I am the Office Coordinator for a small company and I would greatly appreciate if you could share your vacation/sick policies. We are currently in the process of re-thinking our existing policy. Any suggestions or examples of your policies would be greatly appreciated.

Given the following situation: DB and 401(k) plans which are top heavy, same ee's covered in both except two non-keys excluded from DB, 401(K) has only deferrals and match, TH minimum covered in DB. Question: what about the excluded ee's that are not getting the TH min in the DB? Do they need a contr in the DC?

Does anyone have an article comparing the advantages of daily products over balance forward?

A person inherits an IRA from his parent. If the person rolls that IRA into an IRA in his name, what are the consequences? I think that that exemption from the 10% early penalty no longer applies. What else?

Can an employer contribution more than the 404 deduction limit to a plan, recognizing that they can only take a deduction up to 15% of comp? If yes, what issues need to be considered?

Two plans were invested in a master trust. When dividing the trust into separate trusts (one for each plan) and allocating assets between the new trust, trust A received $200,000 of assets properly allocable to trust B.

Trust A had losses for the time between the transfer and the present, while trust B has earned money.

For purposes of this example assume that trust A actually holds $170,000 of the original $200,000 excess but trust B would have held $205,000 if it had received that excess.

We are trying to determine the amount trust A should transfer to trust B: $170,000 (the amount it has left of the original transfer), $200,000 (the amount originally transferred), $205,000 (the amount B would have if it had received the original transfer), or something else.

Note that both plans are overfunded, although A is less well funded than B.

Thank you in advance for your input!

Does anyone know when the requirement to prvide suspension of benefits notices for employees working past age 65 became effective and where I can find legislative history on that topic?

Also, what transition issues were implemented for employees already over age 65 at the time of this change?

401(k) plan - In a plan I am performing discrimination testing, there are several people that are on a leave of abscence.

They were on a leave for the entire year of 2000, therefore they have no salary to be tested.

The plan & company still consider them as active, eligible employees.

Generally, everyone in the test should have a salary, which is a determinant in testing.

Should these people be included in the test without a salary, or excluded? I can simply enter a termed date of 12/31/1999 to exclude them, then remove the date after the testing is complete.

It's a large plan, some 4,000 eligibles, so 5-6 people won't have a great impact.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Thank You!

How do I go about finding out what other small hi-tech manufacturing companies are doing about PTO for non-exempt ee's?

I would really appreciate your help.

The following item appeared originally at http://www.benefitslink.com/links/20010627...27-011648.shtml:

Opinion: Might Be Best Not to Save Too Much for Retirement (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

Excerpt: "Take care that your retirement savings plans aren't too successful. A recent study suggests that aggressive retirement saving raises lifetime taxes and lowers lifetime spending for low- and moderate-income workers.... By contrast, retirement saving delivers as advertised for couples earning high incomes."

I am aware that "GATT" rates are derived from the 30-year Treasury yield rate, however I am confused as to how these are used in calculating minimum protected cash and "WHIPSAW" formulas in my Plan. The GATT factors I see being used in sample calculations include 129.97 for a February 2001 retirement date and 112.81 for an August 2000 retirement date. How are these factors related to the 5.45% and 5.72% rates released by the Fed Reserve for those months??

Could someone provide a little extra clarification of what is expected when creating rate classes after 12/31/01? At the IRS conference last week in White Plains Jim Holland suggested that rate groups must be within 5 percentage points of each other in terms of allocation rates. Therefore even if you passed the Gateway Test, and your participation and coverage tests, if the rate classes exceed eachother by more than 5%, i.e. Staff 5%, Principals 15%, that would not be acceptable. Am I undertanding this right???

Under EGTRRA, beginning 2002, contributions to a 403(B) do not count against 457(B) contributions. Does that mean a public school employee could contribute $11,000 to a 403(B) AND $11,000 to a 457(B)...for a total of $22,000 for the year?

Under EGTRRA, beginning 2002, contributions to 403(B) plans do not count against 457(B) contributions. Does that mean a public school employee could contribute $11,000 to a 403(B) AND $11,000 to a 457(B)...for a total of $22,000 for the year?

Our client would like to "fund" its nonqualified deferred compensation plan by issuing notes to the participants. The notes would be secured by company assets and would entitle the participant to annual interest payments, but the principal would be contingent upon completion of a specified number of years of service. Obviously, the annual interest payments would be taxable income to the participants, but the principal (although secured) would be subject to forfeiture. I realize there are other ways to secure deferred compensation, but this is the method the owner dreamed up. Are there any holes in it?

Also, the company is part of a controlled group. The owner would like to count the "select group" of key employees based on the whole group, but actually offer it disproportionately to key employees employed by the parent company. Is there any guidance on this?

Can someone who opted out of group coverage purchase his own insurance coverage and still expect the company to pay 75% of his cost (or only up to what we would have paid if he stayed on our insurance) like we do for group coverage? If we allow for him, do we have to allow for all.

Thanks

Is it common for outdated social security wage base amounts and IRS annual compensation limits to be referenced in SPD's with respect to how partipant's plan contributions are calculated? I have an SPD that uses 1999 amounts in their description of how my Plan's contribution is calculated. Is a notation that "social security wage base and federal limits are adjusted periodically for inflation" sufficient?

I have a client who wants to change health ins. carriers mid plan year. They have a PPO, and it looks like they will be getting a PPO. They are changing because the employees are complaining.

I do not believe that there is either a curtailment or the addition of new coverage here. So, the question is, can employees add spouses, children, or enroll themselves when the new carrier's plan is effective and pay on a pretax basis? I do not think they can (pay for newly enrolled family members pretax or drop anyone without a real status change). The health agent is saying they can do whatever they want.

What are the individual tax ramifications to a former qualified plan participant of an invalid IRA rollover contribution? (A portion of the rollover is invalid because the employer failed discrimination testing several years ago and is now correcting the errors via EPCRS.

How and when will the excess contribution be taxed to the former plan participant?

Will the IRC Section 4973(B) 6% excise tax be assessed against the former plan participant for each year that the invalid rollover was not corrected?

What forms does the former plan participant have to file to correct this error?

Scenario: QP plan participant dies and names son as sole beneficiary. Son begins taking RMD's according to his life expectancy within appropriate time frame. Can Son now change investment elections in the plan to reflect his risk profile? If a 403(B) account, could Son do a 90-24 and transfer assets to another contract? Basically, what are the beneficiary's "rights" or limits to their control?