Jim's anecdote reminded me of a story...because I'm in pensions my best friend KNEW I would find humorous. She was working for a car dealership as a title clerk and worked closely with the girl who processed the credit applications. One day the girl was reviewing a form and said "Oh, this customer will have NO problems getting credit from the bank!" "Why do you say that?" questioned my friend. "He has $401,000 in his retirement plan at his job and he's only 30!" she replied. My friend glanced over the girl's shoulder and, as we all might have guessed, the applicant had written in the "Employer Retirement Plans" box...401k.

Got a 401k plan sponsored by a brokerage house.

Everyone's got their own account. Sometimes commissions on stock trades are going directly to the participant as agent of record (that's a no-no). Sometimes the commission goes directly to the firm (also a no-no).

Question is, what can we do with commissions generated? Keep them in the participants' accounts so that no outside income is generated?

Can an ERISA 403(B) plan have eligibility and entry requirements for elective deferrals?

If so, what are the parameters?

If not, why not?

On 7/30/00 we left a message on a trustee's voice mail saying they had to overnite their 5500 to us so we could forward it to the DOL on time.

The next day we got a check for $5,500.00 from the client via fedex

I have a situation where an employer provides up to $50,000 of group term life and in addition has a voluntary buy up program whereby employees can buy additional coverage over the $50,000 provided by the employer and if they do so the employer will pay for 80% of the additional voluntary coverage. Is that amount subject to Table I reporting?

Is it possible to have a plan that has no key employees. I have a non-profit org. that is sponsoring a 401(k) but has no owners or officers. It is made up of a board of directors who are non paid and won't be in the plan. So, for top heavy issues could you not have any key ee's in the plan and avoid being top heavy all together?

Ok first question:

Is Emancipation to be considered a qualifying event as loss of depedent status?

If so what documentation should be requested to support proof of emancipation?

Can anyone direct me to clear information as to whether the patient bill of rights applies to self-funded insurance? We are a TPA and have conflicting information that it does/does not apply to us.

Thanks, Kary

Good morning,

We are a small employer located in Chicago, Illinois. I am looking for the percentage rate used to determine the employee contribution rate to medical and dental plans.

Thank you.

A client has a Money Purchase Plan and the owner is over 70 1/2. His wife doesn't want to give spousal consent to waive the J&S. How is the MRD calculated without spousal consent when the J&S must be provided?? Thanks.

Are employees of corporations that only have a profit sharing plan eligible for the additional contribution amount if they are over 50?

Does anyone know of a court case involving owners self directed accounts that made a large gain and all other employees in general fund with a loss or small gain? Were owners sued for fiduciary breach? (assuming owners are also trustees)

Thanks.

Q) Are 125 Administrators required to carry a professional liability insurance for Errors and Omissions (E&O)?

Does anyone know if this coverage is necessary or available? If so, what companies offer this protection?

I appreciate your help.

FACTS: ABC, Inc. sponsors only one qualified plan which is a 25% mppp for the benefit of all of its employees.

ISSUE: Does §414(v) allow the mppp to be amended effective 1/1/2002 to accept catch-up contributions from those participants who are 50 or older?

DISCUSSION: §414(v)(6)(A)(i) defines "applicable employer plan" to include all qualified plans including mppp. But the catch-up contribution is described in §414(v)(1) as an "additional elective deferral". I have read many descriptions of this new plan feature that use 401(k) plans as the example but do not state that it is limited to 401(k) plans. I have also read that "any qualified plan can allow catch-up contributions" on this message board without citation.

So which way is it? Can the ABC, INC. MPPP allow catch-up contributions and continue to be a mppp?

I have a client who maintains a self-insured health plan for its employees. Because of high turnover among a particular group of workers who are generally not highly compensated, the client wants to delay eligibility for those employees until 90 days after hire while retaining immediate eligibility for all other classifications of employees. Can the client do this with running afoul of the 105(h) benefits and eligibility tests?

Are Roth IRA's influenced by market conditions? And are you allow to withdraw your savings at any point bfore "retirement" or no matter what your age? thanks

Regarding 401k administration fees, I have seen where some administrators charge the "participant" charge for those actually deferring and/or that have an account balance and others that charge the participant fee for any "eligible" participant. I am wonering which is more prevelant. It would seem logical to charge based on eligible participants since they must be accounted for.

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Does anyone know how to advise the following:

Employer has a long term disability policy where an employee is receiving disability payments. The employee is a participant in the 401(k). The LTD plan states that they will pay the employer an extra benefi to be deposited into the plan. The amount is 4% of monthly earnings.

1. How can this be put into the plan as a salary reduction - pre tax contribution?

2. How is it reported?

3. Does this violate any ERISA laws. Again this amount is paid by the insurance co. in addition to the LTD payments

It doesn't seem to be reported on his W-2 as a deferred payment. Should it?

Any help would be appreciated

Our prototype adoption agreement allows the adopting plan sponsor to give credit to employees for eligibility and vesting for service with a predecessor organization. However, I cannot find a definition of "predecessor organization" in the plan document. Must there be some connection between the predecessor organization and the plan sponsor? For example, must the plan sponsor have taken over the predecessor organization's plan?

A potential client wants to give credit to new employees from certain companies but not from others. I do not think there is any ownership connection between these companies. The client does a lot of government contract work and when he bids on contracts he must offer a certain level of benefits to the employees working on that contract. He has apparently interpreted some of these requirements to require giving credit for past service on some other government contract job for some other, unrelated company. I do not see how a sponsor could give credit for prior service to some employees and not to others, if there is no connection between the sponsoring employer and the predecessor organization.