I have found that a few times when creating custom reports, if you use a different print driver to print the report than was used during creation it will sometimes print incorrectly (formatting) or not at all.

This problem occurred when using different print drivers for the same printer and the same OS. Since RA7.0 allows you to use Windows 2000, I have installed that OS and the corresponding printer drivers. The rest of the organization uses either Windows 98 or ME. Will this cause a lot of problems when distributing Custom Reports???

Any help with this is greatly appreciated.

I would like to know how employers are treating expenses for graduate courses in their educational assistance plans?

Situation: A prototype sponsor's GUST restatement is effective 1/1/1997. A number of plan design changes occurred during the GUST remedial amendment period, and amendments were made to the pre-GUST prototype.

Question: Since the effective date of the prototype GUST restatement is 1/1/97, is it necessary to complete the adoption agreement as the plan exisited in 1997, and then "supplement" the adoption agreement with the effective dates of the non-GUST amendments?

Facts: Mr. X was terminated as of 1/1/02. He requests his distribution. In the mean time he is hired again on a part time basis. The distribution is still processed without the knowledge that he has been rehired. The distribution is over $5,000 and was rolled over to an IRA.

How do you correct the failure since the distribution should not have taken place in the first place?

My feeling is that the person needs to roll the money back into the plan since the rollover is not qualified. However we all know that the participant is not going to do that. In that case what other options do we have in order to fix the operational failure? If anybody has had to deal with a similar situation your input will be highly appreciated.

Thanks!

Situation: Retiree recieving Straight Life Benefit owes his ex (who he was married to when he retired) $200/month as per property settlement agreement. However, it was NOT specified that it come out of the Retirement Plan. He's been paying the $200, but late. X spouse's lawyer said that she could get a QDRO in order to become an alternate payee and have the $200 sent directly to her from his retirement. She said that the retiree (husband) will never agree to this.

Q1. Does the retiree have to sign off on the QDRO - I think the answer is no.

Q2. Isn't she better off going to the court and having the court slap the guys wrist for not paying on a timely manner? Surely this would be easier than a QDRO - or maybe not.

Q3. Can I get an asprin...my head hurts!

Jim

If a sole proprietor is a farmer and reports income on Schedule F to his personal tax return, how is this counted for purposes of income for a qualified plan? I have only dealt with using income reported on Schedule C in the past.

However, I imagine it would be a similar situation in that you would take the gross income from the Schedule F and back out 1/2 of the self-employment taxes and the contribution to determine net earned income.

Anyone have experience with this?

The attached PLR allowed some provisions that are not surprising, such as allowing the underlying beneficiary of the trust to use their life expectancy to calculate post death distribution. However, they made one ruling that seems to contradict with the new RMD regulations, i.e. permitting the underlying beneficiary of the trust to establish the inherited IRA in their name. They ruled:

“(5) that Taxpayer D, as a beneficiary of Trust X, the beneficiary of IRA Y, may direct that her portion of the Trust X assets which consists of her interest in IRA Y be transferred, by means of a trustee-to-trustee transfer, into another IRA set up and maintained in the name of Taxpayer A for the benefit of Taxpayer D, beneficiary thereof ;”

This contradicts Section 1.408-8 Q&A 5, of the new RMD regulations.

Any thoughts?

Client is a Partnership and sponsors a 401(k). The two Partners elected to defer $10,500 each for the 2001 plan year. They submitted their contributions to the Trust March 1, 2002.

I understand that a Partner's compensation is deemed currently available on the last day of the partnership's taxable year (12/31 in this case). However, their "earned income" could not be calculated by their CPA any sooner than March 1, 2002.

Question is: Does this violate the DOL requirement that employee deferrals be seggregated from employer's plan assets and placed in Trust as soon as possible, but in no event later than the 15th business day following time of deferral????

Any input is greatly appreciated!!

After reading through several threads and reviewing reference material, I am clearer on this whole Fringe Benefit vs. Welfare Benefit thing . . . I think . . .

Please correct me if I'm wrong . . .

As I see it, the Cafeteria Plan "houses" an assortment of Fringe and Welfare Benefit plans. So the key is knowing which of the components of the Cafeteria are Fringe and which are Welfare?

If that's all I need to worry about, then where does a dependent care FSA fall? Fringe?

And what about Health Insurance Premiums? Welfare?

And finally, when we're talking about the number of participants determining whether or not we file on behalf of a Welfare Plan, are we talking about Eligible Employees, or are we only looking at the number of employees who have chosen to participate?

Would Boutlinum Toxin Injection be reimbursable under the Medical Reimbursement Account? This claim was denied due to the fact that it was not recognized as being approved by the FDA. The diagnosis code is for MS.

I'm trying to determine whether to answer "yes" or "no" to 1a on schedule E for a new leveraged ESOP plan. They do have a securities acquisition loan, but the question says "within the meaning of Code Section 133".

Based on a 5500 reference book, that author's opinion is that the answer is "no" if they do not have a security acquisition loan made BEFORE the effective date of the repeal of Code Section 133.

Agree?

