Does anyone know where I can find a sample IRS data request checklist that a client of a qualified pension plan would receive from an IRS auditor in preparation for a plan audit?

Employer restricts stock ownership only to employees and the ESOP. Prior 1042 transaction was done with the ESOP. When participants are terminating, the employer is purchasing the shares that were in their account back from the ESOP, and using those shares to 1) give stock to management 2) recontribute to the plan.

Issues:

1) 1042 taint is gone when the stock leaves the plan, so recontributed stock is clean as far as 1042 is concerned

2) Because of the stock ownership restrictions, stock is never really distributed from the plan. The purchase of stock is actually a transaction between the ESOP and the employer, not the participant and the employer, so Put Option requirements have no application. Because this is a transaction between the ESOP and the employer (related parties), the stock must be valued as of the date of the purchase.

3) Also a consideration should be the fact that the ESOP trustees are making a fiduciary decision regarding whether it is in the participant's best interest to sell the stock back. I have a hard time justifying the fact that the employer is buying the stock and recontributing it to the plan to get rid of 1042. How can this be supported as a fiduciary decision when the purpose is clearly to benefit 25%+ shareholders?

Comments? Suggestions?

Also, does anyone have the exact cite that requires valuation as of the transaction date for #2 above?

Thanks.

1. What is the deadline for recharacterizing a 2000 ira conversion? I know this has been mentioned many times but I am getting conflicting information on the deadline.

2. Was I supposed to get a 1099R form for converting from a traditional to Roth?

Thanks!

In a safe harbor plan with a 3% employer contribution as the safe harbor contribution, if the employer wants to add an additional integrated profit sharing contribution does the 3% safe harbor contribution count towards the base contribution? That is, if the employer wants to receive a 5.7% excess contribution, does she have to make an additional 5.7% base contribution to the lower paid employees or will the 3% safe harbor contribution count toward the base?

Can someone please help me with this?

http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=9635

Has anyone gone through the process of applying for a prohibited transaction exemption? Can you give me a ballpark estimate of what a plan sponsor could reasonably expect to pay to go through that process (attorney fees, etc.), and approximately how long it takes until the exemption is either granted or denied?

An employer has MP and PS plans. An employee has a loan in the MP plan that is being deemed. He has no loan in the PS plan and wants to take the max. Does the deemed loan in the MP plan affect the PS loan max calculation?

Can a husband and wife who file jointly, who have an AGI in excess of $160,000, neither of whom are active participants in a retirement plan, contribute to a Roth IRA? If not a Roth, could they contribute to a traditional but deductible IRA? Thanks

One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.

On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, "How was the trip?"

"It was great, Dad."

"Did you see how poor people live?" the father asked.

"Oh Yeah" said the son.

"So what did you learn from the trip?" asked the father.

The son answered, "I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them."

With this the boy's father was speechless. Then his son added, "Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are."

Too many times we forget what we have and concentrate on what we don't have. What is one's person's worthless object is another's prize possession. It is all based on one's perspective. Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for all the bounty we have instead of worrying about wanting more. Take joy and appreciate every single thing you have, especially your friends.

How does Quantech come up with the total number of employees on line 6 of the 5500 Count Report? Specifically what status does any employee have to be? And how does it handle vested and nonvested balances of terminated employees? Does it count people who have been paid out their vested balance and the only remainng balance is a forfeiture amount waiting to be released at a later date?

I am rewriting the Leave of absence policy and am looking for standards regarding the length or service an employee should have to be eligible for a Leave of Absence.

I apologize in advance for not knowing much about this, and am hoping someone can answer my question and point me in the direction of further information.

If a group currently self-funds and also offers a flex spending option to cover co-pays, co-insurance, etc. must the plan hold a new open enrollment for the flex option if they are now offering an increased dental benefit? There will be an open enrollment for the new dental benefit which now covers orthodontia. May eligible employees 1) sign up for flex through an open enrollment and/or 2) increase or decrease the amount withheld? Thanks for any input, I am going to search as much as I can in the meantime.

Can a sponsor of a simple 401(k) plan terminate that plan and establish another plan (e.g. cross tested profit sharing plan), during the same year, or would that violate the exclusive plan requirement, resulting in disqualification of the simple 401(k) plan?

It seems clear that a simple K cannot be established where another plan existed and benefits accrued, but my question is the reverse.

What are the advantages/disadvantages of using a group annuity contract that has underlying mutual funds for a 401k paln with 50 participants ?

I am a new Quantech user, the tech support is closed and I have to get this plan done! Here's the scenario. I have a 100% vested participant who took a distribution of her entire account balance during the plan year. She is not terminated and rec'd an allocation of the forfeitures. I can't get the system to calculate her vested balance correctly. Her vesting years of service are correct and when I go to the account screen it actually says that she is 100% vested, however the vested balance column is 0.00. Does anyone have any good troubleshooting ideas?

I was laid off by a government contractor whose COBRA I picked up. After making 3 premium payments, I was told the contractor terminated the plan and my last premium would be returned to me. The successor contractor did not pick me up and denies any responsibility for my COBRA. Although the former companiy still exists I cannot find out if they still have a contract with the same insurance company. Who is responsible for continuing my COBRA? I am a cancer patient and need the medical coverage.

An employer had an existing profit sharing plan, and intended to add 401(k)and safe harbor matching provisions effective 4/1/00 (we have written documentation of this). The document and safe harbor notice (which was timely met, by the way) were prepared specifying a 1/1/2000 effective date (instead of 4/1/2000).

The employer feels that this was a scrivener's error and wishes to base the match on compensation beginning 4/1/00 (rather than 1/1). We feel the employee safe harbor notice must be followed despite the apparent error. Any thoughts on this?

An eyewitness account from New York City, on a cold day in December:

A little boy about 10 years old was standing before a shoe store on the roadway, barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering with cold. A lady approached the boy and said, "My little fellow, why are you looking so earnestly in that window?" "I was asking God to give me a pair of shoes," was the boy's reply.

The lady took him by the hand and went into the store and asked the clerk to get half a dozen pairs of socks for the boy. She then asked if he could give her a basin of water and a towel. He quickly brought them to her. She took the little fellow to the back part of the store and, removing her gloves, knelt down, washed his little feet, and dried them with a towel.

By this time the clerk had returned with the socks. Placing a pair upon the boy's feet, she purchased him a pair of shoes. She tied up the remaining pairs of socks and gave them to him. She patted him on the head and said, "No doubt, my little fellow, you feel more comfortable now?"

As she turned to go, the astonished lad caught her by the hand, and looking up in her face, with tears in his eyes, answered the question with these words "Are you God's Wife?"

Cute story, from the Internet (not my own):

As I was driving home from work one day, I stopped to watch a local Little League baseball game that was being played in a park near my home.

As I sat down behind the bench on the first-base line, I asked one of the boys what the score was. "We're behind 14 to nothing," he answered with a smile.

"Really," I said. "I have to say you don't look very discouraged."

"Discouraged?" the boy asked with a puzzled look on his face. "Why should we be discouraged? We haven't been up to bat yet."

If you have a DB Plan which only allows lump sum distributions of $5,000 or less (involuntary distributions) and your Plan has not been amended for GATT yet, it is my understanding that you do not have the requirement of doing the "greater of" calculation because involuntary cash-outs are not protected by 411(d)(6). See Reg. 1.417(e)-1(d)(10). What do others think about this?