Is it possible to buyout an S&L, and keep the debt at the parent holding company level so as to avoid having to obide by the financial restrictions set by regulators?

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Chris L Smith

Brown, Gibbons, Lang & Co., LP

Investment Bankers

I'm looking for guidance on the maximum contribution rules applied to ESPPs. As I understand it, there's a $25,000 annual cap placed on the "value" of stock that can be purchased under this type of plan. Further, if the plan has multiple pricing periods, the cap is proportionately applied. The value is normally related to the Fair Market Value of the stock at the beginning of the period. My question is: if the FMV of the stock is lower at the end of the period than it is at the beginning, is there any hope of using the end-of-period FMV to determine "value" for the $25,000 rule?

I am trying to take an early retirement from a company that I quit from after vesting into their retirement plan. They said that would be fine to take early retirement and sent me a form as to how I would like my payment. I requested a lump-sum payment and now they are saying that anyone who quit the company before January 1, 1998, is not eligible to receive a lump-sum payment. Is there any way for me to reverse this decision? Can a lawyer help me or am I forced to go with their decision? Thank you for your help with this matter.

When calculating the maximum loan for a participant, can we include the balance in the after tax source?

Gang:

I appreciate this list quite a bit, but it really is primarily a retirement-related site. Do any of you know of a discussion list focused on non-retirement benefits, such as health, life, dental, ltd, etc.?

If a person is laid off before company contribution of his money purchase pension plan is fully vested, will he forfait that amount?

What are the restrictions on withdrawing funds for education uses? I plan on investing $2k initially in a Roth and contributing about $1500 or more annually. My son is 9 years old. Thanks.

2 questions:

1. When you terminate a db plan and want the money to go to dc plan sponsored by the same employer, can you do it in an elective transfer under Reg. ss 1.411(d)(4) without offering a lump sum option? That reg. says that to have an elective transfer you have to give the pt. the right to take an immediate distribution (in addition to a deferred annuity or the elective transfer), but I've interpreted that (based on some old informal IRS input) to mean that you had to give the pt. the right to choose immediate commencement of annuity payments, and that it did not mean that you had to give the pt. an immediate lump sum option. I've gotten IRS determination letters on this. Is there anything (or anyone) out there that comes to a different conclusion?

2. In the same vein, we've not given pts. whose benefit does not exceed the mandatory cashout limit the right to make an election -the money was simply transferred to the new plan. The PBGC has questioned this. Any thoughts?

The instructions for filing 5500's for a plan covering unrelated employers seem to permit a general filing for the sponsoring Er (plan no 333), and abbreviated filings fo adopting employers. There is a final paragraph, however, and it seems to say that if the plan does not have commingled assets then each adopting employer is on their own for filing. For 401k's does this mean 5500C/R, fully completed, for each?

Employee D is an employee of Company C. Her father, F, was a substantial owner of C. Due to Section 318, D was considered to be a Key Employee. F sold his entire interest in C and is no longer an officer. Now that F has gotten rid of his interest in C, is D still a Key Employee? I know there is a five-year look back. Does the five-year look back still apply to an individual who was a Key Employee only because of stock attribution? Does Section 302©(2) have any application here?

Is a spouse's post-tax medical insurance premium an allowable reimbursable expense for a participant's cafeteria plan? If so, how would this amount be verified without using the spouse's wage statement which would indicate this premium is being paid after taxes are withheld?

Anyone aware of any reported cases discussing the conflict of interest which arises when a non-public employer can't find an independent institutional trustee and the CEO volunteers to act as trustee? These situations are ripe for fiduciary problems when the ESOP has to buy shares from the company and the CEO/trustee essentially negotiates with himself.

Can a profit sharing plan that makes discretionary annual contributions, allocate a portion of its annual contribution to the plan to a greater than 5% shareholder who is still employed receiving a salary but is receiving required minimum distributions from the plan since he reached age 70 1/2?

After converting a traditional IRA to a Roth, I want to now tranfer the Roth from a bank (I'm not happy with) to an existing Roth brokerage account. Can I simply close one Roth account and deposit the check into the Roth brokerage account without tax consequences? My bank says no, unless I have the check from made out to the broker (for which they charge a fee). That doesn't make much sense to me. (One of the reasons I'm taking whatever money I still have in that bank and putting it elsewhere--very little of what they say makes sense and very little of what they say they'll do gets done.:<)

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Alan Stein

stein@math.uconn.edu

http://www.math.uconn.edu/~stein

A surviving spouse was the beneficiary of her deceased husband's account balances in several qualified plans. Norwally the surving spouse would establish a spousal IRA naming her revocable trust as beneficiary. Instead, can the spouse establish three separate spousal IRAs, naming one of her three childen as beneficiary thereof? This might increase the payout period. Any thoughts? Thanks. Ed

I am looking for companies that offer paid time benefits (i.e. vacation, sick, holiday pooled together). Pls. let me know if they accrue days or hours and how many hours/days per year.

Thanks,

Jeri Mucha

Would a hospital indemnity plan which is combined in the same policy with a minim

al medical expense benefit (e.g., doctor's office visits up to $300 a year) be subject to HIPAA?

Could someone give me the updated "thinking" on the value of a company vehicle to an employee. Basically we're in the process of making an offer to someone and want to consider the value of the vehicle to the employee as a part of his salary package. I've heard numbers from $6,000 to $8,000 per year..but am not certain if that's current thinking or not. Any help would be appreciated. THANKS

(Posted by Sheila K for Doug Brown)

im looking into starting a Roth IRA and need any help i can get as to what kind to start or where to get a good one

thanks

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funkymonkey@hempseed.com

I HAVE A PLAN WHERE THE EMPLOYER MATCH IS BASES ON 50% OF SALARY DEFERRALS. THE ADP TEST DID NOT PASS, THEREFORE REFUNDS NEED TO BE MADE. DOES THE EMPLOYER MATCH THE AMOUNT DEFERRED, OR THE AMOUNT DEFERRED, LESS ANY REFUNDS?