If an ESOP is maintained by a controlled group of corporations including S corporations, what is the deduction limit? That is, are all of the contributing employers limited to a 15% of pay contribution limitation or may C corpations contribute and deduct higher amounts?

Without getting into the issue of why it is held in a trust, are Section 125 plans that are held in a trust considered VEBAs?

Are Section 125 plans that are held in a trust considered VEBAs?

I'd appreciate some feedback on how others handle certain situations for post NRA people, for both allocations and (a)(4) testing if needed.

Assume an age weighed PS plan where everyone gets a contribution equal to the PV of 1% of pay. Assume NRA is 65 and a participant became eligible at 65 and is now 66.

Is the contribution for the 66 year old equal to or less than the contribution for a 65 year old? In other words, what annuity rate is used for the PV calculation, age 65 or age 66? My interpretation is that it can be done either way (provided the document does not specify, which is the case with one I'm dealing with.) Is this correct?

Is it correct that the contribution for someone age 66 cannot exceed the contribution for someone age 65 assuming the same pay level? (This gets to the procedure for normalization.)

How would this be tested for (a)(4)? Seems to me you would ordinarily use an age 66 APR, resulting in a higher EBAR for a 66 year old than a 65 year old, even though the contributions are the same, but that there is an exception in (a)(4) which seems to say that test failure for this reason alone can be ignored.

What do others use for the Annuiity Rate for post-NRA people, i.e., NRA or Attained Age for cross testing in general?

Would the answers be different if the person entered the plan at age 66, i.e. would this be their NRD and therefore test age, or would it be 65?

The target benefit safe harbor rules seem specific on these points, but there appears to be room for interpretation on other plans. Feedback would be appreciated.

Background -

A U.S. domiciled mission organization sponsors a 403(B) plan for their employees, 10% of which reside in the U.S., while the remaining 90% are dispersed throughout God's green earth.

The question regards Roth eligibility -

What determines eligibility as it relates to country of residence?

It seems to follow that if a person is exempt from paying U.S. income tax as a result of their "overseas" status they

would also be disallowed from the Roth IRA as an option.

Which raises another question of whether the sponsoring organization of the 403(B) can make "pre-tax" contributions

for someone who is not subject to income tax.

Thoughts??? Specific references/citations to IRC would be appreciated.

Thanks,

If an ESOP does not comply with the 409(e) voting requirements, is the validity of the entire plan jeopardized, or only the ESOP characteristics of the plan?

Under the ERISA plan asset regulations, amounts withheld from a participant's wages for contribution to a plan must be paid to the plan within a certain period of time. Are there any similar rules for a church plan, which is not subject to ERISA?

For example, if a church employer withholds amounts from its employees' wages for their contributions to the church's medical plan and 403(B) plan, is there any time limit within which the church must pay those amounts to the plan? If not under ERISA, is anyone aware of any state's laws that would apply?

Who could be liable for the failure to pay the contributions in a timely manner--the church only, or could officers of the church be individually liable?

A C-corp has an ESOP plan that also includes a qualified cash or deferred arrangement under 401(k). Employees own stock of the employer in both the ESOP portion and 401(k) portion of the Plan. Do the voting requirements of Sec. 409(e) apply to the shares of stock that employees own under the 401(k) portion of the Plan?

I'm looking for feedback on discrimination testing for health and dependent care reimbursement accounts. I can't seem to locate any guidelines.

the plan accountant would like to know how to account for the accrued interest after there has been a deemed distribution in a post default situation. I read A19 of the Q&A in the proposed 72p Regulations to say that you disregard the accrued interest after a default except for the purpose of calculating availability of future loans. Thus, there is no interest that must be accounted for or assigned to the participants account as a receivable.

Anyone care to comment.

One is entitled, at age 60, to a DB of $50,000 per year for life.

The Retirement System establishes a Reserve of $500,000 in order to guarantee this lifetime benefit. In the event that a lump-sum option is permitted is the $500,000 the lump-sum?

