A UK citizen has transferred to the US and is now eligible to participate in the US retirement plans of my company. He is asking if his account in the UK scheme can be distributed/rolled over or transferred to the US plan.

There are a few points to consider, but my first reaction is no, since the UK scheme would not be considered qualified from an IRS point of view. Any agreements on that issue?

If an employer has a self funded health plan (i.e., it pays claims out its own assets) and employees contribute to the cost of the plan, is the plan "unfunded" for the purposes of the 100 employee filing exception?

I run a small business. We started a dbf 1993 tax year by through a certain mutual fund account. Because the fund we chose did not do great, I was considering funding the dbf through a differnet mutual fund for 1999.

My accountant says that this is fine and the DBF must be funded by the time the Corp tax is filed.

My financial advisor says this is not true - rather, the new mutual fund account had to have been "opened" by 12/31/99.

I checked the IRS web site and couldn't determine who is correct. Any help would be appreciated.

I have an annuity from a previous employer of about $15,000 in TIAA-CREF. Is it possible to roll this over into an IRA (from what I understand it must be traditional)? Then at that point if the monies are in an IRA is it possible to take a portion for a downpayment for a first time homebuyer or would it be more beneficial to convert it to a Roth IRA and then take monies for a downpayment. In either case, what would be the penalities/taxes involved? Thanks.

Our company has not been receiving notices of the Southwest Quantech Users Group meetings. Can anyone update me on the next meeting date and location? Thanks.

I had a strange question come up today. We had a client ask if a bonus that was given to an employee at the end of the year can be put directly into a 401(k) deferral account. I have never heard of this, however this client says they have a participant in their plan who claims her husband is in a plan where this can be done.

A temp agency contracts with an insurance company to provide health and welfare benefits to its temp employees. The agency maintains a welfare benefit trust to hold the amounts withheld from employees' paychecks for purposes of paying insurance premiums. The earnings of this trust (if any) are taxable. Must the benefitting employees each be issued a K-1 statement reflecting the trust's activity?

Selling Shareholder wants to sell a large block (45%) of stock to a brand new ESOP and utilize section 1042 tax free rollover treatment. Management would like to set up the ESOP and cause it to purchase the stock on a promissory to be issued by the ESOP. The acquisition would be financed over ten years. However, this is an installment sale so how can the shareholder obtain the benefits of 1042??

Non-Owner/HCE earning > $80,000 in 1997 and 1998 was in 401(k) Plan. He terminated at end of 1998 and did not provide any services in 1999 but received 1999 W-2 for small ($2,500) amt. Is he in the ADP test as a NHCE for 1999? He did not defer any $$ in 1999 and I would like to leave him out of testing...thanks for all input.

What are the advantages of taking an in-service withdrawal as opposed to a hardship distribution from a 401(k) Plan? Also with a hardship distribution, what amount is the participant eligible to withdraw? Likewise with an in-service withdrawal, what amount can be withdrawn?

Is it necessary to amend an individual account plan to comply with GATT?

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RFE

In 1998, I converted my Traditional IRA (basis of $22,000) to a Roth IRA (value at conversion = $58,000). In 1999, I recharacterized the Roth IRA back to a Traditional IRA because the value had dropped to $50,000. I realize that I must amend my 1998 tax return to get a refund of the tax on the first installment, but I am unclear as to how to report these transactions on my 1999 return-- Form 8606 doesn't seem to have any line which would reflect that this recharacterization pertains to a 98 conversion, not a 99 conversion. Any help with these forms would be greatly appreciated....

An investment firm newsletter states that a disadvantage of moving money into a rollover IRA is that "a penalty may apply if moving assets out of a previous plan." Does anyone know what this is talking about? Thanks.

Can the depletion of most of the assets of a plan (participant with more than half of the assets of the plan taking an in-service withdrawal) cause a partial plan termination?

I realize that missing participants and locating missing participants has come up in several prior threads. I'm wondering if anyone has any knowledge of what can be done according to California law (or does ERISA preempt any California law on the topic)? Specifically: An employer has a division in California. The employer has several Mexican employees who have terminated with account balances and are now impossible to find. The employer has already gone through the Social Security Administration to locate them, with no success. The employer believes that many of these individuals have returned to Mexico. The employer knows of a California state law that requires unclaimed payroll funds be returned to the state. The employer would like to know if this would apply to retirement funds also. The employer understands that the employer will need to consult with an attorney on how to accomplish this, but the employer would like to know if there is any information on whether it's even possible first.

I converted my IRA to a Roth in 1998 and elected to pay taxes over a four year period.

This year's taxable amount needs to be included on Line 15b (IRA distribution-taxable amount). Is there an additional form that I also need to complete? If so, is it Form 8606? Thanks.

I know it's implied, but is there anything in black and white stating that the plan document must set forth the service which will be disregarded? Regs say "shall" take into account, but "may disregard the following service"..... So the implication is that if it's not in the document as being disregarded then it's counted. Just wanted to know if there was a positive statement in print to that effect??

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I am determining whether to represent a group of employees in an action involving a cash balance conversion. Do you have any suggestions on how administer payments from the named class members to start a "litigation fund"? There are about 50 to 100 individuals out of a class of 4000 who are willing to be named plaintiffs and pay a few hundred dollars? Should one of the ringleaders handle the administration? Should my law office? What are the ethical issues?

On the eve of converting to a cash balance plan, a company sold a division. The division's employees were offered a lump sum payment calculated a present value from the period of the employee being 55 years old (as opposed to 65) to the mortality table age discounted back. This is the present value of an annuity. Then this lump sum was discounted back as a lump sum value to the employee's current age at the date the division was sold. So if the employee was 44 at time of sale and had a mortality table age of 80, the calculation involved taking the monthly numbers payable from the period of his reaching 55 years to age 80 for a value of about $250,000. Then this $250,000 was discounted back as a lump sum to age 44 for a lump sum of about $140,000. THE QUESTION IS WHETHER USE OF AGE 55 INSTEAD OF AGE 65 IS PROPER? Use of age 65 produces about $240,000 instead of the $140,000 this employee was offered.

Can a non profit employer (nongovermental) establish an eligible 457(B) plan for a top hat group? Contributions will not exceed amount for which ineligible, 457(f) plan is required. Is this practical, where employer intends to make contributions as percentage of income, rather than to allow deferrals??

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