the default on the loan especially if the payments under the reamortized loan for the quarter are less than what the payments under the original loan should have been for the quarter in which the original loan defaulted.

Do other practioners allow refinancings to cure defaults? Just curious. Any input is greatly appreciated as, of course, I cannot find guidance in the regs.

Thanks

Company A incorporates in 2001. No employees. No plan.

In 2002, Company A buys Company B. Company B has an existing 401(k) plan which Company A adopts.

For 2002 adp/acp test - are employees who earned more than $85,000 in Company A in 2001 HCEs for the 2002 test?

If the plan uses prior year testing, do they have to use the results from Company A for 2001?

Thanks.

A participant in a SIMPLE IRA wants to make a traditional IRA contribution, and take the deduction. Is this possible?

Is a SIMPLE IRA considered a qualified plan for this purpose?

I work for a local county government and we have a FSA that is not a part of a cafiteria plan. The FSA is fully funded by employee payroll deductions. It seems to me that we are not paying for or providing health care as defined in HIPAA. Does anyone have any thoughts, suggestions or guidence to offer regarding whether this needs to be covered by the privacy regulations of HIPAA.

I am looking for an executive compensation survey setting out 2002 data. I would like a survey that compiles data across industries and sets out the data for several categories of executives, includes geographic or regional information if possible, and includes information on salary and non-salary compensation. I am not looking for an industry-specific survey. Any thoughts on where I might find a survey report that includes the desired data at an economically feasible cost?

Thank you.

I have compiled the 2002 version of my little DOS program called the "Inte-Greater" -- it finds the best integration level for a corporate profit-sharing plan of 40 or fewer participants.

It also shows the amounts that should be allocated to the various participants' accounts.

Could anybody give it a whirl and compare the results to the allocation figures you get from your current administration software?

I think I've correctly implemented the 415 limits and the comp cap, but I'd love to have confirmation that your professional administration software is providing the same allocation figures.

The software (it's free) is here:

https://benefitslink.com/cgi-bin/inte-greater/

Thanks,

Dave Baker

Has the DOL issued an opinion in response to a request regarding ERISA preemption of CA wage withholding law? Is that request still pending (from 1999)? Does anyone have any experience with a California employer implementing negative 401(k) elections?

Help!

I have a client that wants to send participant checks through the IRS letter forwarding program- Has anyone tried this???

Any other successful methods for locating lost participants?

We are an employer that offers four diffrent health plans (combined premium >$5 mil.). One is an indemnity, one PPO, and two HMO's. My main concern is the experience rating that we recieve once a month for the indemnity plan. Since it contains the employee's or dependent's name, type of service (general such as drug, med/surg, etc.), and amount paid for the service, would this document be considered PHI under HIPAA regs?

I have done much reading and feel like I'm riding a pendulum (one source leads me to believe yes another no). I would appreciate any input from a source outside my web of confusion.

Thank you for any help or comments.

(I apologize for any spelling errors, I'm lost w/o a spellchecker)

Does anyone have experience with expenses related to evaluation and prescription costs associated with a clinical trial monitored by the FDA? We have documentation to support that insurance will not pay. Also because our claims department rejected the item for additional information, we have authorization from a physician that the expense is medically necessary. We know that 'experimental' treatments are not eligible, however, we have a signed statement from a physician to satisfy medical necessity, including prevention or treatment of a disease.

Anyone???...

I have a 401k plan who wants to lower it's early retirement age to 50 yrs old. can a 54 yr old take a distribution while still working w/out the 10% penalty? in otherwords, does becoming 50 become a distributable event in this plan?

I remember there being a % or table that you had to use in determine lost earnings on late deferrals as well as the 10% penalty. Anyone know that % and ruling?

I have a participant with an outstanding 401k loan who has just filed for Chapter 13. She is telling us that the judge ordered her to "suspend" payments on her 401k loan. She has not yet produced documentation of any judge's order.

The loan payments are made through automatic payroll deduction and it is my impression that we do not have to stop them--they are exempt from such rulings.

Can a judge's order/Chapter 13 filing be enough to suspend payments?

Any help is appreciated!

A 403(B) plan has a matching feature, subject to 401(m) testing. The level of the match is decided by collective bargaining. However, there are administrative employees covered by the plan who are non-union. The terms of the plan are the same for administrative employees and the union employees.

Do you conclude immediately that this plan is subject to mandatory disaggregation, so that the non-union employees must be tested separately? Or are there other factors to consider?

Anyone know of a good resource for the process of terminating a 401K plan?

Thanks,

Ronnie

If an employer is the beneficiary of a life insurance policy with respect to an employee, and the employer transfers the proceeds from the policy up to a certain limit to the employee's survivor upon the employee's death, are the benefits taxable to the survivor or would the exclusion under Section 101 apply to the transfer of life insurance proceeds as well? Or would this be considered a self-insured death benefit, the ($5,000) exclusion for which was repealed?

I'm looking for a good resource regarding the process of terminating a 401K plan. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Do retirees have grounds to sue a sponsor of a DB governmental plan for prospectively removing their annual COLA?