I am thinking about going back to school for my Ph.D. I was wondering if anyone knew of any schools that actually offer a Ph.D. program in the employee benefits field. Any information would be appreciated.

Client sold his shares to his Company's ESOP in exchange for a note FROM the ESOP itself. Compay is doing poorly, so client decided to forgive one of the payments due from ESOP last year.

Any thoughts on the tax treatment to client or ESOP. ESOP trust is tax exempt - Can there be income to ESOP from forgiveness of debt by the former shareholder ?

Excerpt: "Having trouble staying awake in meetings or during long conference calls? Here’s a tool to help you revitalize your days. Simply keep this chart handy at the next meeting, mark off the words and phrases as used, and see how long it takes before you score a BS BINGO!"

(See attached PDF document.)

Just a quickie question today:

Does anyone know if FSA plans are restricted to just Full Time employees? I was under the impression that this was an area that was up to the employer much like the monetary cap.

Our SPD indicates "Full Time" but leaves the specific number of hours to qualify as FT open to each employer/member.

Thanks.

This is my first tax year at my new company. In prevoius companies, as HR Manager, my involvement in 5500's was merely as a "data collector"; our Finance Department would always delegate this to an accountant (usually with tax experience.) At my new company, the discussion has been raised as to which department 'owns' this responsibility. I am not comfortable taking this on due to my lack of experience, and the consequences for not filing accurate and timely reports. What do other companies do? Who is responsible? If HR, does your accounting/finance dept. assist? Do you have an outside service perform these? And, is it not true that 5500's must be included as part of the company's annual audit? Thanks for your help!

Have client who made excess SEP contribution. Can they recharacterize as Trad IRA contribution?

I thought they could as long as they notify ee (who also happens to be owner) of excess & include in W-2 wages. Then the ee elects to treat excess contribution as a Trad IRA contribution, then follow the deductibility rules of that contribution.

According to page 55 of IRS Publication 590, one cannot recharacterize employer contributions under a SEP as contributions into another IRA.

But if an ee has the amount included as W-2 wages, why wouldn't the IRS allow the ee to recharacterize?

Any ideas?

I'm searching for E & O insurance. Anyone have recommendations? I'd like a company name and phone # if possible. Thanks!

US employer sends some employees who are US citizens to United Kingdom for 3 year periods of overseas service. During their period of employment in the UK, these employees continue to make elective deferrals to US company's 401(k) plan. Plan just received notice from UK Dept. of Inland Revenue, requiring plan administrator to sign following statement:

"The Plan Administrator hereby confirms that the individuals listed below have not/will not use the in-service withdrawal or loan provisions of this Plan to withdraw or borrow any contributions which were paid into their accounts during their service in the United Kingdom."

The plan allows both loans and post age 59.5 in-service withdrawals. If they sign this statement, they'll have to track these amounts separately--not the end of the world, but a hassle.

Has anyone seen this before? Has the plan administrator signed? I reviewed the 2001 UK/US tax treaty and don't see where this is supported in the text of that treaty (but I'm definitely not an expert in treaties). Any ideas?

Can a 401(k) plan match NHCE deferrals at a higher rate than HCE deferrals? Do HCE deferrals need to be matched at all? Are there any negatives of doing this from a compliance testing perspective?

Happy Holidays to all. little help please . . .is a Rabbi Trust a DB or a DC type plan, and why?

Happy Holidays to all. little help please . . .is a Rabbi Trust a DB or a DC type plan, and why?

i know its non qualified, but trying to learn a bit more how it works. thanks.

If someone forgets to open an IRA account for the past few years, is it possible to make up the contributions in one year? Or at least make up for one year?

thanks

If a group health plan provides that coverage ends when lifetime maximum is reached does this mean that the 63-day break in coverage period begins at that time. Even if the participant continues to work for the plan sponsor? Doesn't this result force the participant to find a new job before the 63 days are up?

If an employee drops his or her health coverage under a group plan before taking a FMLA leave of absence, the regulatory requirement--that the employee be covered on the day before the first day of FMLA leave--is not satisfied, and there is no qualifying event (QE) for FMLA purposes (assuming the employee does not become covered during the leave; if such coverage occurs, there is a QE).

