I am trying to find written confirmation of PA law regarding coverage for well-baby and well-woman exams under group health insurance policies. Can someone point me in the right direction?

Can a participant take a loan from a terminated 401(k) plan? The plan has filed for a FDL on the termination but can't distribute balances until letter has been received. Employee wants a loan in the meantime. I've not been able to find any specific cite against it. Any suggestions?

Does anyone know where I can find surveys related to the level of retirement benefits provided to non-union, hourly employees of US employers?

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Is it possible to claim tax losses on stock purchased under an IRA if the stock is transferred to a regular brokerage account? I understand that regular income taxes must be paid on the distribution. (I'm over 62 1/2 years of age, and considering a lump sum distribution before age 70 1/2.)

Our client has a medical reimbursement plan that became effective this year. The benefits elected by key employees would cause the available reimbursement amounts to exceed the 25% limit by a small amount. These employees have made no claims as yet.

The TPA has advised the client that they must unilaterally reduce the keys' available benefits in order to meet the test--so far, so good. But the TPA also insists that even though the benefits amounts are reduced before any benefits are paid, the keys' total reimbursements for the year must be treated as taxable income, or the plan will be subject to penalties and fines.

I'm sure the penalties and fines part is wrong, and I'm also very dubious about the need to take reimbursements into income if the employer reduces the key employees' available benefits prospectively. What would be the point of any corrective reduction if the benefits would be taxable anyway?

The TPA says that the IRS thinks that the TPA's position is correct.

Any thoughts?

I own a temporary help agency and would like to decrease employee turnover by offering health benefits. Can I do this and what are the potential pitfalls?

Provided the plan document does not specifically prevent it, is there any reason a single parent enrolling in a 401(k) plan could not designate the participant's child as the primary beneficiary and the participant's parents as contingent beneficiaries? The participant's child is still at the toddler stage and the participant's life insurance would not allow the participant to designate a minor as the primary beneficiary.

Any other suggestions about how to handle this designation (does the designation need to name a legal guardian in case of the participant's death)?

A client made an excess contribution to his IRA in October 1999. That contribution was invested in a money market fund, while the rest of the account was invested primarily in equities. The whole account is valued at over a million dollars.

UPI's guide basically says to pro-rate the earnings on the whole account for the entire calendar year. In the scenario above, because the whole account is large and invested in equities, the earnings on the account were large (15-20%) for the whole year. However, the contribution was made late in the year and invested in a money market fund yielding roughly 4.5%.

The difference in calculations is significant; one shows earnings of $700 on a $2,000 contribution. The other shows earnings of about $20. Since the client will pay taxes and may be penalized on the excess amount, that is a very important difference.

Any input from law (as opposed to just what one firm does versus another firm)?

I would really appreciate some guidance in this area. We were told by an ERISA attorney that self-funded health benefits plans maintained by a division of a municipality (in this case a school board, but question applies to city maintaining a plan as well) were exempt from the disclosure requirements of ERISA section 1. Because of this, they did not have to issue SPD's to their enrollees. What I don't know is this: are they also exempt from other ERISA requirements?? If so, are they regulated under any state insurance laws such as mandatory benefits, or as in Ohio, a law that sets up a mandated review process? Any insights or leads to where I might find additional information would be greatly appreciated.

Does anyone use the Nationwide Investment Link?

I have a plan where each person has a segregated account with Nationwide/Best of America.

I can't seem to find anyone at Nationwide that knows what I'm talking about when I mention Quantech. Someone at Nationwide mentioned DST Downloads, but I was looking for something similar to the Manulife Link.

I've called Corbel a couple of times but have had no luck with the people they suggest I contact.

Thanks!

I have a company with 3 owners (each owns 33%). The owners' father and separated wife work there as well. They all earn over $80,000. The top-paid group would include 5 people. There are a number of people at the company who have compensation greater than than the owners. Would the top-paid group have to include these 5 family members as owners, or would it include the actual top-paid employees?

Say a controlled group of employers has adopted the same PS plan and each employer has reserved the right to determine its own PS contr. for its employees.

