We have a deceased participant in a 401k plan and they did not name a beneficiary. Our plan states to pay the money to the estate but there is no estate being set up. Can we forfeit this money to the plan?

say a participant retires at age 66 with a total ben of 5,000; where 4,000 is from qual plan and 1,000 is from non qual plan. say he earned more than 401(a)(17) limits.

and say his age 65 total ben was 4,800 and act increased to actual ret would be 5,400. and his age 65 qual ben was say 3,700 and act increased to act ret would be 4,400.

assume no suspension notice provided.

clearly, the act increased qual ben is still less than the total age 66 ben. so in effect, he is receiving an amount greater than act increased qual ben.

but act increased ben in total is greater than actual ben in total.

the question is, can the suspension requirements and thus the act increase requirement be applied to the total benefits? thus meaning that it would apply to the non qual benefits.

my first impression is that since the total ben is greater than act increased qual ben, then no additional benefits would be statutorily required.

any thoughts?

A plan defines compensation as W-2 wages but excludes OT / bonus / commisions / & reimbursements & other expense allowances...

On the basis of the exclusion of OT, bonus & commissions the disparity for the comp ratio test is 30% - HCE - 90% NHCE 60%

If I amend the plan to test using gross comp. can should I still exclude the "reimbursement & other expense allowance" which by itself is not discriminatory?

2nd. Can I rate group test the profit sharing allocation to see if it would pass.. ie. allocate the profit sharing net of all the exclusions but test it on the gross compensation. It may pass this way as two of the HCE's are children of the owner and this is a cross tested plan where the kids are in their own group and do not get a contribution even though they are eligible.

A sole proprietor establishes a p/s plan through a brokerage house. He claims that he was never told a Form 5500 was required. He has never had a common law employee. The assets exceeded $100,000 ten years ago. He was told by a new broker about the filing requirement, and is nervious.

He has contacted me for advice. We can of course use DFVC at $1,500 per delinquent return, or $15,000. My choice is to prepare the returns and file with the DOL with a letter of explanation ("tear stained letter"). We have a sole proprietor here, a small business person with no common law employees who was never told to file. Furthermore, he is voluntarily bringing the matter to the DOL's attention. My success rate with waiver of penalities has been excellent in the past. Even if the letter was not persuasive, I can't imagine the DOL's penality would exceed the DFVC' filing fee of $15,000.

Has anyone had recent experience with the DOL regarding late filing? Am I being overly optimistic? Any thought would be appreciated. Thanks.

Can the trustee or plan sponsor of a 457 government plan change the investment program of an existing 457 plan, currently invested in an insurance contract, as a tustee can in a qualified plan? Would this answer be the same if the current investments were in a trust?

A cross-tested DC plan has not been amended for EGTRRA and thus continues to use the old 401(a)(17) limit for allocations, is it still acceptable to use the 200,000 compensation limitation when performing the cross-testing?

I think yes, because the testing definition satisfies 414(s), but I have not seen this question addressed and am looking for some confirmation.

I'm wondering if there are any web sites out there that specialize in listing freelance pension consulting work. Prosavvy is a great site for computer experts and such, but they have almost nothing for qualified retirement plans.

I'm just starting my own consulting firm (been in the business almost 30 years and have my CPC and QPA designations) and have always worked for others. I would like to sell information only and not do administration or investments. I am an excellent writer and pride myself on the ability to put technical explanations in plain English. I am also a good public speaker. Any ideas on how to generate leads?

I know you think I'm ill prepared from a business perspective to start my own business, and your probably right, but I was tossed to the wolves by my previous employer and just decided to go for it rather than look for another position.

Thanks for any help.

If the federal withholding for a december distribution is not deposited until january, 2003, is it technically still treated as a deposit to be reported on 945? thanks.

i thought i heard somewhere that using the 5.7% - full TWB formula was deemed to pass general non-discrim testing....

can anyone confirm this?

thanks

HAve a client who had a bunch of problems with their payroll provider. As a result, a bunch of deferrals were not deposited until a few months after the end of the Plan Year, when they had a chance to do a reconciliation.

Can we still say that the "amount involved" is just the interest that we gave participants as a result, the same way you could if it was 15 or 20 days late?

Thanks,

Can a SIMPLE 401(k) be converted to a safe harbor 401(k) at any time during a plan year?

Earlier this week, I asked what an employer can do with experience gains from an FSA. Our forfeitures even exceed the cost of our admin fees.

What can we do with the excess? I've read in several "unofficial" places that the money can be returned to company assets, but I can't find any regs that support that. I've asked our TPA if that was an option to us and they said that it isn't.

