If an employer is late in turning over 401(k) contributions to the trustee, is the employer obligated to pay de minimis interest that would have accrued absent such (slight) neglect? By de minimis, I mean interest in an amount less than $1.00 (especially where the cost to cut a check to former employees under the plan would be in excess of $20). Any thoughts?

When drafting distribution election forms for 401(k) and 403(B) plans (ERISA), must one include an area for the approval signature of the Plan Administrator?

Can an employer selectively "assist" employees with Dependent Care Accounts? Instead of having an On-site daycare facility, the employer wishes to financially assist employees on a case by case basis. Is this possible?

If an ESOP purchases shares of company stock (and after the sale would own more than 30% of the total outstanding stock of the company) and the selling shareholders elect Section 1042 treatment is there any problem with, say more than a year later, the company entering into additional financing and other corporate reorganization which afterwards results in the ESOP owning less than 30%? Basically I am concerned with how any issues this may raise for the company and/or the selling shareholders if such percentage of ownership drops below 30%. Thanks for any thoughts you may have ...

Knowing that 401K loans are 5 years and 30 years for primary residence, my question is.

Does amounts required to prevent foreclosure on a primary residence qualify for 30 year treatment, or do they fall under the 5 year ceiling.

The answer is probably no, but I thought I'd getsome opinions.

Ray Setzer

Can an employer mandate that the employee's share of health insurance premiums be made on a pre-tax basis via the cafeteria plan. If so, how have you seen this structured? Thanks

Would it be feasable for a small community business/industry to band together to form a MEWA in order the procure better group health insurance rates? If so, what carrier(s)/TPA(s) might underwrite this?

A Plan Sponsor chooses not to hire an investment advisor or an investment consultant to assist in selecting investments, but rather appoints an investment/advisory committee (employees of plan sponsor) to select and monitor the investments. The plan has individual trustees that are also employees of the company. In this case the trustees are different from the committee. Clearly, the trustees are fiduciaries. The question I have is does selection, monitoring and evaluating investments make the members of the advisory/investment committee fiduciaries as well?

Can anyone send me or direct me to the right place - I need sample documents to use for open enrollment to send to cobra participants.

Thanks, Kary

I have been advised that a local IRS practitioner hotline told someone in my office that 5500 "items" should now be filed with the IRS Cincinnati office and that this is a new procedure. Has anyone heard about this? I can't find anything to back up a change in filing address for 5500s.

We are currently in the middle of salary reviews for our firm. Does anyone have, or can refer me to, comparative salary data for TPA administrators? We are located in the midwest. I want to pay fairly, but not too much. Thanks.

Is it ever possible to contribute to an ESOP bonds backed by debt instruments held by the employer sponsoring the ESOP?

My admittedly limited understanding is that the definition of qualifying employer securities under ERISA is broader than that under the Code and that the ERISA definition includes debt instruments.

I need some help please. I have a defined contribution plan that is a money purchase plan. They have made their minimum required contribution for the plan year and have so indicated on lines 6a and 6b. They did not make any elections or amendments as described in line 4 and therefore checked the "N/A" box. However, my software is giving me an edit check that lines 6a and 6b should be left blank when line 4 is marked "N/A". Any guidance will be appreciated.

I still haven't thought through all of the details, so there are probably still holes in my logic

Under the new 415 limitations, would it be possible to increase the 401(k) contribution percentage limits in Qualified Plans to 100% of comp? Certainly participants would still be subject to 402(g) limits. Most 401(k) Plan documents limit 401(k) contributions to 15%-25% so that participants will not exceed 415 limits. Since the 415 limit has been increased to 100% for PY 2002, is there a reason why the 401(k) deferral limit in the Plan Doc couldn’t be raised to 100%?

EGTRRA changed the rules to allow rollovers from 457 plans. Is this effective for all distributions after 12/31/01, or for distributions during the first plan year beginning in 2002, or when is the provision effective? (I am not very familiar with 457 plans - are there 457 plans with non-calendar year plan years?)

If the distribution occurs 12/1/01, could the participant wait until after 12/31/01 and then roll over the amount received on 12/1/01?

1-person plan sponsor wants to invest plan assets in New Zealand real estate. This appears to be prohibited under ERISA regs 2550.404b-1, since it must be within the reach of US courts, but this is not an ERISA plan. Does the IRS prohibit this type of foreign investment?

I have an LLC owned by 4 individuals one of whom is less than a 5% S/H. 3 of the S/Hs (including the less than 5% S/H) do not draw a salary but are paid consulting fees (1099).

Effective 1/1/01 the LLC established a 401(k) to cover one more than 5% S/H who draws a salary and 8 other EEs.

The 3 other S/Hs have set up SEPs and plan to make 2001 contributions based, in part, on their consulting income from the LLC (they also have other 1099 income from other sources).

Am I correct in saying the 4 plans are mandatorily aggregated for 2001 although 3 of the plans are not 401 plans?

How do we handle the ADP and ACP testing since the 3 SEPS are not SARSEPs or SIMPLEs?

It appears we have a problem with only the 3 S/Hs receiving the maximum non matching contribution and everyone else receiving only a very modest match.

If a qualified plan participant died several years ago, and the beneficiary this year has a RMD for the first time (participant would have had RMD now if he had lived), does the beneficiary determine the Required Minimum Distribution under the old rules or under the 2001 proposed regs?

How late in the calendar year can an employer establish a SIMPLE-IRA plan, considering the 60 day notice requirement and the requirement that a SIMPLE plan can only be effective between Jan 1 and Oct 1??

This has been asked before by others, but with no responses, so I'll take another shot at it:

Can a safe harbor match or nonelective contribution be made in employer stock instead of cash? I could find nothing precluding it.

Any guidance appreciated. Thanks,

Medusa