Is anyone aware of NEW or impending regs governing timely payment of claims for self-funded health plans? Several people have told me they heard or read something about it somewhere, but I can't find anything specific. Help!

I was wondering if any TPA's or similar organizations out there are currently working on compliance with the new privacy regs, specifically the mandate for employee training, documentation of confidentiality procedures, establishment of a privacy officer, etc.

I know we will have to do this sooner or later, I'm wondering which it should be. Any recommendations?

Damien

A sole proprietor (sp)set up a SEP plan for himself in 1998, fully believing he had selected 3 years eligibility. The accountant confirmed this. At that time, he had no employees. Instead, the bank writes in one year eligibility on the form. He contributes for himself for 1998 and 1999. For 2000, he tells his accountant that several of his employees are now eligible to receive a contribution. The accountant routinely checks the document, and discovers the error. What are the methods to correct for 1999. The bank wants sp to treat the 1999 contribution for himself as an excess, take a refund and file a 5330, which seems draconian. The owner is angry and refuses to fund the missing contributions. Anyone have any other ideas?

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Does anyone know how many traditional defined benefit plans have been converted to the cash balance model?

We are a small 3-yo company planning to go public in about 18 months. We are trying to decide between designing a stock option plan vs. an ESOP-- does anyone know of good resources to compare these choices or have opinions on the advantages/disadvantages of these two approaches to increasing our employee's incentive for the company to do well?

Earned income for a sole prop. is not known until after the end of the year, and thus, the deferral contribution cannot be made until such income is known. Also a sole prop. has no employees to give notices to and allow enough time to make a deferral.

With that in mind, does the Oct. 1 deadline for adopting a SIMPLE IRA really apply to a sole prop.? Why not use the SEP guidelines and as long as the SIMPLE IRA is adopted by the due date of the sole prop's tax return, then it is o.k.?

What do you think? Is the 10/1 deadline too clear to ignore?

I recently quit a large fortune-500 firm to try my hand at self employment. For a variety of reasons, I decided to leave at the same time that my baby son was born. Since I didn't know the exact date he would be born or when I would stop working, and also because I wanted to make sure I would receive my year 2000 year-end bonus, I decided to take an UNPAID 3 week FMLA leave of absence and then quit. I informed my boss and his boss of my intentions and they agreed to allow me to do this. I left on very good terms. I could have used some of my remaining PTO vacation time to cover this leave, but I didn't think that would be fair to the company, so I opted to use only unpaid FMLA leave.

However, the company's HR department messed up. They took several weeks to process my unpaid FMLA request and ended up paying me for 8 days of work during my leave.

I was busy with my newborn son when I noticed that HR had messed up and that too much money had been direct deposited into my bank account. At the time, I figured this was par for the course--in the seven years I worked at that company, HR has always been unfriendly, beaurucratic, and incompetent.

That was a month and a half ago. Now, I got a letter from HR that they want me to return $1100 for those 8 days of leave. This creates a big cash flow problem for me and I am loathe to return it. To me, it seems like I did everything in my power to try to NOT receive this money and did nothing to actively receive it--it was automatically direct deposited.

How should I respond to the company's request? I understand that I should not have received the deposit, but then again, I never agreed to be their corporate escrow account to protect the company against their own incompetence. At this point, what can they do? Any suggestions?

How is partner (or other self-employed) compensation under 401© calculated in light of the addition of 402(g)(9)? Must the matching contribution for the partner be deducted from compensation similar to a money purchase or profit sharing plan contribution, or is it possible to argue that this is similar to an elective deferral and therefore should not be subtracted from gross comp?

We have a client that has a contributory Money Purchase Plan on an Individually Designed Document. We have been retained to review the document and see if most of the provisions will fit on a prototype plan. While doing this I have come across something that I have never seen before. The Individually designed document states that the plan will not be trusteed. The document was signed by the Plan Sponsor who agreed to act as the Administrator of the Plan. Further investigation shows that, true to the document, they have never filled a Schedule P with the 5500 forms. I have never worked with a non-trusteed plan and I am not sure if one can be put on a prototype. It does not appear to be an option on the PPD prototype. Does anyone have any experience with this or have any suggestions as to where I can learn more about non-trusteed plans?

