A client received what appears to be a routine notice of a DoL audit of a medical plan. There is a question on the document request list dealing with rebates of premiums. Has anyone had experience with the DoL taking a postion re: what should be done with a premium rebate (allocating it among past participants v. using it to pay future premiums)?

What is the view among participants of providing a wellness service (information, chats, resources, expert counseling) to members through a web-based environment? If properly promoted, would employees embrace this method of learning about smoking cessation, nutrition management, pre-natal care? Do you see them being attracted to the confidential nature of this approach? Thanks for your comments.

Is it possible, when allocating gains, to use "weighted balance (beginning year base)" in a Plan which has transfers between investments in mid-quarter? I value the 401(k) accounts each quarter, and this past quarter all investments had losses, and QT will not allow me to post the loss because it will not accept a negative balance in this participant's account (all funds in a participants's investment account were moved to another investment in the middle of this quarter). I would like to find a way to give this person their share of the loss from the investment they had for the first part of the quarter and "move" the loss to their new investment.

Sole proprietor became C corp 1/1. If corp sets up unit

benefit DB plan can service with the sole prop be counted as past service for benefit purposes? Owner was only employee of sole prop for 8 years and had no qualified retirement plan. Corp has 4 employees.

How long do we have to keep most benefit records such as enrollment forms, plan documents, SPDs, etc? Is there a good on-line resource for this?

Dentist client uses temp service, but the service requires that all temps be on the Dentist's payroll from day 1. The Dentist withholds taxes, pays FICA etc. Dentist pays the agency a fee each month for these temps. If one of these temps is hired by the Dentist on a permanent basis, what is the date of hire?

An employer decides to change all of their insurance carriers (health, life, dental, etc). They provide for an open enrollment period mid year, which does not coincide with their open enrollment for cafeteria plan. Is this a problem, or is this considered a change for which employees can make a corresponding change in the cafe plan? This is a premium only plan.

Thanks.

What regulations, if any, restrict employers from requiring that employees bear the financial responsibility, in whole or in part, for expenses incurred for activities (such as travel on Company business) undertaken at the explicit request or direction of the employer for the employer's benefit?

Can an employer penalize an employee for declining to engage in an activity when said activity would require the expenditure of personal funds which the employer has established will not be subject to reimbursement?

Doesn't such a policy amount to defacto wage garnishment?

I have someone who is taking a distribution of their after-tax contributions and associated earnings. The earnings are included as taxable income, but I can't find guidance on whether there is a penalty tax on those earnings? Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks.

As a TPA, we are considering offering daily recording in addition to balance forward. We would prefer to outsource the daily valuation, 800 # and quarterly statements and retain the document and othe compliance work. Anyone know of a vendor providing this service? Thanks.

What are the regulations re: Bank Owned Life Insurance (BOLI) on the Officers and Directors of Regional Banks.

What Insurance Companies are offering a product in this area?

Can a company have two dc plans covering identical employee group and thereby increase deduction limit for employer to 25%? not using mp/ps combination?

ex.

PS plan 001 contribute 15% of eligible comp.

401k/match plan 002, match and deferral = 10% of comp.

If so, why not the design of 2 ps plans vs. typical mp/ps combo?

G

Company A acquires Company B (asset sale). Company's B's employees become employees of Company A as a result of the sale. Company A sponsors a 401(k) plan. Company B had no plan. Company A wishes to grant the new employees coming from Company B credit for service with Company B for eligibility and vesting purposes under the Company A 401(k) plan. Any problems or issues in doing do?

I have an interesting situation: a client has two employees that cannot be reached to find out if they would like to make elective deferrals. Both participants entered the plan 7/1/00. One is in the hospital and the other is in the military. Both are still receiving pay (I don't know how, maybe direct deposit, but the client says they cannot be reached). What must be done? Can it be assumed that they will not defer? If not, what legal steps must be taken to give them the option to defer? Please cite any sources I can use. Thanks.

Would a Defined Benefit or Defined Contribution plan with Life Insurance features ever show Code 4B on Form 5500 Line 8? Because 4B is a Welfare Benefit Feature, I would think no. But I seem to recall hearing Janice Wegesin (speaker for the ASPA Form 5500 Webcast) say that 4B possibly should be used for DB and DC plans. Did anyone else hear that? Has there been any decision?

I have a client who has a safe harbor 401(k) plan giving the 3% non-elective contribution to all eligible participants. currently, employees must wait 12 months to enter the plan. they would like to allow employees in immediately for deferrals but restrict the 3% non elective to those with 1 year of service.

can they have this dual eligibility with a safe harbor 401(k) plan?

On Form 5500 Schedule T, is there any requirement or preference as to which disaggregated part of a plan is shown on lines 4c and 4d? What are others using most commonly and why?

401(k) Plan A is merged into 401(k) Plan B. 401(k) Plan A permits recalculation of minimum distributions to be made monthly and provides for monthly installment. 401(k) Plan B permits only annual recalculation and provides for annual installments.

Minimum Distribution Recalculation. Under Code Section 401(a)(9)(D), recalculation is permitted no more frequently than annually. Thus, it appears that monthly recalculation is illegal and annual recalculation can be permitted going forward.

Anti-Cutback Rule. The tricky issue is this: the current final anticutback regs permit an amendment to an optional form of distribution affecting timing only to no more than two months of the timing of a pre-amendment distribution form (6 months for in-service distributions). Thus, it appears that 401(k) Plan B would be permitted to change the availability of minimum distributions to former 401(k) Plan A participants to quarterly installments. My question is, can this amendment also apply to participants currently receiving minimum distributions?

Can a participant take a total distribution without paying federal and state taxes even if they are not rolling it over? They want to pay the taxes at the end of the year.

We are a 580 employee company. We have sights in about 7 states. We are having problems with our EAP plans. We pay a lot of money and do not see the employees using this benefit. Do you know of any EAP's that go fee for service? Is this a good idea?? ANy other options out there?