My company currently has an Executive Physical Program in place for U.S. executives and we are evaluating how to make this a global program. This is a taxable benefit. Payments are made directly to the providers and payroll/tax is notified in order to apply taxes on the payment amount. We are trying to determine how we could offer this to our international associates. Is anyone currently administering this type of benefit on an international level, either themselves or through outsourcing? I am also curious whether there are any ERISA regulations with which we would have to be concerned, even though this benefit would also apply to non-U.S. Citizens.

I was talking with somebody who recently attended a conference at (Spencers?)

Now remember, this is third-hand, so I can't vouch for complete accuracy. However, there was apparently a gentleman who gave a presentation at this conference, who asserted that 401(a) plans that accepted IRA rollovers would have to separately account for this money, because it remained subject to the "IRA rules." And he apparently used IRC 408(q) as his source for this opinion. I specfically questioned the person I talked to whether he was talking just about IRA contributions under a plan that will allow them, or was he including IRA rollovers, and this person said his presentation included IRA rollovers.

I don't reach the same conclusion from the code, EGTRRA, or the EGTRRA conference committee reports. I see nothing there that indicates this rollover money is still treated as an IRA, and subject to "IRA rules" where they differ from qualified 401(a) plan rules. I just wanted to get some other opinions as to what folks out there think? Thanks!

We recently had a baby I know we can add him to our insurance but can we also change insurance plans offered by my former employer? Does Section 125 allow employer to do it or does it not even apply.

Is is ok to use the 414(q) definition of HCE for Health FSA testing? Or does it have to be the definition under 105(h)?

My own accountant doesn't know the details on this.

My husband just found out that because of budget cuts, he is laid off. We had signed up for quite a bit of money to be put into the flex account and have been using it to pay for our daughter's orthodontia bills. A friend of mine tells me that she thinks his employer is responsible for the deficit, because of the one year contract we signed, even though the account will have created a negative balance.

I contacted his employer and they tell me that even though he'll continue to get paid through August, the flex account will shut down next month and there's nothing we can do and that they aren't responsible for the deficit.

I'd appreciate any guidance you can give me on this.

Thanks very much.

I posted this also on DB board -

Does anyone work with any companies that are required to report pension liabilities under the new UK accounting standard - FRS 17? I have received different interpretations as to what is to be disclosed in the footnotes for multi-employer plan withdrawal liabilities.

If anyone has any information regarding this please let me know.

Please refer to IRS Reg. 1.411(a)-7(B), last sentence of subsection (1), immediately before the Examples in subsection (2).

This sentence seems to state, for purposes of vesting and other requirements in IRC 411, that the latest NRA is the first day of the plan year which contains the fifth anniversary of participation, even if that is not the "fifth anniversary of participation."

I don't know where this came from. It is not supported by a plain reading of IRC 411(a)(8), nor do I find anything in the Committee Reports from 1974 that would support this. The Gray Book does not address it.

Can anyone help?

In case you are wondering, this is the only other discussion thread I found that seems to be related.

http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=13667

[This was originally posted under Cross Tested Plans-received no response]

It seems clear that an ESOP cannot be cross tested for 401(a)(4) purposes, but if you are testing a profit sharing plan and must go to the average benefits test, and an ESOP is included, does anything prohibit determining the employee benefit percentages for the combined allocations on a benefits basis?

I don't see anything prohibiting it, but it seems like a contradiction.

Is anyone familiar with a survey dedicated to 403(B) plan sponsors? I'm trying to get a handle on some of the same statistics which are typically provided in surveys dealing with 401(k) plans, i.e. employee participation rates, employer matching formulas, administrative costs, etc.

Any help would be appreciated in pointing me towards a relevant source.

Thanks

Kerryb@waushosp.org

Have a client with nearly $2,000,000 in nonqualified assets.....mostly art and furniture. Makes up over 95% of total assets of plan. the problem is they are having trouble finding an insurance Co. that will issue them a fidelity bond because of the type of assets. Any ideas on how to get a waiver on the independent audit requirement without a bond or know who would provide a fidelity bond for these type of assets. Thanks

What information goes on line 1b(1) Current Value of Assets.

I admit the instructions for this line are not the best, but when you compare those instructions with those of line 1b(2), I'm of the opinion that both lines must tie together- the only difference being that line 1 is reported at market value and line 2 is reported at actuarial value----which further means that we must include contributions paid after the valuation date that are applicable to the prior plan year on both lines.

Some practitioners have excluded the contributions received after the val date on line 1b(1) but include them in 1b(2). I disagree with that and believe both lines must linclude these contributions.

Does anyone have an opinion and possibly documentation (other than the instructions) on what should be entered onto line b1(1)?

Thanks

An officer (and less than 10% owner) of a professional partnership also provides professional services to a company that forms a real estate limited partnership (RELP).

The officer wants to invest his self-directed 401(k) account in part, in the RELP. The professional partnership's 401(k) plan has a corporate trustee, so the officer is not a fiduciary by virtue of being plan trustee.

Is it a PT if the officer invests only for his own account? Is there an unrelated business taxable income issue?

Disclosure: this is also posted on the Investments Board.

We have a custom participant statment that we have been sending to clients for years. In one particular plan we have two participants with the same name (father and son). When we would print the report, they would come out as two separate participant statments. The last group of correct statements were sent to the client in January (12/31/01 val). After this point we installed sp7, sp8, and sp9.

Somehow when we print the same participant statment (was not altered in any way) it will combine the information for the two participants into one report. They are separate records in Quantech, so why would the report writer pull them into the same report, especially when it never did before? For the record we are on version 7.0 now and it will do the same thing. What was changed that would cause this to happen?

Employer is a public school district. It wants to amend the superintendent's contract to provide for annual employer contributions of $40,000 to a 403(B) annuity for 5 years after his retirement.

403(B)(12)© excludes governmntal plans from the requirements of 403(B)(12)(A)(i), so it appears that the plan's discrimination in favor of an HCE is permitted. 403(B)(3) counts compensation "for the most recent period" as eligible compensation under 415 for the 5 years following termination.

So, if his compensation exceeded $40,000 in the year of termination, it appears that this could work. (We will assume that there are no problems under state school law.) Am I missing something?

Does anyone work with any companies that are required to report pension liabilities under the new UK accounting standard - FRS 17? I have received different interpretations as to what is to be disclosed in the footnotes for multi-employer plan withdrawal liabilities.

If anyone has any information regarding this please let me know.

Plan sponsor wishes to change the deferrals and match investments of the safe harbor 401(k) from employee to employer directed. What if anything should he be worried about? How much notice needs to be given to the employee? Besides admin hassles, any reason not to do this plan amendment as a mid year change? Any insight would be helpful.

When performing the top heavy ratio test for a 401(k) plan do we add back amounts that were distributed due to a failed ADP test?

If a company in NY has 20+ employees, and a company in PA (a wholly owned subsidiary of the NY company) has 5 employees, does the Federal continuation rules apply to the PA employees, or state continuation rules?

An officer (and less than 10% owner) of a professional partnership also provides professional services to a company that forms a real estate limited partnership (RELP).

The officer wants to invest his self-directed 401(k) account in part, in the RELP. The professional partnership's 401(k) plan has a corporate trustee, so the officer is not a fiduciary by virtue of being plan trustee.

Is it a PT if the officer invests only for his own account? Is there an unrelated business taxable income issue?

If an employee is receiving short term disability benefits under a self-funded STD plan and the employee is terminated due to a staff reduction, is there any legal obligation to pay out the remainder of benefits available under STD as long as the employee remains disabled? Or does the obligation to pay Short Term Disability end with the termination of employment?