I have a health and welfare plan that terminated 4/1/00. As of 10/31/00, all liabilities have been paid. As of 12/31/00, a cash balance of ~ $9,000 remains in the trust account due to "adjustments" to claims submitted. Since this cash balance exists, I presume I cannot file a final form 5500 until this money is removed from the trust. True?

With a Plan termination, what happens to a participant who has an outstanding loan? Can they continue to make payments on it if they are still employed by the company?

For the Average Benefit Percentage Test under coverage testing of 410(B), what compensation must be used? I believe 414(s) compensation must be used, and I know the plan document may control this. However, if the plan document is silent, is there a choice between full year and partial year? Can the same compensation used for ADP and/or ACP testing be used for the Average Benefit Percentage Test?

We will finally be upgrading to 6.0. Just call us chicken or cautious, I'm not sure which!

I have read the previous posts from Tom and found them very helpful. Has anyone experienced problems specific to daily valuation, FIAG or the web interface?

Thanks.

I know that it is clear under the safe harbor rules that the 3% contribution can be made to a plan other than a 401(k) plan - such as an ESOP. But here is my question ... If the 3% contribution is made to a leveraged ESOP, and the contribution is used to repay the ESOP loan with stock being allocated from the suspense account to the employee accounts, what amount of stock would be required to be allocated to the employee account to meet the 3% rule? This becomes an issue in the leveraged ESOP, since the cash contribution made to the plan will go toward payment of interest on the ESOP loan as well as principal. Stock is allocated from the suspense account to the employees' accounts based on the amount of principal paid. My concern is that it could be possible for a 3% cash contribution to be made to the ESOP, but with a part of that amount being used to pay interest, it is possible the stock released from the suspense account and allocated to the employee accounts might not have a fair market value of 3% of compensation. Is it sufficient that the 3% contribution was made, even if the employee does not get stock valued at 3% of pay allocated to his or her account?

Is there a site where many different mortgage companies and banks current Roth IRA rates are shown? Do they vary greatly? I'm just trying to save myself some legwork tracking down rates from individual moortgage companies and banks and would appreciate any advice you could give a novice investor. I really appreciate your time and your help.

1/1/2002 is getting much closer. Anybody hearing anything about what to expect in terms of timing?

I'm concerned about not only cross tested DC plans, but also combination DB/DC plans.

Plus, we also have GUST amendments to consider.

My guess is another extension of everything, or at least the cross tested stuff. But, just a guess.

Insights or thoughts?

i am 42, permanently disabled and receiving long term disability benefits from both my employer and social security administration.

i have a vested employee stock ownership plan i would like to receive a distribution from. my employer indicates i would have to be at least 55 and retired. isn't LTD recognized as "retired" regarding ESOP.....as it is with other pension benefits?

I am struggling with this one. 403(B) Plan Sponsor wants to change 403(B) providers. I understand that they can limit the custodian they will send contributions to on a going forward basis. My question is whether they can unilaterally move participant custodial accounts from the current vendor to the newly selected vendor or do they require participant direction?

Any insight or references will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Andmik

IN the case of an employer who is insolvent, and who has a profit sharing/401(k) plan which must be terminated, is the TPA justified in saying that the GUST amendment and final reporting requirements are payable from the plan assets? The TPA does not wish to do the work for no fee, and the employer apparently has no way to pay any fees. I'm sure that this isn't a unique situation, and I'd like to hear from anyone who has dealt with it. This is a small plan (assets of less than $45K), and I wonder if approaching the owner to pay the fees out of his/her distribution might have worked for anyone.

Where can i get a Roth IRA on the internet???

Can i print it out??? I need to fill out a printed out Roth IRA form for my bussiness class.... Any help is appreciated. Thanks!