I'm finally able to open a Roth IRA and need some assistance. Clarify- each spouse can deposit only $2000.00 for 2001 and $3000.00 each for 2002? What if you want to deposit more? This is not a rollover, conversion, we are starting with a new account, new money.

And, can you withdraw periodically without penalty as long as it is still the principle amount? Do you have to pay yourself back within a certain time frame, or at all?

What is the best place to open an account?

Thanks!

MY INCOME EXCEEDED THE LIMIT FOR CONTRIBUTING $$ INTO A ROTH ACCOUNT...DUE TO ALOT OF OVERTIME. WHAT TYPE OF PENALTY AM I LOOKING AT?

:confused: In 1999 an individual trustee distributed $5,000 excess from a a 401(k) with profit sharing plan and money purchase plan. (Probably was 3-5 separate checks because of the way funds were invested.) The participant didn't realize the amount was in excess of his entitled amount.

When the trustee notified the participant of the error in 2001, the participant agreed that based on prior cases he should return the full amount of the overdistribution to the plan.

What recourse does the participant have against the trustee and plan sponsor because the participant invested the money in good faith and the $5,000 decreased to $1,000. Now the trustee is insisting the participant repay the full $5,000, so the participant has to take $4,000 of his own money to repay the plan.

Any case law or other information to help the participant would be appreciated. My email is lol98@prodigy.net

Thank you for reading this post.

:confused: In 1999 an individual trustee distributed $5,000 excess from a a 401(k) with profit sharing plan and money purchase plan. (Probably was 3-5 separate checks because of the way funds were invested.) The participant didn't realize the amount was in excess of his entitled amount.

When the trustee notified the participant of the error in 2001, the participant agreed that based on prior cases he should return the full amount of the overdistribution to the plan.

What recourse does the participant have against the trustee and plan sponsor because the participant invested the money in good faith and the $5,000 decreased to $1,000. Now the trustee is insisting the participant repay the full $5,000, so the participant has to take $4,000 of his own money to repay the plan.

Any case law or other information to help the participant would be appreciated. My email is lol98@prodigy.net

Thank you for reading this post.

I have a sole proprietor with a sarsepp who recently became an s-corp. Can his s-corp continue the sarsepp?

Opinions on whether the assets and obligations of a subsidiary's SERP (for employees and non-employee directors) can be transfered to the purchaser of the parent - with the subsidiary remaining as a sole remaining entity?? Seems like there could be potential issues/questions re. constructive receipt, and whether the assets need to be subject to forfeiture by creditors of your employer?? In this case, some individuals would not be employees of the purchaser of the parent.

Is there any stats on how many people in this country have an IRA and/or Roth IRA? And if so, who compiles it? The Feds, the banking industry or....?

A SAR-SEP fails the 1.25% test for 2001 and must return money to the HCE. Does this return count against his 15% limit for 2001? Or can the employer make a contribution sufficient that the HCE would receive 15% (ER plus salary deferral)?

I am trying to complete the testing on a DC plan and am having trouble with the officer test when determining key employees. The employee is an officer and has comp for the year exceeding $35,000.

Is $35,000.00 the correct indexed dollar limitation? Or is it $70,000.00?

When meeting the funding requirements for a Top Heavy plan you have to fund at least 3% or if less what the highest contribution percentage was for the Key employees. How is the percentage for each of the Key's calculated if there are ADP/ACP refunds involved? Would you back out the refund and then calculate what their contribution rate was for the year? For the plan in question, the highest Key contributed 3.3%, but is going to be getting back most of it due to ADP failures. So do I use 3.3% or do I figure up the percentage after the correction and use that as the minimum funding percent for the top heavy contribution?

We're having a lively discussion in our office over what our recommendation should be to clients who merged their MP balances into PS plans. Should we recommend that all balances now be subject to the QJSA or only the merged MP balances?

One concern expressed is that we screw up and not get the spouse to sign off on a MP distribution if the wrong form is used since new participants, not having MP balances, won't have any portion of their distribution subject to QJSA.

Another concern is if the PS exception is maintained, there presumably would be two distribution forms, one for the PS with no spousal consent and one for the MP with spousal consent. (And a lot more work.) Could one form be used for the particpant with MP and PS balances in which the spousal signature is required even if the exception applies for the PS balance?

Would one form be acceptable if a caveat was added that the spousal consent only pertains to the MP balance?

Facts:

New 401(k) Plan effective- January 1, 2002.

Open enrollment done on October 15, 2001 informing all employees hired as of that date to be able to start contributing in the Plan as of January 1, 2002.

Can you pick October 15, 2001 as the dual eligibility date? Anybody hired between October 16, 2001 and December 31, 2001 would have to meet the eligibility.

I don't think October 15, 2001 could be used as a dual eligibility date since it is a date before the plan goes into effect. The earliest dual eligibility date would have to be January 1, 2002 when the plan was first effective.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Thank you.

We have an employer interested in adopting Safe Harbor Match and wants to change the minimim deferral contribution percentage currently listed in the adoption agreement from 1% to 3%. Would he be able to do this or would this be discriminatory against the NHCE's?

Please advise / confirm on the following:

We administer accounts which run July - June

and September - August. Would we be correct that the July - June groups should now be filing with the "2000" form for the year 2000-2001 (going by the START date of the plan year)???

What happens if our accounts call to get the forms from the IRS and they are told that they are on back order - - - and as a result will not be able to file in a timely manner?

Any and all advice, recommendations, suggestions appreciated.

Many government plans include death benefits that are payable to the participant's children until they attain age 18. Some plans we've seen also continue payments to the surviving spouse until his/her death or remarriage. Is this a violation of the 401(a)(9) five year payout rule? Since the plan dictates the spouse and/or children as the beneficiaries, it does not appear that they are treated as "designated beneficiaries".

Has there been any change to the 457b distribution rules to allow for an in-service distribution other than for hardship or purchase of service credit? For example, are in-service distribution available at age 59 1/2, such as is available in qualified plans that allow for such?

457 Rollover: I am a retired county employee taking 457 Plan distributions. I understand the federal tax law has changed to allow me to rollover my 457 $ into an IRA. Is this so?

I also understand California has not adopted similar legislation. Is this also true?

My question: Can I rollover my 457 $ into an IRA? If I do, what problems, if any, might that create?

Our plan allows beneficiaries of deceased employees to keep the employee contributions in the plan in a special "beneficiary account." If the situation arises where a beneficiary who has money in such an account later dies, would the spouse of that beneficiary be allowed to roll that money into his or her own retirement plan or an IRA under EGTRRA? :confused:

I am currently looking for recommedations for an in-house recordkeeping software for our existing ESOP. Any information would be appreciated.

The employer I currently work for does not provide any tuition assistance. I was wondering, if my employer paid for me to go to Graduate School would they be able to write off all of the expenses on their corporate taxes (we are a company of approx. 70)? If the company pays my tuition and books what costs do they actually incur?