A major mutual fund company will let me open a Roth IRA for my 17 yr old daughter (most interpret the eligibility as one must be of legal age). She has eligible 1998 W-2 earnings. Is it beneficial to use my after-tax money to open a Roth IRA account in her name? After all, if she were open it with her money, she would virtually pay no income tax on the initial amount (since the earnings are less than the standard deduction of $4250). She does not currently have the funds, but I don't want her to miss this opportunity to bypass all future taxes on this investment vehicle.

I want to open new Roth IRA accounts, one as a brokerage acct and one with Mutual fund company. Is this permitted?

I want to start with $2K for me and $2K for my wife. Do they need to be set up seperately or can they be joint accounts?

I am redesigning our FMLA policy, procedures and forms. Does anyone have samples they can share? If so, please email to cmarkman@dreamscape.com. I am also looking for help in the gray areas. Such as why does the government form say "Reply to Request" for FMLA, when it's possible for an employer to designate an FMLA without an employee ever actually applying for one?

Many major corporations have found a golden egg in traditional pension plans. They have created "personal retirement accounts" as a replacement for defined benifits plans. This "plan" earns approximately 4-8% per year and is great for a 25 year old exec. However the funding for the 50 year old falls short and virtually never reaches the defined plan's heights. Also all earnings above the 4-8% funding requirements are owned by the corp or its trustee. The last 4 years have been great for the custodians. Does this move not constitute some form of age discrimination? My pension has been frozen for the last 4 years with no chance for recovery. Thank God for the 401k.

Does the 1 year rule apply to roth trustee to trustee custodianship (If dissatisfied with one trustee's performance)?

any comments for using this as a voluntary employee benefit on payroll deduction??

I have checked with numerous websites only to find the information not available.

I need to know what the average participation rates for 401(k) plans in the "Long Term Care" sector might be. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Does anyone know how the State of MA is dealing with the Tax situation and the Roth IRA...?

Are they allowing 4 year distribution of the tax or not?

Thanks...

Please excuse the ignorance, I am a 26 year old new investor, interested in opening up multiple roth IRA's, and I was wondering if anyone knew how many IRA's it is possible to open, and if there is any kind of limit on how many to open a year...thanks for the info sean

Are conversion and contributory amounts (that have had the tax paid on them)to a Roth subject to the premature withdrawal penalty if withdrawn after the five year holding period, but before the taxpayer is 59.5?

I thought it would be useful to have a discussion thread examining all of your experiences/info with attorney fee awards to plaintiffs in ERISA cases.

What is your experience within Circuits and Federal District Courts with regards to this? (e.g., are fees awarded absent a showing of the defendants bad faith, are fees chopped down significantly, what about expert costs.) Please name the Circuit and Jurisdiction.

The 8th and 9th circuits presumptively award attorney's fees to prevailing ERISA Plaintiffs. I have seen expert fees awarded in excess of the $45 per day perdium in the 8th circuit, but I also think there is contrary authority for that in this circuit (or perhaps in the 9th).

[This message has been edited by MattNewman (edited 12-31-98).]

The children (no matter what age) of the owner of 50 percent or more of the Employer are included as a "party in interest" under ERISA and a "disqualified person" under IRC 4975 - check these out and see what you think.

It appears quite likely this is a prohibited transaction.

I had a similar situation arise with a bundled product when I was working in a TPA firm. The period of time was aroun 13 months, and we forced the changes to be corrected at the source of the problem. The company that errored - my firm made up the difference in the earnings, and reduced the clients fees for the following year by that amount, as we were not able to fund the plan from our accounts.

I think you will need to retroactively fix the situation, especially in light of the fact that "writen notice" was given.

Keep us posted on the outcome and good luck

Happy New Year

Anyone know if NYS and NYC are allowing a 4 year spread of taxes on the Roth IRA's? Thank you

I have 2 Roth Conversion IRA's which are overseen by 2 separate financial institutions. Can I pay taxes on one over the 4 year period and taxes on the other fully in year 1? TY.

A small business has a 401(k) plan with match. Last year the owners maxed out deferral and got match. However, they made a 5% profit sharing contribution just for rank and file ees. They did not sign any kind of waiver. Do they have a problem for 1998 if they participate in profit sharing portion?

Can anyone comment on the reporting of cash balance plans in the Wall Street Journal (12/4/98 and 12/18/98). The articles seem to have caused some uproars by employees who have read them.

I have a rep who has heard of the housing allowance under 403(B)(9) for ministers. What type of document(s) are needed for establishment? What type of information is needed to be included?

Any help will be greatly appreciated

Happy New Year!!!

A Law firm maintains a profit sharing plan that covers all its employees. The plan currently requires participants to be employed on last day of the plan year to receive an allocation. During the year, certain partners have left the firm. The firm wants these partners to receive an allocation. May the firm amend its plan to provide that allocations will be made to individuals who were employed on ... say September 1, provided this change would not discriminate in favor of highly compensated employees.

A 401k plan provides for 100% match up to 7% deferral. Sponsored by a service partnership. "Earned income" of a partner is:

Self-employment income 100,000

SE tax deduction (5,580)

Employer base contr. (1,000)

Ptnr deferral (5,000)

Match (5,000)

83,420

What is 414(s) income? Is it 83,420 or is it 88,420 (earned income plus deferral)? When the partner elects a percentage deferral (eg, 5%), what income is the 5% applied to?