If you fail to correct a 415 limit for a 12/31/97 plan, can you go ahead and correct it now under APRSC because it's still within 2 year period? Is the corrective distribution(returning salary deferrals) only taxable for 1999 tax year? Is there any penalty/excise tax involved? Your comment/response will greatly appreciated.

Will someone please take a look at Reg. Sect. 1.414(q)-1T Q&A 14 and give me an opinion? This sure seems to indicate you can use either the Look-Back or Determination Year in determining HCEs.

I believe the overfunding can be used for a retiree medical benefit plan and I have heard that there are people/firms out there who "buy" excess assets although I don't know how this works (but I would like to find out more). I'm sure there are other opportunities available, hopefully this topic will generate some interesting responses.

We have an employee participating in our dependent care plan. The employee wants to pay for preschool tuition in full in Sept. for the school year 99-00. How will she be able to receive reimbursement? Should decisions be based on date of payment or date of daycare provided? What is the best way for the employee to 'pretax' as much money as possible?

I have been to several seminars and have read several articles which recommend that companies have their COBRA procedures audited periodically. My problem is that I can't find an independent firm who does this. I can only find insurance brokers and COBRA administration firms. I don't want to be "sold" insurance or COBRA administrative services. Does anyone know a firm that does an objective COBRA audit?

I am interested in ways to reward employees for not using their medical benefits. The utilization is killing the claims experience. There are no major claims over $10,000. The employer is thinking about returning half the medical deductible in cash to the employee if it is not used. Thanks for your help.

If you convert to a Roth IRA in 1999, the Roth IRA regulations permit you to recharacterize back to a traditional IRA and then convert again once this year.

In one of Barry Picker's articles at he suggests that if you convert into several Roth IRAs and one of them drops in value, you could recharacterize that one Roth IRa and then reconvert it. (I suppose the extreme case would be to put each separate security into a separate Roth IRA.)

This seems consistent with everything else involving IRAs (for example, if you have several IRAs, you can calculate substantially equal periodic payments separately for one IRA for purposes of avoiding the penalty for pre-59 1/2 distributions). But I would appreciate it if others would confirm that the above is their understanding as well. I have a client who set up several Roth IRAs so that he could leave each one in trust for a different beneficiary and be assured that he would get the benefit of the different life expectancies (which he might have gotten anyway, but there is some question as to that issue).

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Bruce Steiner, attorney

(212) 986-6000 (NY office)

(201) 862-1080 (NJ office)

also admitted in FL

I have in the 1999 year converted a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA and am wondering if a person can recharacterize part of the Roth conversion back to a traditional IRA or if the full amount of the conversion has to be recharacterized. I am wondering if I can protect part of my retirement that exists in the Roth and take an unqualified distribution out of the recharacterized traditional IRA. I am seeking to avoid the 10% unqualified distribution penalty on the Roth IRA.

Does anyone have experience in organizing and dealing with a foreign sales corporation as an asset of an IRA? I am especially concerned about prohibited transaction and valuation issues. Also would like to know about any experience in handling this type of asset.

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If a participant has a vested balance between 10,000 - 20,000. The max loan calc comes out to a loan of $10,000. If the plan does not accept collateral other than 50% of acct. balance is the max in reality lower. For eg. a participant with a 15K balance could only take a $7,500 loan.

Can anyone point me to something that contains a good explanation of WRAP plans (ie, a plan used to wrap welfare plans into one so that a single 5500 can be filed) and possibly a form document to use for this purpose?

If a participant begins minimum required distributions using joint life and last survivor expectancy of the participant and designated beneficiary and does not designate the recalculation method, can they change the method to the recalculation method after payments have begun? Does it matter if the plan is silent regarding which methodology to use?

Company has unleveraged ESOP. Dividends are earned on an Employee stock account, and the company takes a tax deduction for the dividends distributed to participants.

Under new proposed legislation,the dividend distribution could include all dividends paid to company stock held by participants rather than just the employee stock account component.

Does anyone have more information on this proposal, and/or issues that affect ESOPs? What about effect on ESOP status where company stock currently makes up 55% of Plan assets?

Do either of the pieces of pension legislation allow members of a Deferred Compensation (457) plan to rollover plan assets to an IRA. I know both plans allow rollovers from 403b to 457 ...many of my employees would not have a 403b plan as an available optiion.

Is a 5500 Filing required for a voluntary A. D. & D. plan that is paid 100% by post tax employee contributions?

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SHB

Does anybody have experience with Qualified plans that offer Self Directed Investments to participants?

Can you tell me what percentage of participants use Brokerage Services?

Is this percentage influenced by plan size?

Thanks in advance.

I am not familiar with the annual admin rqmts. for a 403(B). There is a public education system under 501©(3), subject to Title 1.

Any help or resource to basic rqmts. ie. 5500, testing?, etc.

In a situation with a Pension Plan - sole participant, QDRO for ex-spouse, who is entitled to withdraw funds at her discretion, but has not yet withdrawn her entire amount - if the participant himself reaches Normal Retirement Date and wants to draw a small distribution of a few thousand from the Plan every few months or so (Plan permits post-retirement withdrawals by active participants) - would he waive a Life Annuity, and state that he is unmarried, or must he waive the Joint and Survivor Annuity with consent of his ex-spouse? Client is adamant that spousal consent is not needed but I wonder...

I am looking for information on setting up a top hat nonqualified deferred compensation plan for members of a limited liability company who receive self-earned income for services to the company.

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A profit sharing plan owns the majority of stock in a company. The company wishes to recapitalize and buy the stock of the profit sharing plan only by trading that stock for noncallable preferred stock (equal to the fair market value of the stock owned by the plan). ERISA 408(e) states that if the transaction is for adequate consideration and no commission is paid, then it would be permitted. Would it be permitted?