A profit sharing plan currently has 1,000 hour along with a last day of plan yr. rule regarding eligibility for contribution and forfeiture. Last year the elig. requirement for ps contrb. was 500 hours only.

My question regards min. coverage testing. Do those who were eligible last year and now have a balance in the plan but are not eligible for a contrb. this year need to be included in the test?

We have an Esop plan that recently sold all of its stock. The only asset that is left in the plan is cash. Is the plan still an esop? Is there some correction or problems that this may have caused that we are not aware of?

We have a terminated participant in a 401(k) plan. The participant received a distribution and subsequently an additional deferral and match contribution. Thus the participant has small remaining balance. When I allocate losses to the participant Quantech leaves him with a negative vested balance. I know why it happens, but is there any way to prevent it?

What (if any) is the legal amount of time it should take to get monies paid to a 401k that has been cashed out????

If a temporary worker, who is working in US on H1 visa, contributes money to 401(k) plan, can he terminate the plan and get the money contributed by him, and his employer after his H1 visa expires and go back to his home country? Is there any penalty?

What (if any) is the legal amount of time it should take to receive monies from a 401k plan that has been closed out?

Am I reading the instructions correctly? You must file a 5500 for SIMPLE 401(k) but not for SIMPLE IRA Plans

Does DOL/PWBA (or IRS) provide a "template" or Q&A format for SPDs? If so, anyone know where I can find it (online)? I've checked the DOL, PWBA sites and haven't found it.

Does DOL/PWBA (or IRS) provide a "template" or Q&A format for SPDs? If so, anyone know where I can find it (online)? I've checked the DOL, PWBA sites and haven't found it.

I have a state agency department in Louisiana that is very interested in adopting a Cafeteria Plan. Louisiana law suggests that the agency cannot be liable for an employee who has claimed more than he/she has contributed into a Medical FSA.

I have heard about an insurance policy that covers the department liability for "unfunded" claims during the plan year. Does anyone know of an insurance carrier with this product? How anyone ever had experence with this kind of group situation and might know of another way to structure a Cafeteria Plan around the issue of liability

Shawn Bailor

Cafeteria Plan Client Representative

225-926-6370

sbailor@omniinsurance.com

Does anyone have a good guidance on non-required "education" as a plan expense? In particular, it seems that general non-required "financial" education could be payable from pension/401(k) plan assets in some instances? I realize that recent settlor guidance is found in 2001-01A and some hypotheticals but I was wondering if there is any specific guidance on education not specifically related to the plan?

My initial thought on this is that a retirement plan is required to provide participants with an opportunity to make an informed decision under the plan. Financial education about retirement in general could help the participant make an informed decision. An example is Under DOL Regs, to get ERISA 404© fiduciary protection, a participant must be provided with the opportunity to "exercise control" over his account assets. The DOL Regs further state that a participant "exercises control" over his account assets only if he is "provided" or "has the opportunity to obtain" sufficient information to make informed decisions with regard to investment alternatives available under the plan.

Upon retirement, employer agreed to reimburse former employee for his monthly, private health insurance premiums. Employer sends former employee a check, employee pays the premium out of his personal account and then sends former employer a receipt. Is the premium reimbursement excludable from former employee's income under Code Section 106(a)? Based on my review of PLRs and Revenue Rulings (PLR 9347008 and Rev. Rul. 61-146), it appears that premium reimbursements are excludable from a retired employee's gross income under 106(a), provided that the employer requires an accounting, or other safeguards, to ensure that the funds are actually used to purchase coverage.

I believe that the situation described above could satisfy IRS requirements for the exclusion. Agreed? But, how does this arrangement constitute an "accident and health plan" under 106?

Thanks in advance.

During 2000 a terminated plan participant in a qualified retirement plan rolled his vested balance into a traditional IRA. Subsequent to this transaction, it was discovered the participant was not fully vested in the employer portion of his account. From the reading I have done, I see that the plan sponser needs to make the plan whole again. To do so, the sponsor will attempt to obtain the non-vested portion from the former participant. It is unlikely the participant will authorize a distribution from the IRA to return the funds. My questions are as follows: (1) The sponsor needs to issue a corrected 2000 1099-R to show the invalid (non-vested) portion of the rollover as taxable and subject to the 10% early withdrawl penalty - correct? I presume this will mean the participant will need to amend his 2000 Form 1040? (2) Is there an excise tax issue (or other penalties) for the sponsor for incorrectly distributing the non-vested dollars?

Any cites would be appreciated.

An IRA was left to my wife by her father who recently passed away. He was one month short of 59 1/2. What are our

options for the money. Do we report it as income and pay taxes at our tax rate (hopefully not)? Can we just leave it in the IRA? Do we need to change the name on the IRA if we leave it alone?

In what ways is non-required "education" seen as a "Settlor" function and therefore non-reimbursable from plan assets? [Example: Eer sends out a newsletter on diabetes to medical plan participants].

I know that there is recent guidance from the DOL and published hypotheticals but they do not specifically address this issue. It also seems to be that in the 401(k) and Pension side, education is more readilly accepted as a trust expense even for general non-required financial education.

The plan document defines compensation as W2 for all plan purposes. The last paycheck for 2000 was a bonus check. All employees (HCEs and NHCEs) received a bonus, but no salary deferrals were taken. The bonus wage was included as compensation when the 2000 ADP / ACP test was run.

I cannot seem to find any answers on this type of operational failure. If the contributions were made, the ADP / ACP and Top Heavy test results would not change significantly.

Any suggestions?

An employer would like to have two separate health plans for employees based on the date of hire. The date of hire will not be used to differentiate the employees for any other reason. The employer wants to create a new plan because of cost. The group of employees (about 30 people) that would be effected have almost finished the waiting period for the existing plan. Would creating new plan violate HIPAA's nondescrimination rules?

I am employed by a NFP and am enrolled in a 403(B)...TIAA-CREF to be exact. I am planning to leave my employer in the near future, and I am wondering what/if any options exist that would permit me to access the funds in my 403(B).

A prohibited transaction occurred when a loan was given to a partner who had an interest of more than 10% in the capital or profits interest of the partnership. If the partner is unable to repay the loan, how can this be corrected? Any creative ideas out there?

I have 2 IRAs, one traditional and one roth. I contribute $2000 a year to each, for a total of $4000 a year. My accountant now tells me this is bad and I could be penalized. He tells me a max of $2000/year can be contributed to IRA, that doesn't sound like much.

I contribute to both of them directly from my bank account so I have already paid tazes on what I am contributing.

I thought it was $2000/yr for each IRA.

Am I wrong?

What is the maximum number of IRA accounts one can have?

What is the TOTAL/maximum amount of money that can be contributed to one's retirement per year?