If I am investing in individual stocks in my Roth IRA and decide to sell to lock-in profit, am I taxed on this, or is there any limit to the amount of times I do this?

I have a couple of clients with funds tied up till the markets open. Is minimum funding for a calendar year 9/15 or 9/17 since that is the next business day?

Any cites? Thanks.

P.S. Everything we've found (including Question 8 from the 1995 EA meeting) says 9/15 is firm. Any dissenting opinions?

:confused:

Here is an example. You have a church employee who is able to contribute $5,000 to the 403b. The employee decides to contribute an additional $2,500. In regards to the special election, is the whole $7,500 applied to the $10,000 special election or just the additional $2,500?

Please Help.

Thanks.

Brandon Carr

Has any one noticied if the IRS has addressed the ability or inability of many governmental plans to adopt the good faith amendments required under the recent IRS notices within the timeframes apparently required? Usually governmental plans are granted additional time to adopt amendments to their plan greater than what is required for the private sector.

I suspect that many plans will have difficulties in getting state legislatures to move as quickly as may be required by the notices.

I figure we could all use a little of this today.

Originally written in the 1970's, hopefully just as appropriate now.

A TRIBUTE TO THE UNITED STATES

This, from a Canadian newspaper, is worth sharing.

America: The Good Neighbor.

Widespread but only partial news coverage was given recently to a remarkable editorial broadcast from

Toronto by Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian television commentator. What follows is the full text of his

trenchant remarks as printed in the Congressional Record:

"This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least

appreciated people on all the earth.

Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the

Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of these

countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.

When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their

reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.

When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United States that hurries in to help. This spring, 59

American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped.

The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars! into discouraged countries. Now

newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans.

I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States

dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo

Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all the

International lines except Russia fly American Planes?

Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles.

You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon -! not once, but several times -

and safely home again.

You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at.

Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here.

When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans

who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke.

I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name

me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside

help even during the San Francisco earthquake.

Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get

kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled

to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one of

those."

Stand proud, America!

:confused:

Hello, I have a question regarding our Supplemental Life Insurance Benefit... It may be a procedureal issue - I'm not sure.

An employee has $200,000 of voluntary life insurance as a non-smoker. They have recently started smoking and since our rates are based on smoker status, we need to change her designation. However, I want to pose the question...

When should this change take place? Does their status change the following month upon receipt of new information or next policy anniversary or next payperiod following receipt of information.

Has anyone handled this before and if so, what was your procedure?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thanks, BettyG

Is it possible to have a loan policy that allows a loan to be made only from the employee 401(k) salary deferral contributions? The majority I have seen seem to be have a generic statement of "from the vested account balance". If this is okay, then is it possible to restrict loans to certain investment options?

My corporation would like to know what the industry standard 401(k) company contribution is for employees. We are a small, 100 employee corporation. Thank you in adavance.

We have a NFP client who hasn't filed Form 5500 for the past 5 years for its 403(B) plan which is subject to Title I of ERISA. The DOL recommends filing under the DFVC program which charges $2000 per return. Instead of costing the client $10,000 up front, wouldn't we be better to file the returns with Form 4571 (Explanation for filing late return) and wait to see if the DOL & IRS assess penalties? Since 403(B) returns require only limited reporting, what are the chances penalties will actually be imposed?

I have received conflicting information reagrding a Governmental organization being able to Opt-out of Social Security. One told me that no one is able to opt-out anymore except for possible seasonal/part-time employees. The other said it could be done provided they never had filed a 218 Agreement to remain in Soc. Sec.

Can anyone help clarify this for me. Thanks

I've got a MPPP that employer just notified me that they want to terminate as of September 30, 2001. Plan year ends September 30. Employer will fully fund for plan year ending September 30, 2001. I have just taken a closer look at 4980F contained in EGTRRA and saw the reference to the minimum 3 month notice period for amendments effective after the date of enactment of EGTRRA. Does that mean that employer will now not be able to terminate the plan until 3 months from today's date (assuming amendment to terminate signed off on today and participants given notice of amendment today? In other words, unless and until Treasury adopts regulations to address it (possibly exempting plans with fewer than 100 e/ee's under 4980F(e)(2)(A), will there always be a 3 month mandatory notice period? I will check to see if any interim guidance has been put out by the IRS which I have not yet seen which addresses this.

Could you refer me to the Code which illustrates participation and eligibility for S-Corps in a 125?

If the forfeitures of a target benefit or money purchase plan exceed the contribution formula amount, what is done with the forfeitures that exceed the amount? Can they be placed in a suspense account? Does it matter if the forfeitures exceed the formula amount because the plan sponsor made an actual contribuiton in addition to the forfeitures?

Question I'm hoping someone can help us with. Can we hold a former employee (terminated during a reduction in staff) responsible for money paid in excess of her contributions to the medical spending account? Our administrator paid the claims because they were incurred during her employment and were toward her annual contracted amount. Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

a plan has put a 1,000 accrual requirement on the match contribution. They apparantely have not been following this provision as some distributed accounts (less than 1000 hours) have received matching contributions. Should these participants who technically should not have received match be included in the ACP test? For purposes of the ACP test, they are ineligible as they did not work 1000 hours.

We have a client who is interested in investing the proceeds from his sale of stock to an ESOP in notes of General Electric Capital Corporation. The client has been advised that GECC paper is no longer "qualified replacement property" (presumably because such notes no longer meet the requirements of Code Section 1042). Does anyone have any relevant information about these GECC notes?

Are there any exceptions for a profit sharing plan not needing a bond?

In a defined contribution plan:

If forfeitures are used to reduce employer contributions, and the employer makes a contribution that, together with the forfeitures, would exceed the 404 deductible limit, has the employer made a nondeductible contribution? Or can the forfeitures be placed in a suspense account and used to reduce a future year contribution?

Is the answer different for money purchase and target plans as opposed to profit sharing, 401(k), and ESOP, etc.?

We are a governmental entity. We have adopted a 401(a) defined contribution plan as our alternative retirement plan in lieu of Social Security beginning Oct 1, 2001.

Is the 401(a) tax deferred from federal, state, and/or medicare?

The agency is contributing 6.2% and the employee is contributing 6.2% (mandatory) to this 401(a) in place of Social Security. How does the W-2 reflect these contributions? Thanks!