Can anyone help?

I am 27 years old and planning for my retirement, but I currently have my own business(less than 1 year), so imcome is tight till my business gets out of the red ink.

I got nailed over the last 3-4 years on a Putnam fund, had $2k in it and lost $1965.00 of it.

Without bashing Putnam, I would like to pull the remaining $30 some odd dollars out of there and put it into another fund.

Now, a lot of places are requiring $1000.00 to initially open an account, which I don't have, and would like to open another account with a broker or whomever with as a minimal initial investment as possible, but still contribute monthly. I am having the hardest time finding such a broker.

Also, looking for minimal "service fees" as well.

I am looking at the Vangaurd Equity Income fund, as I would prefer a small gain than a small or large loss.

Also, why doesn't brokers have low initial investments, wouldn't they attract low income investors? I would figure the more clients, the more money you would get. Having high initial startup costs to open an account discourages any investor like myself.

Anyone know of any places that have low initial investments? I have looked everywhere on the web.

Thanks

In 2001, 3 ineligible employees participated in employer's 401(k) and 5 participants had excess deferrals. Both situations were corrected by reissuing 2001 W-2's as discovered in early January, 2002. However, all 8 had earnings on their deferrals (amazing!) so my intention is to issue a 1099 for 2002. Question: is 1099-R to be used, versus 1099-INT? Since I'll only be reporting earnings since the actual excess deferral was 'wiped out' due to revised W-2, are Boxes 1, 2 and 3 of the R coded just with the earnings amount and Box 7 (distribution code) listed as 8? This is my first experience with an excess being corrected via a revised W-2. Thanks in advance.

With a plan that uses a 414(s) definition of comp for allocation purposes can I always base the gateway on the 1/3 rule, even if it results in an allocation of less than 5% of 415 comp? Here's an example:

Calendar year top heavy plan. Plan comp = total as a participant, excluding bonus.

NHCE entered plan 7/1/02. He made $20000 from 1/1-6/30; 25000 from 7/1 to 12/31; got a 10000 bonus at 12/31. The highest HCE allocation rate is 20%. Is NHCE's gateway allocation 6.67%x25000=1668,or 5%x35000=1750?

Under Rev Proc 2000-40 Sec 4.02, can one chg only the val date to the termination date, w/o changing the funding method to unit credit? My reading seems to indicate it is not allowed under the Rev Proc, but I want it to be so.

1-9-2002

Re: Model letter for requesting pension benefit level for an anticipated retirement date

Thanks in advance for any help on this issue!

This is a problem that has come up at work.

A colleague has written to the company pension plan office repeatedly requesting a pension benefits estimate, and thus far has received no reply or acknowledgement.

The colleague plans to retire soon, and she is becoming concerned.

Is there a standard form letter for this sort of thing?

Is it available online - or would anyone care to send one along?

Could someone please please supply a list of necessary information (including any stock phrases or "terms of art") that would produce a legally binding request for a benefits estimate?

(We are hoping to avoid the use of the terms "fiduciary duty" and "not in good faith")

But a list of necessary information to supply, and things to be aware of and watch out for would be quite helpful (i.e. should we expect an immediate acknowledge of a request?).

Thanks in advance, and all links mentioned and books cited will be followed up on!

P.S. (I'm not a benefits professional, just a recipient).

I am not the smartest guy in the World when it comes to money. I found this forum and I hope someone can explain something that is happening to me. I live in Georgia,United States, and work for a not-for profit hospital. I have participated in a 403(B) for the past year. My wife has been out of work due to medical reasons and I also had a child. I attempted surrender my contribution out of my 403(B). I was told that I can not get the money that I contributed to the account. I was told that I had to (1) get finicial counseling (2) get two denial letters from banks for loans. Does this sound right? Will I ever be able to get that money that I put in that 403(B) account. Like I said, I do not know alot about these things so would someone help.

thank you

Has anyone ever heard of a California state mandate relative to coinsurance maximums/OOP maximums on managed or semi-managed care plans? Sources?

Thanks in advance!

In Revenue Ruling 2002-27, the IRS stated that cafeteria plans may use an automatic enrollment process provided employees receive a notice explaining the process, the cost of coverage, etc. The notice for current employees must also include a "description of the employee's existing coverage, if any." I interpret this requirement to mean that current employees' notices must be customized to set forth their prior election.

Is anyone using this notice, and if so, are you tailoring the notice for each current employee so the notice reflects his/her current election?

Any responses would be greatly appreciated!

crs