The buyer in an asset sale is contemplating adopting a 401(k) plan maintained by the seller. The buyer will inherit all of the seller's employees (plan participants) in the transaction. The plan is a prototype sponsored by a payroll processing company and has only been in existence 3 years. Presuming that there were procedural errors during one or more of those years, what is the extent of the buyer's liability for the prior plan sponsor's errors? Other than correcting the procedural error and paying any applicable penalties and interest, would the buyer still have exposure if it did not take a tax deduction for the year in which the error took place? Are there any ramifications for the seller, if the seller still exists? Does it make a difference if the seller does not exist after the asset sale?

I am interested in learning how closely-held companies are meeting the timing requirements under the ESOP diversification rules, when the company's annual valuation is completed much later than the dates by which the diversification requirements should have been satisfied.

For example, is a prior year's valuation used? If so, is the diversified amount later modified to tie with the most recent valuation? Are companies tying the 90/90 day requirements to the date the valuation is completed, rather than the plan year end or considering the 90/90 day provisions as "safe harbor" provisions rather than a strict requirement? What other methods are companies using to comply? Thank you in advance for your input.

Can a beneficiary ever roll their money into an IRA?

Facts:

Non married Participant age 70 1/2 had already begun receiving 70 1/2 distributions. Participant died resulting in beneficiary continuing to receive required minimum distribution from the plan.

Plan is now terminating. All accounts must be liquidated.

Can bene rollover any dollars which are not required to be paid out this year as a required minimum distribution?

Husband and Wife have IRA accounts. Both are taking the reguired minimum distributions. Husband dies. What does Wife do with Husband's IRA. We know she can rollover the balance into her IRA but what happens to the minimum distributions that were being taken from the Husband's IRA. The PA Book says the deceased IRA's holder distributions must be at least as rapidly as they were before his death. However, what happens if the factor was being recalculated each year? And how is the amount calculated if the Husband's account is rolled over to the Wife's account? Does the minimum need to be made for the Husband's account in the year of his death?

Hello everybody:

I'm a new kid in the block trying to get some useful information about the best ROTHIRAS to pick one an invest my money. I don't know where to search for that information. Anything will be helful to me and highly appreciated.

Thanks,

EM

Please clarify for me the applicability of TRA'97 relating to governmental plans. It seems that some TRA'86 sections were superseded by TRA'97 but recent revenue procedure notifications indicate that these supposedly overruled sections have until 2001 to comply, which means that the sections have not been overruled after all. Any guidance on this issue would be much appreciated. Thank you.

We have a 403(B) client (a nursing association) that would like to exclude a group of employees from participating in voluntary salary deferrals under the 403(B) plan. These employees are called "temporary care-giver" employees and do "normally" work less than 20 hours per week (sometimes they don't work any hours for several weeks, then sometimes more than 20). They are nervous about the "universal availability rule," but it seems clear to me that they may be excluded as a class under 403(B)(12). How can I give them more comfort with their decision to exclude them? Can we "average" out their hours over the course of they year to support a "less than 20 hours per week" determination? I can't seem to find much guidance on this. Thanks.

In computing the $100,000 MAGI limit to convert an IRA to a Roth IRA is the passive activity losses that I had included or not. For example I have wages of $105,000 and Capital Gains of $60,000. Total income of $165,000. I also have passive activity losses of $70,000. Is my MAGI for the conversion limit $95,000? Therefore, I can convert.

If governmental defined benefit pension plans are exempt under IRC 411, would you agree that they are not required to meet the requirements under 411(a)(8)-Normal Retirement Age- for IRS qualification purposes? If true, would you also agree that the local statutes would govern the minimum definition of NRA? I checked ADEA section 623,Prohibition of Age Discrimination, Section(i)to see if there may be any overriding issue there. I think that section allows for the NRA definition under IRC411, but I'm unclear as to whether or not it is required.