what are the bad effects of the welfare reform?

who is benefiting from the changes in the welfare laws and how are they benefiting?

How do the VEBA Discrimination rules of 502(b)work. Would a plan be discriminatory if highly paid employees were entitled to received 60% of their income through a buy-up option, but rank-and-file employees had no by-up option and were stuck at 40% of their compensation as an LTD benefit?

Is there something akin to the 401(a)(4)/410(B) rules that applies in this situation?

Hello-

I'm looking for some information about HR Consulting Firms and SPDs. More specifically, what percentage of SPDs are created by HR consulting firms. Of that percentage, who are the major players and any hard numbers I can get. For example, market share of the major players.

Thanks,

Kara

Has the Governmental Plan Answer book been published yet?

Has the Governmental Plan Answer book been published yet?

Does Relius have a FAS 87 report available?? I haven't been able to find one on 6.0. Thanks.

I am looking for comments on the use of web-based employee benefits systems such as Simpata and Arioso. I am particularly interested in whether or not you feel they will survive given the efforts of most larger carriers to develop proprietary systems.

I am an American, a resident of New York State, who lives in Taiwan; my wife is a Taiwanese.

I make less than $50,000 US a year ( which is tax exempt as I reside overseas).

I have no other income in the US.

Can I open a Roth IRA ?

If so, can I put in up to $ 4,000 each year even though my wife is not an American ?

Can she be the beneficiary of this account should I pass away?

Thanks

Todd Wyks

Can I reconvert a recharacterized IRA in 2001 before extended filing date and pay taxes on the reconversion in 2000?

I rolled over a 401-K from my employee plan in September 2000 to a Rollover IRA. Then I converted to a Roth IRA in December 2000. Market went south. So, I recharacterized the entire amount from Roth into the Rollover IRA in April 2001. If I do the reconversion of the Rollover IRA back into the Roth IRA after waiting for 31 days, can I include the Roth reconversion as 2000 taxable income. I have filed an extension for 2000. I have a Roth IRA conversion eligibility window for 2000. It is unlikely that I will be eligible for Roth conversion in 2001.

Thank you in advance.

I recently head someone say that an individual account plan (EIAP) is a cheaper alternative to a traditional ESOP. I thought an EIAP included ESOPs. How are they different?

I am a 60 year old man forcibly retired on medical grounds, i.e. mental illness in 1955, without the Right of Appeal.

However, I have just been advised by Benefit Agency that I am no longer retired, cured suddenly, as if by a mircale - without having given me any medical examination. No reason is given to me. It would seem that I am not entitled to know the reason why I am no longer retired.

No one, however, will give me a medical certificate, confirmating that I have now been cured.

Consequently, I am without any income and have no means of support whatsoever.

I have contacted my MP, Citizens Advice Bureaux and countless number of solicitors - they all say they cannot help me in any way.

What can I do now?

France Chorley

London N15

My e-mail address: f_chorley@hotmail.com

Hi,

In 1998 I converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA and chose the four year spread with which to pay taxes. In both 1998 and 1999 I had a professional prepare my income taxes and for both of those years he used Form 8606.

In 2000 I prepared my own taxes using Turbo Tax. In order to prepare Form 8606 I had to override some numbers. In haste I just followed what my tax preparer had done in 1999.

Now that the rush is over was it necessary to prepare Form 8606? If so which lines should I have filled in? Following what my tax preparer had done perhaps I was filling in the incorrect lines. Since I still have one more year to go I would like to make sure that I prepare my taxes correctly in so far as the Roth is concerned. Thanks for your guidance.

ok i need to know how to set an IRA up and i need to know the starting requierments to start an IRA and can i start 1 up at the age of 17

Can a nonqualified plan be set up to cover non-key executives for the sole purpose of deferring compensation in excess of the maximum 401(k) employee deferral rate (i.e. 10,500)?

I understand that a top hat plan limits participation to a select group of management or highly compensated employees. Would this group meet this definition?

If it doesn't fit the "top hat" definition, can it be an excess plan, with the select group mentioned above?

Does the DOL's new Guidance issued on Plan expenses apply to Government plans (as defined in section 1002 (32) of ERISA)?

A construction company has a 401(k) Plan with a 6 month service eligibilty requirement, with monthly entry. The company does have a high number of employees who get temporarily layed off do to low work orders at any give time. It does not appear that this is due to "seasonal" conditions.

What would happen in the following situation: Employee is hired 1/1/01, works 4 months, then is layed off for 3 months, then comes back and works the rest of the year. When does he enter the Plan?

Check the Plan document you say? Document does not address what to do in these situations. I even spoke with the document provider (national document firm) who confirmed this. I was hoping to see in the definition section of the document something that would say that an employee is someone who is providing services to the employer, but no such language is in there.

Important fact is that the employer continues to pay for health premiums and certain other fringe benefits for the employees while they are layed off.

This last point leads me to believe in the above situation, the employee is in the Plan on 7/1/01. Because he is receiving some form of ongoing compensation from the employer (eg health premium payments), he must still be considered an employee, even though layed off. But since he did not work even 1 hour in those last 2 months, does that trump the fact that he is receiving some form of compensation in those months, meaning he is not in on 7/1/01?

Any comments are appreciated.

Money Purchase Plan terminated as of 1/26/99. Filed for IRS approval 4/9/99 and received approval 11/9/99. All the assets have been properly distributed.

Just recieved notice that the IRS want to audit the plan for the pye 6/30/99. They have a list of 24 items to gather for the audit. Explained to the reviewer that the plan was just reviewed and approved for the plan termination and asked if he could scale down his requirements for the audit. He said he could not.

This seems like an unfair burden and expense for the taxpayer.

Any suggestions?

May a 401(k) plan with a last day requirement for matching contributions make and allocate the match throughout the year, permit the participant to direct investment of the amount allocated, and then take it away if the participant is not employed on the last day?

Primary concerns: (1) taking away something allocated and communicated, and (2) permitting someone other than the trustee to direct the investment of funds he eventually may not be entitled to.

Thanks for any thoughts and experience.

We are using Relius administration with the VRU and Web modules. I am wondering what other users are doing for website security. Do you have your websites in house? What type of software are you using for the secure socket layer? Are you using any other method to secure your site?

Thank you for your help!