Currently my wife and I are maxing out our 401K's at work and are looking to pad the retirement account a bit more with a Roth. Assuming we qualify, is it true that both my wife and I can set up individual accounts and contribute $2,000 each (total of $4,000) per year? If we were to establish a joint account, would we be able to only contribute a total of $2,000 per year?

If we each open up new accounts before April 16, is it true that($2,000 each) can be counted toward a year 2000 IRA and, if we wanted, that we could pay an additional $2,000 each at the same time to count toward 2001? Finally, what would be the overall benefit to making a late addition to a year 2000 IRA?

Thanks,

Todd

Two separate entities constitute a controlled group and each of them have maintained separate (almost identical)plans. Both are on Standardized Prototype documents. They now want to merge the Plans into one. If they use EPCRS (SVP) and go before the IRS, practically speaking, what do you think the IRS would require?

Looking for a separate retirement vehicle to cover only our pastor. Diocese has a DB plan, but pastor's benefits will be very small upon retirement. Will consider a DC plan, or Roth IRA, etc. Have no good experience in this environment. Funding will be from the church budget, not from pastor, nor deferred wages. What options can we look at? what do we need to be careful or watchful of?

I can't put my hands on any surveys, but I seem to recall that roughly 70% or more of plans use prime or prime plus one as an interest rate for plan loans.

A local savings and loan is quoting prime minus one for a loan secured by a savings account balance. Given this "local rate" what do you feel the exposure, if any, would be if such a rate were used for a plan loan secured by a plan account balance?

My client is a health care service provider that has a twist on the PPO theme. My client is willing to waive copayments and deductibles for members of certain plans only. Their idea is that the volume that will be generated will outweigh the value of the funds waived.

Can they do this? Has anyone seen it? Has anyone seen any legal challenges to such an arrangement?

A loan program has a $75 administrative fee which the employee pays at the time he requests a loan. The $75 fee is not distributed from plan assets. If an employee requests a $5,000 loan and receives a check for $5,000, is the amount financed $5,000 or $5,000 less the $75 fee? Cites would be helpful. Thanks.

Out of curiousity and also for personal reasons...is there a set time limit by which one can submit their FSA receipts for reimbursement after the close of a plan year for expenses incurred during the year. For example, if I have to pay for child care the last week of the plan year, how much time after the end of the plan year would I have to submit the receipt? Or is this purely built around the actual contract?

I have been doing way too much reading lately and I can't seem to remember where I saw this. It was a recent case finding against an employer who deducted the amount of the employee's borrowed vacation time. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Thanks for your help!!

how do you handle the matter of someone wanting to drop health care coverage in mid-year? someone wanting to buying a house wants to drop coverage to keep premiums. he thinks he can re-enroll in july at open enrollment. this isn't allowed is it?

Is it possible to amend a money purchase plan to allow employee contributions? Or does this type of plan only allow employer contributions? Is it be possible in a money purchase plan to waive a one year eligibility requirement for new employees so that the employee is given the employers contribution as soon as the worker is hired? If yes, what needs to be implemented and who needs to implement such a waiver?

In November, 1999, Employer approached Employee A and offered Employee A the opportunity to defer a significant portion of his 1999 compensation to a future date. If Employee A agreed to the deferral, Employer would triple deferral and use to purchase stock options for Employer's publicly traded stock. Employee agreed to the deferral, signed election in 11/99 and now owns stock options. Question: Was initial election to defer 1999 compensation timely made or was Employee A already in constructive receipt of the income at the time of the election.

Can anyone tell me if a 2nd initial COBRA letter needs to be sent when a new health plan has been put into place? We have a number of employees who have recived the initial COBRA notificiation when they 1st enrolled but now the company has switched to a new health plan. I am unsure as to whether the 1st notificaiton is sufficient to inform then and their dependends of their right to COBRA under the new plan. Help! Thank you!

If a significant operational failure occurs in several consecutive plan years, is there a separate two year correction period under APRSC for each plan year or should the failures be corrected by the end of the second plan year after the first plan year for which the failure occurred?

A number of client follow Best Practices and "100 Best Companies" at which to work. Voluntary benefits are a discussion item. What % of all companies offer vb?

An s-corp terminated their 401(k) plan. Can they start another 401(k) Plan? Are there any limitations?

I am planning buy the house (First-time) in next 3-4 month. Is it possible for me to invest $4000 (For me and my wife) in Roth IRA in January and withdraw it after 3-4 months for buying house? I already have traditional IRA account , but it has only $4000, can I combine this new ROTH IRA account withold Traditional IRA account (total $8000) and take the money out for home buying?

Thanks a lot!

Manoj

We have a cafeteria plan that earned interest on the funds placed in an interest bearing checking account. The administration is done internally and there are no fees. Also, no employees terminated so there were no expenses for the employer. Basically, everything is even except for the checkbook interest. What is the proper use/disposition of the interest amount.

Thanks for you help

TCAT

I have noticed in different insurance requirements and other regulartions that 50 lives are needed for compliance. Is there anyplace where the definition of 50 lives is? Is it just full time employees or a combination of full, part, temporary etc?

Thanks for your help.

Can a plan be terminated and then all assets are transferred to another plan of the employer? Must the participants be given an option of taking a distribution from the terminated plan?

Last I heard (Oct) on this one, that they were still working on adding the ability to use 35,000 for non calendar year plans.

The only work around I know:

Plan Specs: code other plan type as DEFINED CONTRIBUTION

(1st screen in plan specs)

Census: other plan(s)[benefits/Contributions Screen,Plan YTD Amounts] enter a negative value.

employees with comp

employees comp > 140,000 enter -5000

otherwise take (comp -120,000) * .25

sorry, its the best I can come up with.

It's a bother, but it works, and I guess there are not a lot of ees you have to worry about.

..........

with service pack 2 they added a report 415.rpt

it is hardcoded at 30,000.

replace the 30000 figure with PLANSTAT.MAXANNADDAMT

you will have to add PLANSTAT to the report.

I have a custom allocation report that will check for 415 (however it will indicate ee is over 415 limit because I can't pull 35000 for non calendar plans. for calendar year plan it should work properly - depending on what the limit is) I have to get the guy in house to add them to our web site if any onbe is interested in using this report.