Must match forfeiture allocated to salary of deferrees be included in the ACP test? The document lists a discretionary match, no set formula such as 35% up to 6%; it just says discretionary up to 6%. So the formula is OK, BUT, must you use the match forf? What are the pros/cons? If the document did say 35% up to 6%, being a specific % limit, then you couldn't, correct?

Emloyed by two employers and two different plans in one year. Can compensation for both employers and plans be counted to exceed the $30,000 limit and 160,000 limit for 1999 due to two employers, two plans?

Example: Dr. is employed by Emergency Services for 8 months. Compensation was $200,000. He is now a partner in a partnership for the balance of 4 months of 1999. Compensation was $60,000. Question?

He has contributed $30,000 in the original employer plan. Can he contribute addition funds on the $60,000 in compensation from the partnership?

Any thoughts on the duty of care which an employer must exercise when 457 plan uses a custodial account and/or annuity contracts?

The employer is not a trustee and therefore does not have fiduciary responsibilities but does that get them completely off the hook for anything that might happen?

The plan is entirely voluntary and all investment decisions are made by the employee. What if the employer picks a bad company to administer the program and there are excessive fees charged or other problems. The employer is not making the investment decisions but it picked the companies with which employee must use if he elects to participate.

We are being asked to take over as trustee on a nonqualified deferred comp. plan that allows loans and currently has loans outstanding. I have never seen a NQDC plan with a loan provision, but cannot find where they are specifically excluded. Does anyone know of codes where loans are allowed or dis-allowed?

Any good articles seen relating to fully insured (412(i)) defined benefit plans that I can get my hands on.

Do you have to use a VEBA (or some other trust) with a Section 401(h) account? Let’s say retiree health benefits are self funded and the retirees pay a portion of the cost of their coverage (obviously on an after tax basis). The 401(h) disbursements and the retirees’ contributions can be pooled in a VEBA pending payment of claims. But, is there a way to do this without a VEBA (or other trust)?

I have a client who is asking whether the "substantially equal" repayment requirement, means exactly equal and to what extent the Regs. allow these payments to not be the same. Is anyone aware of how this has been interpreted in the past?

A client of mine wants to know whether the "substantially level" repayment requirement in IRC section 72(p) means exactly equal. My thinking is that it means payments must be very close to the same but I am wondering if anyone knows how "substantially level" has been interpreted by the IRS.

Can restructuring for eligibility be done for ACP testing purposes or is it restricted to ADP testing?

Cites from formal or informal guidance would be appreciated.

I posted this same question under long term care, but thought I might get more respose under miscellaneous benefits...

We're a large retailer with a fairly young demographic and are currently looking at adding a vol. package which would include long term care. My concern is whether or not our employees would really perceive this as a benefit, whether or not it's considered an affordable benefit by most, etc. Any feedback/opinion/experience would be appreciated.

I work for a large retailer with about 30,000 eligible employees and a fairly 'young' demographic. We're looking at a single source billing voluntary package and have thought about including Long Term Care (in addition to Pre-paid legal and financial planning) to start off. My concern is whether or not the Long Term Care insurance would be beneficial or 'worth it' to our employees. Any opinions/feedback/experience would be appreciated.

In establishing an A-B Trust, we want our spouse to receive the other spouse IRA on death of first spouse's death and our children as beneficiaries at time of both of our deaths. What is proper way to designate our beneficiaries? Thank you.

We just had a conversation with Ron Allen from the DOL that gave us great concern. He said that in order to use the machine print forms all the questions need to be answered because the answers are embedded in the bar code. I don't know about all administrators, but we do not always get completed census and often complete the 5500 to the best of our ability and give the client an information sheet with the questions that still need to be answered. We cannot do this now because the client cannot type/write in the answers on its own.

Have any of you encountered this problem yet. We use our own program for our clients, but I'm sure that commercial 5500 software developers must have thought through this issue. You would have to force users to answers all questions before printing out the forms. This means that you force through answers that may or may not be accurate or you leave the client the task of transposing the information onto a handprint form. Neither option is very appealing.

In our conversation with the DOL we were offered no relief or solution. Does any one have any ideas? I would appreciate any feedback. Thanks.

I am Director of Educ. for the NTSAA Educational Institute which prepare course material for a designation for 403(b)professionals. I need a chapter regarding DROP programs (to which I will add text regarding the affect of those programs on 403(B) contribution limits). Who knows where articles, etc. regarding those programs can be found? Permission will be requested from authors prior to use - and attribution given in the course work! Thanks!!!!!

Can anyone recommend a source where I can determine what companies pay (either an average per company or an aggregate dollar amount) for benefits for their employees and what they pay for delivering those benefits to their employees. The delivery costs I refer to are costs of enrollment, benefit communications, etc. Thanks.

Does anyone have a spreadsheet copy of the Mercer worksheets that they would be willing to share?

I work for a small nonprofit org. The benefits are casual/ad-hoc. They work like this: each employee is given 10% of salary additional to salary to spend on benefits of their choice (health, life, disability, etc.) The org. pays all premiums. If the 10% amount is not used in full, the remainder is given in cash back to employee. Has anyone ever heard of this kind of thing?

I currently have an employee enrolled in the health care flexible spending accounts. Employee has a child born with a heart defect. Last year employee applied for Medical Assistance and it was granted. Employee asked today if she can submit the mileage she drove to and from a doctor's visit last week. My question is, can employee submit for reimbursement mileage for her son who is completely covered through Medical Assistance? She has no EOB or any type of statement verifying her visit. Only the speedometer readings. Thanks again in advance for all your help.

We are looking to find a "standard" for unscheduled absenteeism and how companies deal with this problem. Do you terminate employees after a certain number of unscheduled absences? If so, how many? What other methods of "behavior modification" do companies use to cut down on absenteeism?

Please respond with your company size and industry, as I know that industries have to deal with this differently.

Thanks so much!

Sheila K 8^)

Does anyone know if technically a governmental plan could file for a determination letter from the IRS? What would be the advantage since the entity would not have to meet coverage or nondiscrimination requirements (I'm assuming this is a state plan - not federal)? Thanks!