My question: if a covered employee drops his or her coverage before taking a FMLA leave of absence, does the reduction in hours of his or her employment, that occurs when the leave is taken, cause a QE under COBRA? While in this case there is a reduction in hours of employment, the reduction in hours does not cause the loss of coverage. Rather, the loss of coverage was caused by the employee's voluntary act, and not by one of the statutorily designated events.

Is severance (from which tax/deductions were taken out) which was paid in a lump sum Jan. 31, 2002 after a job loss which occurred Dec. 1, 2001, considered "compensation" for purposes of Roth IRA -- i.e., can $2000 of that severance pay be contributed into a Roth IRA for the year 2002? Also -- assuming not, can $2000 be contributed now to the Roth IRA in 2002 on the assumption that I will have earned at least $2000 by the end of 2002? (Note that W-2 statement for 2001 does not include the severance payment; pay stub issued Jan. 31, 2002 indicates the severance amount as "severance" in the earnings column.)

What are the requirements for governmental plans for amendments for EGTRRA - deadlines & provisions? Interested in how other governmental plans are going through the amendment process. Is there a good resource that can help guide through this process?

First, know that I and my family support this Nation's police officers and appreciate the job they do in both serving and protecting us all! This story is in no way meant to be negative regarding the police. Just struck us all as funny.

My sister, upon attempting to move her rear wheel drive 318 V-8 car from a stop across a snow covered road inadvertently spun her drive wheel. It was early morning and the only other car on the road, moving in the opposite direction as her, was a police officer.

Her first thought was that she was going to be pulled over. When they did not turn around to pull her over she was pleasantly surprised - and felt slightly guilty for jumping to such a conclusion.

Upon traveling the 3-5 miles towards home however, she quickly had the feeling that her initial thought was correct. Waiting for her at the city line was another officer who, while they had the right of way at the stop sign, would not budge. When she finally did the officer fell in directly behind her. Approximately 1 mile went by before the officer hit his lights to pull her over. Less than thrilled, and noting the irony that she was less than two blocks from home (something the officer undoubtedly knew) her mood began to deteriorate.

Upon approaching the car, the officer gave her some lame story about why he pulled her over. She challenged him on this and said "you pulled me over because the other officer called ahead and told you I was spinning my tires when I was only trying to get moving on an icy road." The officer did not deny this.

After the expected questions:

Where are you coming from?

Where are you going to?

and of course, the ever popular radio license check, the officer returned. With nothing to make an issue of, the officer simply handed back her license and said:

"Be careful, this road is dangerous"

To that she replied:

"Dangerous? I've seen only two cars my entire trip and they were both cops. This is the SAFEST road in America!"

The officer may not have been ammused, but I was.

FYI

When the DOL started the DFVC for delinquent filers of Form 5500, the IRS declined to join the program, although it generally did not assess penalties for the late filings of plan sponsors who entered DFVC. In releasing Notice 2002-23, the IRS has joined forces with the DOL and officially agrees to waive its penalty provisions for employers who use the DFVC program.

When the DOL established VFC, it allowed correction of prohibited transactions, but did not provide for waiver of the IRS penalties under Code section 4975. This leaves plan sponsors still exposed to the collection of Code section 4975 penalties for the prohibited transactions reported in their VFC filings. The DOL is working on a prohibited transaction class exemption that would eliminate this problem, but class exemptions take time. In Announcement 2002-31, the IRS states it will essentially waive its prohibited transaction excise tax for plan sponsors who satisfy the proposed exemption's conditions (one of which is successful completion of VFC).

Notice 2002-23 and Announcement 2002-31 are scheduled to appear in Internal Revenue Bulletin 2002-15, dated April 15, 2002.

Is a governmental plan required to amend their plan for GATT?

we have a client that had a traditional ira at bank #1. he then wanted to roll it into bank #2 that had a better interest rate. bank #1 made the check payable to him and he deposited it into bank #2 which put it into a regular savings account in his name instead of an ira account. this happened during 2001 and he just now realized the error. any suggestions as to a correction to this error? obviously he doesn't want to take it as taxable income (it's a substantial amount) and both banks refuse to help....