Will the IRS not allow even this?

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Andy Treece

I am having trouble identifying how to treat rehired employees in the following circumstance. I have read through the 410(a) regs, but the answer is not clear to me. The document ONLY talks about the rehire of a PARTICIPANT, not a former employee:

Employee worked for the employer 6 years, then terminated for 8 years. Recently the employer adopted a 401(k) plan.

Since the employee was never a participant, because the plan was not in existence, his previous service is not disregarded under the break in service rules. Do they recognize prior service and let the employee enter the plan immediately? Or is he treated as a new employee?

Has anyone heard if/when Corbel will move to Crystal Reports version 7.0 for Quantech? THANKS!

John Bronikowski

Emjay Corporation, A Wells Fargo Company

john.bronikowski@emjay.com

1 (414) 961-0650 ext 647

The reinsurer on a self-funded medical plan recently proposed to me the following language insert:

When the plan covers an Employee under an extended "leave of absence/total disability" continuation clause, and they no longer meet the definition of an Employee, the maximum continuation of coverage under the stop-loss contract will be equal to that of COBRA.

This means the covergae for an extended

"leave of absence/total disability" will run CONCURRENT with the allowable extension of coverage equal to COBRA. This time period should not exceed 29 months (exception for ESRD), the sum of all continuation of coveraqes after an employee is no longer active will not exceed 29 months.

To me this appears to set the COBRA trigger back to the day the employee went on leave rather than the day they terminated employment, effectively shortening their COBRA period gauranteed by law.

Any opinions?

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If the plan is a dc plan, does not have an annuity option, and the sponsor (or any member of its controlled group) does not maintain a qualified plan, you can force the distribution. See 1.411(a)-11(e)(1). If there is another plan, you can transfer the pparticipant's account balance to that other plan.

If the plan has an annuity option and is a dc plan, just buy a deferred anuity for the "jerks" from an insurance company. I'm sure the participant's will just love all the fees the insurer will charge

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I think that the comp limit (now $170K) must be used for all match computations. I don't think you should ever go over the comp limit for purposes of computing either deferrals to the plan or match on the deferrals.

I have been told only "dollars" can be put in a Roth IRA. But I need to find a legal and IRS-acceptable-way to deed real estate into a Roth IRA.

I understand one can put into his or her Roth IRA only $2000, or the amount earned during the year, whichever is less. Assuming one owns a piece of land valued at $2000,and that person made at least $2000 in the year, how can that person make his or her $2000 contribution to the Roth IRA --in the form of land--so that when the land is sold in later years, the profit will remain under the tax protection of the Roth IRA, as it would if it were stocks or bonds?

Surely there must be a way, or someone who is developing a way. After all, Irrevocable Living Trusts and Revocable Living Trusts were invented to address legitimate needs such as the need to avoid probate. This too is a legitimate need that needs a solution. Any ideas? I would greatly appreciate your help in finding an answer, or in directing me to individuals who may have answers. I will gladly send $100 to the first person who can provide me with a legal and IRS-acceptable-way to deed real estate into a Roth IRA.

Thank you for your time.

Mr. Martin

If the IRS eliminates "new comparability" plans, wouldn't it be possible to recreate the same plan as a cash balance plan with accruals based on the same investments as in the DC plan (as opposed to being linked to US Treasuries)? [OK, so you would have to deal with QJ&SA waivers and PBGC premiums and waste money on actuarial fees, but couldn't you get to essentially the same position?]

How are actuaires doing 401(a)(4) testing for "self-directed" cash balance plans? As far as I can tell, the big firms regard that info as a trade secret, and the IRS pretty much lets them do what they want.

It seems to me that unless the IRS issues some guidance on how to do (a)(4) testing for cash-balance plans, it makes no sense to go after new comparability plans. Am I missing something?

I've read that your AGI must be below $100,000 to convert from a traditional ira to a roth ira. Is this the maximum AGI for an individual taxpayer? What is the maximum AGI allowed for a married couple filing jointly looking to convert one spouses account.