I have a calendar year plan with a proposed termination date of 3/31/02.The estimated plan termination liability @ 3/31/02 is $302000.The actual number will be determined and contributed after the PBGC's 60-day mandatory look expires,probably late in July or early August.The plan sponsor's FYE is 2/28/02. His normal plan contribution for PYE 12/31/02 would be deducted at 2/28/02.Assuming the plan term liability is at least equal to his 412 minimum,can it be deducted under 404(a)(1)(D)(iv) as amended by EGTRRA 652(a) @ 2/28/02 ? The plan's attorney and CPA are nervous about the fact that the term date is after the FYE,but I think the deduction is still OK because it's attributable to the 02 Plan Year.

Any comments or thought would be appreciated.

I think this sort of ties into a couple of other threads here, but I wanted to throw this out. Here is the situation:

A safe-harbor 401(k) plan (3% non-elective) which has a 2 year wait to receive a profit sharing contribution. The way the groups are set up, we can maximize the owner group by giving a 5% contribution to the rest of the employees. The original thought was to just give the 3% to the employees who had not met the 2 year profit sharing requirement. However, after doing more reading (and what fun and exciting reading it was), I cannot find anything that would allow us to to do that. It appears that we have to give all NHCE's a 5% contribution, including those that have not met the 2 year requirement.

In this scenario, the 2 year wait really doesn't benefit them at all. In fact, it requires them to fully vest the entire contribution rather than being able to set the additional 2% above the safe harbor to a vesting schedule.

Do you agree? Just wanted to get other thoughts on this. Thanks in advance.

Hello,

I recently opened a ROTH IRA with Ameritrade.

I believe in additon to investing in a fund, I am allowed to buy/sell stocks within this account.

How do buying and selling stocks affect my taxes at the end of the year?

If I realize a gain on a short or long-term trade do I have to pay a capital gains tax?

and conversely if I realize a loss can this be deducted when I calculate my year end taxes?

Or are gains/loss tax implications not recognized since they are within a ROTH IRA.

Thanks for your help.

sgj

As Pension Administrator for a TPA, I have made a serious error in analyzing a new plan's first-year testing. It may cost me my job, but since my boss won't explain it to me. I am asking a board expert to explain. Here goes: The 401(k) plan was effective 04/01/00, plan year end 03/31/01. Assume deferrals began 04/01/00. HCEs are 4 Owners/Officers and 1 Employee who earned more than $80k in prior year; he did not defer. I tested top heavy for the beginning of the 04/01/01 PY. but since it was the first plan year, I should have tested as of 03/31/01; the plan was top heavy for the 03/31/01 PYE. The ADP Test may have also failed because we are not sure what comp the client used (I am not allowed to call the client and clarify). Plan's definition of comp is W-2 wages from entry date (dual entry). The Client did not make a Match or Discretionary contribution. Can a 3% Safe Harbor Match be made retroactive to the 03/31/01 PYE to NHCEs to satisfy both the ADP Test failure & the Top Heavy status? By what date do employees need to receive the Safe Harbor Notification? Today I received the census data for the 03/31/02 PYE. And again the client states no employer contribution. He does not know that the plan is top-heavy. I appreciate any guidance! Thank you!

The latter can determine probability of death by sex, race, job type and possibly lifestyle, whereas the former can tell you all of the aforementioned, as well as when, where, and possibly by whom...

I have a partial IRA conversion to ROTH IRA (in 2001) that consists of stocks. SInce then, my broker sold some of the stocks and purchased new ones. Can I recharacterize my conversion (based on the amount I converted) or do i have to recharacterize individualo stocks?

If I recharacterize this year (was last year's conversion), can I still make a new (another portion of my IRA) conversion this year, without messing up the other recharacterization? CAN I do all this with the same custodian, or am I better off shift the amount I want to convert to another custodian and then do the new conversion?

Thank you for any suggestions.

A private tax-exempt organization has a 457(f) plan and are restructuring and will become a for-profit organization. In order for the participants to avoid immediate taxation, can they set up a Top Hat plan for the newly structured company and allow the participants in the 457(f) the opportunity to elect to defer all the income they will receive from the 457(f) due to its termination?

Or, can the new company just assume sponsorship of the "frozen" 457(f) plan and distribute the income as initially provided in the agreements?

I have a client who has a fringe benefit plan with over 100 participants that has health insurance paid partially by the employer and pre-tax through a cafeteria plan by the employee. They also have dental paid pre-tax by the employee. The client also has a welfare benefit plan for STD paid after tax by the employee and LTD and Life Insurance premiums paid by the employer. Do I just need to file a 5500 for the welfare benefits and Sch. A? In filing the Sch. A how do you know when to report as experience or non-experience rated? HELP!

I have a plan that has been fully funded for the past 5 or so years. It is my understanding that when filing the schedule B it is okay to be out of balance (i.e. Unfunded Accrued Liability does not equal Outstanding balance of amortization bases less credit balance less reconciliation account). Thus, I have been out of balance for years. The valuation for 1/1/2002 produces a positive Unfunded Accrued Liability. How do I balance my equation of balance? Can you simply use a "Balancing Base" (simply the difference in the equation)? If so, how many years can you amortize this over? If not, what is the procedure to get back into balance?