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?

I have a client where the match portion of the 401K is taxable for the City. They have a vesting schedule, 20% per year, and the employee is funded on a quarterly basis. If an employee leaves during the quarter, they do not receive any of the company match during that period.

Since the employee is on this vesting schedule, I am not sure if they should be taxed on the full company match portion or only on their vested portion.

Any recommendations ?

How long do you have give a participant in a terminating profit sharing plan with a balance greater than $5000 to decide to rollover or take a lump-sum distriubtion? If the participant does not respond, can you force a lump-sum distribution greater than $5000?

We have a client that has plan assets invested in a short term investment fund (STIF) that also happens to be a common trust fund. Our dilemma is on how to report this in the Statement of Income and Expenses on Schedule H. The instructions seem to indicate that STIF funds should be reported on line (B)(1) - the Interest Bearing cash line. This, however, is a common trust fund, so should it be reported on line (B)(6) - the common/collective fund line? It appears that both lines would a reasonable place to report the earnings, but I'm leaning more towards the common/collective line. Your thoughts on this issue would be most appreciated. Thanks.

Interesting question: A company (for this example, Company A)has 3 employees, but offers no benefits such as a 401(k) plan. However, Company A, to accomodate the employees,has an arrangement where the employees wages are paid by a totally unrelated company (Company b). There is no controlled group issue between A and B.

The Company A employees perform no services at all for B; the only reason they are carried on Company B's books is to be able to contribute to the Company B 401(k) plan. They receive their W-2's from Company B. Company B is reimbursed by Company A for the wages, taxes, etc.

Is this a proper set-up? I have never encountered this, so I was curious as to whether anyone else had heard of this situation. Thanks for any answers.

Does a 1099R form need to be filed for a missing participant from a terminating plan who has had his account balance moved to an escrow account?

Can a terminated employee who was in a DB plan rollover his funds into his new employer's DC plan? Please provide the regulation or code section.

My daughter is the beneficiary of her father's pension plan. As the non-spousal beneficiary, they are telling her she must receive this as a "lump sum" distribution, and cannot roll it over. She will be entering dental school next year, and we want to use this money to fund her schooling. Is there any way to get this "lump sum" into a Roth IRA? if so, would she then be able to take distributions on the capital investment without penalties? She is 19, has no significant income, and we have $112,000 to protect. We need a secure vehicle, with minimal tax implications, and reasonable liquidity.

Have we heard anything about extension of the 9/30/01 sunset deadline on the Mental health Parity Act?

A Plan has a SS offset formula. Normal Ret is age 65.

The offset is up to 45% of PIA.

If a person has a SSRA of 66 and retires at age 65 should the Plan use the PIA at age 66 and then reduce it by 1/15 for commencement at age 65 when determining the offset portion? It doesn't seem right to use the PIA unreduced. It seems it s/ use the SS Ben at the ben commencement date of 65. Any thoughts? Plan says that it is just the unreduced PIA, but I tend to disagree.

Gary.

The recent article from the Cato Institute about Social Security has left me with a rather bad taste in my mouth. Below are some quoted excerpts (full article here: http://www.cato.org/dailys/11-17-00.html), and my responses.

"We may not yet know who the American people chose for their next president, but it is becoming increasingly easy to see their preference when it comes to Social Security."

Since when do we put bread and circuses ahead of sound fiscal policy? As much respect as I may have for individual Americans, history makes it clear that the majority rarely qualifies any decision as a good decision.

"Opponents of Social Security privatization mounted a major campaign to demonize Bush's proposal."

As with most major policy changes that are first introduced in a major campaign for elective office, there is always ample fodder for gainsayers to find fault. The basic idea of privatization has merit, but Bush's proposals contain as much blue sky as anything I've seen in the last 25 years. If this is demonizing, then we'd better all lay in a few gallons of holy water. The recent presidential campaign was, in my opinion, straight from Hell.

"Yet despite this unprecedented campaign of distortion and fear mongering, the American people came down firmly on the side of privatization. Exit polls showed that 57 percent of American voters supported individual accounts."

This statement and others in the article go far beyond the run-of-the-mill creative statistics. (sarcasm) I would love for someone to show me the law that states that exit polls reflect the will of the American voters. Why count the votes? Exit polls are all you need. (/sarcasm)

"Results from further down the ticket also favored pro-privatization candidates. High-profile privatizers, such as Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, were re-elected..."

While the first statement is arguable, invoking Sen. Santorum is a big mistake. He was elected because the Democrats in Pennsylvania could not find a candidate to challenge him. Social Security, or most other issues, had nothing to do with it. I know: I live and vote in Pennsylvania.

A corporation acquires another corporation in a stock deal. How are highly-compensated employees determined during the look-back year? Are the previously unrelated employers treated as one employer for purposes of determining who is an HCE? Where in the regulations/IRS pronouncements does it say this?