A plan participant elects to defer $100 per month in a calendar year FSA. As of May 31, the participant has incurred $1500 in expenses and has requested reimbursement for $1200 as allowed under the plan (he is out $300). The participant and his wife have a baby in July and wish to increase their deferrals under the change in status rules. The participant would also like the increase his deferrals to help defray the $300 he previously could not claim. Are there any regulations that would prohibit him from doing so? In other words, can a participant revise his deferral estimate to account for expenses incurred prior to the date of his change in status?

I am at a point where I feel I need to not only learn current pension law, but also know the history and evolution of US pensions.

First, I need to be aware of all the Acts and legislation that has been passed over the years.

Then I need to know the highlights of what changes to pension laws resulted from each Act or legislation.

Then I need to decide which Acts, etc. I need to get a copy of and how or where I could obtain them.

For eg. a summary of all Acts could look something like this (just for sample purposes only):

ERISA 1974

TEFRA 1982

DEFRA 1983

REA 1984

TRA '86

You get the picture.

My question is how would you suggest I go about this endeavor?

Thanks much.

Gary

Does anyone know if a health plans' network pharmacy can add a fee onto filling a prescription - and that fee is not reimbursed by the insurance company? For example, the pharmacy charges $2.50 for each prescription it fills. The pharmacy is also trying to collect back fees and charging the individual 1 1/2% interest??

When there's a dispute about who is the proper payee of qualified plan benefits, people often mention the idea of interpleader. My understanding, albeit limited, of interpleader is that the holder of the funds (the trust) deposits the disputed payment into the court, and the competing payees fight over who gets the money. My question is about tax consequences and reporting: is this a distribution from a qualified plan? If the funds are held by the court, aren't they no longer subject to the tax protections of the qualified plan rules? Is the distribution taxable if not rolled over within 60 days (which I assume it wouldn't be, given the amount of time necessary to resolve the interpleader action)? Who gets the 1099 (the premise of interpleader is we don't know who the proper payee is)? Maybe you can argue not taxable to the payee until the court resolves the interpleader, but how does the plan resolve the reporting issue? Does it also wait until the resolution of the interpleader? What if minimum required distributions have to be made?

In the case of a partnership of professional corporations we have the following scenario:

- The partnership adopts a cross tested psp

- Each professional corporation(one shareholder only; the doctor)adopts the plan as a participating employer.

- The plan defines the president of each corporation as a separate class. The partnership employees belongs to a separate class also.

Question: is there any way to avoid this arrrangement to be deemed a CODA in the case each adopting employer(prof corp) wants a different allocation?

Thanx for your input

401(k) and match portion's eligibility requirements are immediate entry, enter on the first day of the quarter following his or her date of employment. Profit sharing portion requires one year of service and age 21, enter on the first day of the quarter following completion of the requirements. Suppose for the 2000 plan year that an employee was hired on 9/15/2000, he enters the 401(k) and match portion of the plan on 10/1/2000 but he will not enter the profit sharing portion until 10/1/2001. The plan is top heavy for the 2000 plan year. It is my understanding that this employee would be eligible to receive the top heavy minimum contribution for the 2000 plan year, correct? Suppose that the 401(k) and profit sharing plans are actually two separate plans, would this employee also be eligible to receive the top heavy minimum? Also, suppose the employer had a previous plan that terminated and was top heavy. New profit sharing plan was established the following year. Wouldn't the new plan be top heavy?

Does anyone have a copy of the 1993 GAM Table, for males and

females? (1993, not 1983)

I cannot find it. I'm having trouble using The Society of Actuaries mortality table feature, although it appears that this table isn't listed in their tables, anyway.

If you've got it in text or excel formal (or a link to the actual q's), I'd appreciate it.

Thanks

Can an employer of less than 20 employees, and which offers group health coverage that coordinates with Medicare (i.e., pays only what Medicare does not pay, for Medicare-entitled individuals) simply terminate group health coverage of active employees and their dependents who reach age 65?

The small employer exemption from the Medicare Secondary Payer Act says that Medicare can be primary payer for eligible employees, but I don't think it also creates an exemption from the ADEA as far as who gets offered benefits. . . .

The previous third party plan administrator of a governmental plan qualified under 401(a) as a discretionary profit sharing plan and as a alternative to Social Security under 3121(B)(7)(F)has not distributed benefits to terminated or promoted employees for several years. Will the fact that several thousand former employees have not received their benefits, and are now likely non-locatable effect the plan's qualification under either circumstance?

Does anyone know of a survey on stock options? I'm in a 3-year-old software startup and trying to research how many options we should be offering to employees with varying titles and seniorities, as we set up our stock option plan.

Any advice from personal experience, or info on where to find stats on this, would be very appreciated.

Thanks,

Liss

We are implementing a severance pay plan and would like to provide severance for 3 Dutch citizens working for our company abroad. There are specific Dutch laws which may control the severance given to those employees. How do we handle them under the Severance Plan? in light of the fact that we are granting fullest possible discretion to our plan adminstrative committee, do we include those employees as eligible for severance, but exercise discretion so they get only Dutch statutory benefits? Or can we exclude them completely? Title VII and other federal employment laws do not apply to foreign nationals working abroad for a US company, although they do apply to US citizens working for US company abroad. Thanks in advance.

I have been told by a colleague that he believes he knows of a case where a one-participant keogh was not required to carry a fiduciary bond.

I work with such a plan, and was wondering if anyone could point me to a specific exemption from the ERISA bonding requirement.

Thanks.

Can plan assets be used to pay real estate taxes (as an investment expense of the plan) if the plan holds real estate?

Is it a prohibited transaction for the sole shareholder of a professional association (law firm)to loan money to the P.A. so that the P.A. can make the annual contribution to the firm's defined benefit plan?

I have read text of the recently passed federal legislation affecting retirement savings and pensions. Does anyone know if this bill makes state (Texas) pension plans (not 457s or 401ks) more portable. I must leave the city after 3 years, but my pension vests at 5 years. Can I transfer it to another governmental entity in another state, such as Oklahoma, and continue as if nothing has changed? It seems like the new bill omitted this area.

Early retirement eligibility is currently defined as age and service, or disabled. Can the disablity portion of eligibility be removed without violating protected benefits under IRC411(d)(6)?

If I deposit $2,000 in a Roth IRA account, can I withdraw the entire account in 2 years (contribution plus earnings)without penalty to apply towards a first time home purchase provided the withdrawal amount is less than $10,000?

I know of exceutives in a non-profit organization who are putting away between $50,000 and $70,000 per year in their 457 plan? How can they do this without violating the limitations rules of $8,000?

What is required from a recordkeeper of a non-qualified plan to supply the company on a tax basis? Would a by fund activity break-down (long term, short term) be appropiate? I need to know if our Trust reports and annual activity reports by fund activity will be appropiate? I've seen a 1099div form for a participant but I need to know what information the plan is required to submit to the IRS.

We have a client with a one person profit sharing plan. He has designated A (ex-spouse) as his beneficiary designation under the plan. Last year, he took almost all steps needed to terminate the plan,(did the resolutions etc.) However, he never filed a final 5500 and I do not think he transferred the assets from the plan to an IRA. He has now died, and his will gives everything to the new girlfriend. Question is will the wife under the almost terminated plan's beneficiary designation take the money or will the new girlfriend under the will take the money?