I am attempting to update a mailing list of employers who not only self insure their medical risk but also pay their own claims. (Yes, we are out here.) Over the years we have formed a small "Roundtable" to meet and discuss common issues. Past participants, including myself, have found this small group a great resource. We would like to seek out additional companies to include in the Roundtable. If you work for such a company, or know of one, please send me some contact information.

This is not a solicitation and no information will be passed to any other organization for any purpose.

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Jay Davidson

Director, HR

Arkansas Best Corp.

My Participant has 10k as a balance and a $2300.00 loan. She is also over age 59 1/2.

She is terminated and wants to roll over the 10k.

Does $460.00 of tax need to be wh from the

10k to be paid on the loan, or is this not required, either just because it is not required or that she is over age 59 1/2.

HIPAA has some specific rules on the inclusion or exclusion of dental plans. See ERISA Section 706©. In my experience, most dental plans meet the requirements to be excluded from HIPAA.

My document specifies "Allocated method plus

supplemental discretionary match" for Match

formula. My Doc Provider says this means Sponsor MUST do deferral Match (supp. Match is optional) every year. If this is correct,can Sponsor stop Match only by ammendment, or never? I don't want to lock Sponsors in. Any thoughts on this? Thank you.

I am wondering if anyone knows what significant changes in coverage means. We recently switched from an almost 100% coverage with no deductable to a $200 deductable and 80/20 coverage due to an increase in costs. We have an employee who wants to drop her spouse from coverage since her spouse can now get better coverage at a lower rate given our drop in coverage and rise in rates.

thanks for any insights to this!

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KEH

I am looking for a good source (or sources) for background information and other reference material on Healthcare Coalitions and how they work. What are the big legal issues etc. Does anyone know how they are structured, etc etc etc. Please help!

One of the options with wills and estate plans is that a parent can decline to accept an inheritance knowing that upon refusal the will/trust specifies that the assets will pass to their children or some other family member. Under some circumstances, this reduces the potential estate tax impact upon the parents death. A useful feature if the loss of control is acceptable.

My question: Can you accomplish the same arrangement when your children are secondary beneficiaries on an IRA (either with spouse or parents). Upon death, can the primary beneficiary decline and allow the assets to flow instead to the secondard beneficiaries?

In other words, can the primary beneficiary elect not to receive the IRA ?

I invite all to view my handiwork at the 401(k) message board under topics: transfer/rollovers and transfers/roloversII. jlf

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An individual has a Marital Settlement Agreement under Wisconsin law. Under the agreement, the individual is awarded all rights and interests in the IRA. The parties agreed to waive, renounce and give up all rights, title and interest in the property awarded to the other. Each party has right to disposes of property as though never married. Individual does not change the beneficiary under the IRA, i.e., the ex-spouse is still the named beneficiary. The individual now dies. Is the ex-spouse the beneficiary of the IRA?

I have a client that wants to handle large influxes of business by entering into an agreement with a temp agency to use the temp's employees until the the influx has been handled and to thereafter no longer use the temp employees. The influxes are sporadic and the temps are needed for varying periods of time. When the temps are working for the client, the client has full control over what the temp does each day and what hours the temp works.

The client wants to amend its 401(k) plan to exclude these temps from participation.

I understand the IRS Field Directive which states that part-time/seasonal employees cannot be excluded if they achieve 1,000 hours. Could these individuals potentially be excluded for the following reasons: First, an argument could be made that they are really the employees of the temp agency. I know that there are many factors that go into making a determination of whether an individual is an employee and that there are no clear answers. I also understand that you should do your best to make the individuals employees of the temp agency (e.g., have an agreement that states the agency is the employer, responsible for benefits, hiring, firing, etc). Second, even if they are the client's employees, could they be excluded as a reasonable classification without violating Section 410(a) (as explained in the Field Directive), the argument being that you are not excluding them because of their length of service, but rather because you only needed them for a particular influx of work or project?

I am uncomfortable with excluding them. However, I would like to know what others are doing with this situation. The client feels strongly about excluding them because they tend not to defer into the 401(k) which hurts its 401(k) and (m) testing.

I assume that this is a very common situation. I just wanted to see what other companies are doing and how typical is it to exclude these types of individuals.

We have a potential new client who has an existing simplied 401(k) plan. It was effective 1/1/98. The client would like to tack on a new comp (cross tested) ps feature for the '99 year. The existing document is not ours but it appears to say the maximum ps disparity rate is 2.7%. Is this standard? Any problems regarding testing in setting up a stand alone new comp plan? Has anyone set up a simple 401(k) with the new comp feature within one doc? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

We have received a request from an employee for reimbursement of 1993 tuition expenses. What are the tax and/or administrative issues that we should be considering in deciding whether or not to grant this request?

As I have done for the past several semesters, I will be offering a 2 day review class for the C2DB exam in Jacksonville, Florida. Class will be held from 8:30 am - 4:30 pm on Saturday November 6 & Sunday November 7. Cost per student is $400.

Contact me at ldorsa@lda-fcpa.com or 904 249-9171 for more info.

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What are the rules in deducting plan admin fees directly from plan particpants accounts? A client previously paid the fees directly to the TPA but recently switched investments to an insurance company in which the insurance company offered to deduct the fees directly from the accounts.

The loan program requires a $50 fee to be paid by the particpant when requesting a loan. Can this fee be deducted from the particpants account (using pre-tax dollars)?Should the particpant pay for it separately? Can the administrator withhold the charge from the loan proceeds check?

Have you seen my message as posted in the 401(k) message board on 8-27-99 under topic: transfer/rollovers?

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Have you seen my handiwork of 8-27-99 posted on the 401(k)message board under topic: "transfers/rollovers"?

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Can a fairly new plan on a volume submitter document, assuming the plan was effective 1-1-98, request and receive a determination letter for pre-1999 law, and NOT pay the rate for customized plan document review? In other words, can a determination letter be issued for pre-Gatt sufficiency that would be based on parameters as defined in an adoption agreement? Our motivation: We could request via written letter that the determination be made as such for pre-Gatt, and feel that it is important that the plan have a determination letter, as it is a sizable 401(k) plan. It is difficult to justify the expense of submitting as customized document.

Realized capital losses cannot be passed through to the beneficiary(ies) until the final year of a trust. For a Marital trust (Trust A with a QTIP election) does it make sense to recognize losses for tax purposes? Will accumulated realized losses be passed through to the spouse's final return (and be limited to $3,000) or will the accumulated losses be passed through to the heirs of the spouse?

Is a corrective distribution of excess deferrals made after April 15 subject to 10% penalty tax?