A profit sharing plan says "An Employer Contributions Account shall be established for each Participant to which the Administrator shall credit, or cause to be credited, Employer Contributions and forfeitures attiributable to Employer Contributions plus earnings and losses thereof." Do the accounts have to be acutal separate accounts, or can there just be one account for the entire plan with calculations of "account" value made when necssary for distributions?

In a profit sharing plan, Valuation Date is defined as: "The last business day of each Plan Year and each other date as may be specified by the Administrator" The last business day of the Plan Year is December 31. Does the "each other date" portion of the definition mean the Administrator (who is also the plan participant with by far the largest account) can decide that for purposes of an anticipated distribution he is going to "specify" July 31 as the Valuation Date? Nothing in any plan document ever mentions any Valuation Date other than the December 31 date. I don't know what has been done with prior distributions (there have only been 2 distributions in the 11 year history of the plan). Participat requested distribution upon her termination of employment in late February. Administrator did not have calculations on distribution figures complete until August 15 and valued distribution based on plan value on July 31. This results in a loss to participant of about $10k.

I have a simple question. Was there ever a time when filing a Schedule SSA you did not have to list participant who's account values were under $50.00?

Thank you in advance.

Robert

I have a client who wants employees to take a one time cash payout of their unused sick time and allow the employees to make deferrals into the plan from the payout. Can they do this?

I am under the impression that new Target Benefit Plan design options may be available in 2002. I'm not clear on the details, but I have been asked to look into it further.

I have done an exhaustive search of familiar benefits sites on the internet to see if I could find anything new, and came up with nothing. (With my lack of fortune in finding anything, I'm wondering if maybe it's simply that EGTRRA has opened new doors).

Is anyone familiar with this?

A participant in a plan my office administers has been afforded debt elimination under Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. He has an outstanding plan loan and I have a couple of questions on what should happen:

1) Is the outstanding loan taken off the "books" pursuant to the court order?

2) If so, does it become a deemed distribution to the participant and is it exempt from the 10% early distribution penalty

I believe that the loan is an allowable debt to be listed on the petition for bankruptcy but I am not exactly sure what if any tax implications result from this action.

Plan participant dies, no one can locate a beneficiary form. Death certificate says he was divorced at time of death. The ex-wife is making a claim for his balance. Absent of a designated beneficiary wouldn't the payment be made to the participant's estate? We already have death cert so we'd need letters of administration showing who executor is. Anything else we may need in this case?

Has anyone applied for a minimum funding waiver. I have a DB plan that can not make the contribution for the 2001 plan year. We are going to file for a waiver, even though it is past the deadline. What is the amount of the user fee?

Any information you could provide would be greatly appeciated, for example a model Notice, checklist, etc.

Thanks, Sue

I am wondering if, when terminating a plan, it is imperative that the document is restated in a way that style, content, plan specs, etc. are as close to the old document as possible?

The reason I ask:

This client's plan was adopted in 1996 on a Corbel Volume Submitter document. Due to the death of the business owner, the client is terminating the plan effective 12/31/2002.

We switched to the Datair Document System this past year. Unfortunately, Datair's Volume Submitter is older than Corbel's 1996 Volume Submitter :eek: . . . Datair's Non-standardized Prototype is current though.

All of the features of this terminating plan can be selected on the Prototype, with the exception of the profit sharing contribution, which provides for an age weighted allocation. Sigh.

Is it un-kosher to amend and restate a terminating plan, and submitting an entirely different document (prototype vs. volume submitter), with a slightly different allocation formula (points allocation vs. age weighted)?

Or, should we wait for Datair to come out with its Volume Submitter, and start the termination process when we have that?

any ideas as to where one could obtain some probabilities or statistics as to how many nonqualified deferred comp plans have not paid out because of bankruptcy, mergers, or change of heart management? I've got some litigation that requires a discount be applied to a nonqualified deferred comp plan as to probability of payout based on the participant's age

robert preston

I am trying to find a DOL reference on what fees can be paid from plan assets. I am aware of the Kansas City DOL opinion of a few years ago, but remember reading somewhere that they relaxed that opinion somewhat. I cannot find anything that actually states what fees can be paid from plan assets though.

Also, have client that is upset because he cannot make the participants pay their own distribution fee. The client would like to charge everybody a one-time initial setup fee instead. That setup fee would be transferred from the participants account and placed in a forfeiture account. It will later be used to pay the distribution expenses. What is the groups opinion on this.

Thanks for your help.

Plan had a DB plan that has "terminated" and moved funds to DC plan. They are trying to use the same plan name and three digit IRS code for the DC plan.

Somehow I think this is incorrect and will cause issues with PWBA.

Any suggested resources?

Many Thanks!

Does a fully insured H&W Fund (multiemployer plan) have to employ a designated decisionmaker to review and decide claims involving medical necessity, experimental, or investigational treatment, if the participant has been denied its appeal through the insurance company in regard to alternative treatment?

Participant Joe began working for Company A 1/1/1999; A had a cash balance DB plan using elapsed time 5-yr cliff vesting. As part of employment agreement, Joe was vested immediately in the plan.

Company A was acquired by Company B 1/1/2001. Accrued benefits in A's plan were 'frozen' as of 12/31/2000 except accounts will continue to receive annual interest per plan design. B took over administration of A's plan and will pay all benefits for former A participants out of B's plan. B has traditional DB plan with 1000 hr 5-yr cliff vesting. B will use Company A employment date of participants for vesting purposes for former A employees in B plan, but they accrue benefits in B plan only from 1/1/2001 forward. Joe will get A-plan benefit + B-plan benefit upon retirement.

Joe says because he was vested in A, he is also vested in B. Does he have a case?

We have a Taft Hartley client (construction industry) who has a few contributing employers who are considering closing their doors or bankruptcy (tough economy). The question has arisen whether the bankrupt/closed employer has a withdrawal liability.

This presumes that an actuarial calculation would show a withdrawal liability exists for the particular employer.

Thanks for any help

I apologize in advance if I am not posing this question in the correct forum, but here goes:

Does anyone know of any good internet resources where I might find sample plan documents - specifically, cross-tested plans, profit shares, etc. I am looking to address the pension (DC) needs of a physician with a very small practice.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

Thanks.

"Statutory employees" are considered as employees for income tax withholding and as self-employed (except life insurance agents) for purposes of the definition of earned income.Where does this put them with respect to the employer's qualified plan?

I know that for small plans for plan years beginning in 2002 the maximum deductible contribution amount is not less than the unfunded current liability amount. However, benefit increases for HCE's resulting from plan amendments cannot be considered until 2 years after the later or adoption or their effective date.

So, if a plan does not reference the increased 415 and 401(a)(17) limits due to EGTRRA and requires an amendment to the plan to reference those new limits, does this count as an amendment for these purposes? I am thinking the 415 limit increase would not count as an amendment because it's the limit that's increased, not the benefit. Retroactively increasing the 401(a)(17) limit, however, does seem like a benefit increase.

Any thoughts or guidance out there?

What are the steps that must be taken by the trustees in order to adopt a multiemployer plan?

HELP!! With shadow 401(k), What is it and where can I get info thanks,