I am a public worker with access to deferred comp., but I have chosen not to participate in it because I don't like the limited choices for investment. Because I have this option I believe I don't qualify for a traditional IRA (at least I can't deduct the contributions). Does this make a Roth IRA a no-brainer for me? Also, is it too late for the 1998 tax year, or do I have until the 15th?

Three months ago, I rolled a 401k into an existing IRA which already had monies in it. I now read that one should keep these separate and not comingle! Since I have deposited the monies, I have also purchased stocks and mutual funds with some of those monies, and I can't distinguish the monies. What does one do now? Does it really matter as 401k will all be after tax by definition?

[This message has been edited by SusanS (edited 03-28-99).]

In 1998, I signed papers to roll over my Self-Employed Retirement Plan money into an IRA and then convert it to a Roth. (I am Roth-eligible.) My retirement money is all in a brokerage account. I subsequently took distributions in 1998 to pay for qualified educational expenses.

I just discovered that my broker incorrectly tried to rollover the funds directly into a Roth. He now has to open a traditional IRA and then a conversion Roth. This all has me thinking that I may be better off deferring the tax liability completely and just keeping my money in the Traditional IRA. (The liability isn't much but I am currently a student.) If I decide to keep the money in the Traditional IRA, does it sound like I will have to recharacterize?

[This message has been edited by susan036 (edited 03-29-99).]

What kind of options does a person have to avoid the 6% penalty on non-deductable contributions. I have about $4,000 of a $40,000 Trad. IRA that I had to pay a penalty for when I filed my 1998 return. Can I convert just the non-deductable portion to a Roth, or do I have to convert the whole IRA to a Roth?

Can employer adopt treasury rate and

use 1984 mortality table or use PBGC rate and adopt treasury table and use thru 12/31/99? i.e. Never use both applicable interest rate and applicable mortality table until required.

I'm in that range where I can't contribute the limit, but I can't find the calculation anywhere for what I can contribute to ROTH, and then I will contribute the rest of the 2k to an aftertax IRA.

I have a $40,000 traditional IRA with

$4000 of it non-deductable. I payed 6%

in penalties when filing my 1998 taxes.

Is there any way to convert the non-deductable portion to a Roth, and avoid the penalty? Or, do I have to convert the whole thing? I really don't

want to pay taxes on all of it at once.

If the comp period is less than one year or more than one year, but less than two years, can the 1,000-hours-of-service requirement be prorated, or does the elapsed-time method for determining service apply? I really really need the regs on which your reply is based. Thanks!

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Does anyone know of any reason that a person would not be able to name as beneficiary someone whose residence is not the United States, namely China?

Participants should have been advanced on vesting schedule, but were not.

Participants were paid.

Forfeitures were re-allocated.

Participants need to be paid remainder.

Can this come from current year forfeitures?

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I have a 401(k) plan that has no profit sharing provision. They would like to add this provsion and make a contribution for the 1998 plan year. Can they do this? Generally speaking how long does a plan have to make retroactive amendments? I usually stick by the 2 1/2 after the end of the plan year rule but some folks say they should have done it by the end of the plan year (in this case 12/31/98) some say they have until they file their company taxes. Other say there are different rules for pension plan vs. profit sharing plans. As usual code section reference would help.

Thanks.

A company failed to deposit a matching contribution for 1995 until early 1997. The company is a C corp and contribution was deducted on federal return filed by 9/15/96. What is penalty for the late contribution? Is the penalty paid by filing Form 5330 or some other form?

Does anyone know of a way to avoid paying horrendous surrender charges on insurance contracts when plans are merged due to acquisitions? Most of these contracts do not consider a plan merger to be a benefit payment and impose a charge anywhere from 6% to 2% for withdrawal. This ends up as an extra cost to the acquiring company to make employees whole. Most of the companies I have dealt with will not negotiate and impose the fee. Any ideas on getting surrender charges waived?

Company is transferring its 401(k) plan to a newly formed holding company, with no changes to plan. The plan and SPD will be amended for name change. Any other considerations administrative or otherwise?

A plan incorrectly calculated a 1997 money purchase plan contribution because it thought the plan had terminated. In fact, the plan was not terminated because 204(h) notices were never sent to employees. The plan allocated contributions only through 6/30, the supposed termination date. Now the plan is allocating contributions for the whole plan year. But since the contribution is late, what is the interest rate on the late contribution that must be credited to employees? The plan earned over 30% for 1998. Must we use that rate or is there some other nominal rate?

We are planning to merge two 401(k) plan that allow cash and in-kind distributions into a third 401(k) plan. The merging plans are participant-directed in various mutual funds. The in-kind provision would allow, for example, a mutual fund to be retitled into an IRA upon severance. Is this in-kind distribution option a protected benefit under 411(d)(6)? Must we offer in-kind distributions in the new plan? The new plan will offer mutual fund options but not the same ones as the merging plans.

Some of our employees take unpaid leaves of absence, and during the period of their leave, do not need dependent care. Is it possible to allow these employees to elect out of the dependent care plan during their leave? If this is not permitted, any thoughts on whether the plan could be amended to provide that any employee who goes on paid leave becomes ineligible to make further contributions?

Does anyone know where we can find Software for Cafeteria Plan Administration? Keeping up with the plan and writing the checks. We need it in Windows environment for Win '95.

Any advice or recommendations will be helpful.

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CCH used to publish (still may(?)) the popular names of legislative acts in its Pension Plan Guide, e.g. P.L. No. 104-1888 - "Small Business Job Protection Act". It was at Paragraph 29,005 in the paper edition of the Pension Plan Guide. Our office has gone to the online service and CCH has not seen fit to include this section in its on-line service (after repeated requests). Does anyone know of another source for this information. It is very helpful when researching the source and background of particular Code provisions. Thank you in advance for any help you can render. JDC

Please advise how I can locate IRS Regulations when I don't know the CFR site. I'd like to either enter a regulation number, code section or key words and then be able to view the proposed or final regulation.