A provider of administrative services has stated that a 403(B) plan sponsor's public school plan might be discriminatory because the Plan will not allow life insurance as an investment of the 403(B) plan

1. What are the plan sponsors rights in setting investment policy?

The plan sponsor's payroll system is not geared to handling incidental reporting of income, etc. and will be forced to incur substantial expense if required to include life insurance.

2. Has anyone seen this approach simply as a method to sell life insurance product previously?

To determine whether a cafeteria plan is exempt from filing, one of the "tests" is to find out if the plan is funded. That is if the plan assets have been deposited in the name of the "Plan" rather than remain as part of the general assets of the company.

I have a situation where the client is self funded and deposits into an account in the name of the medical plan NOT the cafeteria plan. (Example: ABC Employee Benefit Plan--name of medical plan. The cafeteria plan name is ABC Cafeteria Plan)

Does this constitute funding in the name of the "Plan"?

Question regarding a Plan that allows for both after-tax and pre-tax contributions.

A participant has contributed both pre-tax and after-tax funds for many years and is now withdrawing them. If the participant's after-tax basis is greater then the market value of the after-tax funds, can the additional basis be used to off set the taxable amount of the pre-tax portion of the distribution?

I know this is an odd situation, but any thoughts are appreciated especially if you can point to guidance.

Thanks.

When is this filing required, and when is it due if required?

We have a client who has a one-person Profit Sharing Plan.

In 1999 she "terminated" a predecessor Profit Sharing plan by rolling the assets into an IRA, and she started a new Profit Sharing Plan with a new account. The reason for this is murky, but it had something to do with going from being a "P.C." to an "Inc."

In 1999 she filed her final 5500 for the old PSP, and filed the first 5500 for the new PSP.

With all the restatements going on this year, Vanguard sent her an Adoption Agreement package for both plans, though the one hasn't been alive for a few years now. Vanguard says that if the client had intended to terminate the plan, she should have updated the plan back in 1999 and gone through the formal termination process with the IRS(!) (I didn't know this was necessary with DC plans . . . ). Because it wasn't done in 1999, it needs to be done now(!) says Vanguard.

Is this true? I feel so uncertain about what needs to be filed, etc., because this isn't like a DB plan termination, right?

What are the compliance requirements for premium only plans? (i.e. 25% concentration test, discrimination test, etc.)

I have a client who has a Welfare Benefit plan that has medical and dental insurance partially paid by the employer and employee. The employee portion is reported pre-tax through a cafeteria plan on a separate 5500 filing. The Welfare plan reports the employer portion and Sch. A. The company also has STD paid after tax by the employee and LTD paid in total by the employer. My question is this must the STD & LTD be reported on Sch. A under the welfare benefit plan? Neither of these coverages have 100 or more participants. HELP!!!!!

Can anyone give me direction toward finding ERISA/HIPAA or like regs on the information that is required to be reported on an explaination of benefits (EOB)?

For those of you who offer ongoing after-tax employee contributions in your 401(k) plans, aer you limiting them? If so, what %?

I have read in other threads that for purposes of calculating the 4975 15% excise tax for late contributions, the "amount involved" is the lost earnings. Does anybody have any authority/cite? In my search for some sort of definite cite, all I have came up with is commentary (which all agree with the thread postings). If anybody has a cite, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks

Assume an ESPP is being implemented in the context of an IPO. Because of administrative difficulties in rolling out the ESPP and the timing of the IPO, it will likely not be possible for participants to enroll in the ESPP until at least one month following the date of the IPO. Is there any permissible means by which the initial offering period can begin on the date of the IPO, so that participants can have the benefit of the IPO price in determining the exercise price of their options?

Any insight on the foregoing would be appreciated.

Does anybody know anything about Mobious? What types of servcies they offer, what part of VA are they located in? What system are they using for the administration?

Thanks

Opinions please as to whether "educational assessments" for ADHD (which are not covered under our medical plan) would be eligible for reimbursement under the HCRA?

I've looked all through the message boards and can't seem to find the thread I wanted to review. What is the story with an employee who might opt to defer 100% of pay? As has been mentioned, I'm thinking of the second income earner making, oh let's say $11,000 a year. How would the FICA taxes be paid? I know that in today's economy, we probably won't see much of this, but how to address it when it happens? I know that prior threads mentioned putting in a document limit (for example 75% of pay) for administrative ease, but what about those few clients who insist on the 100% of pay limit? I thought a CPA responded that the employee would then have to "pay" the FICA taxes to the Employer, but that doesn't seem acceptable. What would go on the W-2 then? Any input is appreciated.

I'm writing a story about the most common problems in COBRA administration. Does anyone have, or know anyone who has, hands-on day to day experience in handling COBRA administration who can help on this? Thanks

A plan with a 3/31/02 plan year end allowed an in-service withdrawal for an NHCE in March when the plan does NOT allow such withdrawals. As a remedy, can the GUST restatement be drafted to allow in-service withdrawals and an effective date that is before the withdrawal occurred (ie January 1)?

Let's assume a Plan pays reasonable non-settlor expenses. Can these expenses be allocated to participants on a fixed amount per participant basis (e.g. $3 per month per participant)?

Usually, we see admin expenses allocated like earnings based on account balances. But is a fixed amount allowed under ERISA?

Thanks!

A qualified DB plan must:

- receive employer contributions each year???

- have fixed benefits???

meet minimum vesting requirements???

Is there an IRS "deminimus" amount for reporting excess aggregate contribution refunds, which are paid after the 2.5 mos. deadline, on Form 5330? I thought that I heard an unofficial statement at one of the IRS seminars, but cannot find anything to support it.

A client mistakenly took elective deferrals from severance payments for several participants in its 401(k) plan. The account balances for the affected participants have since been rolled over to either IRAs or other qualified plans. Beyond informing the recipient plan or arrangement of the ineligible rollover, what is the tax treatment of the corrective distribution? Is the participant sent a current 1099R for the corrective distribution or is he sent a corrected W-2 for the year the deferral should have been paid in cash?