415f says to combine muliple db plans of same sponsor for 415b purposes. Once the 415b limit is obtained, how is the split among the plans determined?

We have a 9/1 PY "Doctor" plan that is going to terminate soon. There may be lingering 415(e) issues, although the prior (retired) actuary indicated that the 87-21 adjustment wiped out the dc fraction.

Would it be a good idea to run a short PY ending 12/31/99, and then term 1/3/00? Wouldn't this be like an insurance policy on 415(e), since it no longer would apply?

Any ideas w/b appreciated!

Thx

David Lipkin

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A pension equity plan has distribution options in the form of either a lump sum, an immediate annuity or a deferred annuity. Sponsor would like to provide alternate beneficiaries for the joint and survivor annuities with appropriate waivers by spouse. Any good references for issues that arise in this proposal?

If a profit sharing plan is taken over in a transaction and the new company does not plan to make contributions but has tactical reasons to keep the plan going for some period of time (ie, 3 years) and then the new company plans to terminate the plan- can the company wait until after the 3 years have past to vest the participants, or is immediate vesting required?

Employer wants to limit cash benefit available to employee who has medical coverage through a spouse's employer's plan. If monthly budget is $150, and cost of individual group medical coverage is $100, plan would give $50 to employee who selects the coverage, but only a percentage of the cash benefit that would otherwise be available to the employee who foregoes coverage because he/she is covered under a spouse's plan.

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If a distribution is less than $200, but the plan administrator chooses to allow it to be an "eligible rollover distribution," then 1) does mandatory withholding apply and 2) is a 402(f) Special Tax Notice required? It appears to me that 31.3405©-1 says that mandatory withholding would not apply, but that the notice (with any inapplicable language removed) would still be required. Am I correct?

What is considered "best practice" methodology for adjusting original employment date for reemployed individuals for purposes of vacation entitlements, etc. NOT qualified benefit plan service?

If an employer with a 401(k) plan with a discretionary match decides to make no matching contributions in 1999, does that mean the allowable HCE match limit for 2000 is zero? Any known exceptions to this?

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When Converting a Traditional IRA to a Roth, is there a way to have taxes withheld from the conversion proceeds?

If so, is this viewed as a distribution and therefore subject to a 10% penalty for early withdrawl?

I am looking for a sample investment policy for allowing a self-directed brokerage account. Would appreciate any references.

I filed my return in August and now would like to recharaterize my Roth due to how the market has affected my Roth. Is this possible or must I have filed by April 15th? If it possible is the only thisng I would lose would be the 4 year spread?

Our TPA & consulting firm has been trading on the NSCC platform by going through Columbus Circle. We ran into a few problems and are now looking at Mid Atlantic. Does anyone out there have any experience with Mid Atlantic? I would love to hear from you. Thanks.

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401(k) Plan was implemented 7/1/98. Top heavy determination indicates that plan is top heavy for initial plan year (1998).

Question: Re: minimum top heavy contribution allocation, are you required to use full-year compensation (as defined in 415©(3)) even though the plan was not in effect for the entire year?

Has anyone ever heard of a "177A pension plan". Never heard of anything like this. Could this have something to do with a federal plan, e.g., Railroad Retirement. Any help would be appreciated.

Our client has a 401(k)/403(B) plan for its employees, to which it also makes employer contributions. If the participant fails to sign an election form, employer contributions are placed in a suspense account until the form is completed. The suspense account earns no interest. The employer would like its contributions to earn some interest until the employee completes the election and investment option forms. The broker-dealer that services the plan has indicated the SEC prevents money from being invested prior to the receipt of employee forms. Can anyone point me in the right direction with regard to SEC rules that govern broker-dealer conduct so I can see verify the broker-dealers conclusion.

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A person has the following pays:

1995 50,000

1996 60,000

1997 70,000

1998 55,000 (terminated on 10/1/98)

plan uses a 3 yr avg.

Is it legal to ignore the 1998 compensation in computing avg salary, eventhough it would produce a higher avg, because the plan says it only uses complete years worked? Or is it really just based on what the plan says? Interested in other opinions.

Plan has the principal residence safe harbor provision.

Several years ago Participant used a hardship distribution to buy a two family house. Participant now wants to move out of the two family house and use it as rental property and take a hardship distribution to purchase a four family house that he will live in. Using the hardship distribution to purchase the 4 family house would meet the requirements of the safe harbor on its face, that is, the money will be used to purchase a principal residence. My sense, however, is that this would be in violation of the Safe Harbor Reg (Reg §1.401(k)-1(d)(iv)(A)(2)). I do not think the intent behind the principal residence safe harbor was to permit participants to keep buying residences.

Does anyone have an opinion on this?

How should "separate account GICs, synthetic GICs, and BICs be reported on the Form 5500 that is scheduled to be in effect for 1999 plan year reporting. These are not held in insurance company general accounts.

I have heard of various terms for "new comparability" plans - third-generation, qualified bonus, super-integrated, etc. I had not heard the term "super comparability" before. Can someone explain what a "super comparability" plan is and where this term came from? Thanks.

I noticed that in Noel Ice's Excel template for the 706 Worksheet the IRD deduction is calculated based upon the average estate tax rather than the marginal estate tax. I also noticed that the prior accumulated taxable gifts were not used in the total calculation. Shouldn't the IRD deduction be based upon the marginal estate tax increase?