Under recent approval, 401(k)'s plans were allowed to deduct up to 3% of every participants salary into the plan without the approval of those participants. Does this same ruling also apply to 403(B) plans?

Jim Groves

Has anyone had experience correcting a untimely contribution at the plan level? For example, the contribution was credited in August rather than February.

I am looking for a streamline approach to correcting this. Such as crediting the depost currently and providing participants the highest rate of return earned by investments options for that period or a weighted return based on plan asset allocation? Any ideas?

I have had to do an APRSC because of an old and somewhat incomplete administrative checklist. Does anyone have a checklist for defined contribution plan administration that is complete but concise (I hate checklists that are longer than the report I prepare) that you are willing to share?

FMLA and paid time off can run concurrently. As long as your state regs don't prohibit the practice, and you have a clearly stated and consistently applied policy, then you can require an employee to exhaust available paid time off in conjunction with an FMLA leave.

FYI, again if there are no state regs against the practice, you can also count lost days under worker's comp toward FMLA, as long as the FMLA notifications are made appropriately.

Who are some of the major full-service providers in the 457 market. I'm very familiar with service providers in the 401(k) market, but I don't know much about the 457 market. I currently have two clients who sponsor 457 plans. One uses Aetna and the other uses Jackson National Life. Who are some of the other major providers? (By the term "full-service", I mean a provider which offers participant-level record keeping, investment options, daily valuation record keeping, 24-hr. toll-free voice response telephone service for participants, etc.). Thanks in advance for your help.

Is anyone aware of service providers who will determine the Maximum Exclusion Allowance (MEA) under a 403(B) program on an "as needed" basis? If so, please send eMail.

I have a client that participates in a state retirement system (a defined benefit plan that has pick up contributions under 414(h)(2)) but also maintains a 403(B) plan. Does anyone have any thoughts re whether the pick up contributions count as an annual addition under the 415© limits that would apply to the 403(B) plan? Since pick ups are treated as employer contributions it seems logical and consistent with the statutes to treat them as employer contributions to a defined benefit plan. Thus, the pick up would not be treated as an annual addition under 415© but the benefit attributable to it would be counted for purposes of 415(B) and 415(e).

May a defned benefit plan provide a post-retirement death benefit? A client maintains a plan that is overfunded. If the individual retires and begins to receive his retirement benefits from the trust, may the on-going plan provide a post-retirement incidental death benefit? Any comments. Thanks. Ed

I'm a TPA and have not gotten involved with 125s yet. I have a life insurance agent who came to me recently with a proposal to prepare docs, SPDs and 5500s for premium only plans. I thought there was testing involved with these plans, but the fellow says no; and he says he "checked it out with an insurance company".

If there are tests involved, what are they and where can I get more info on how to do them ?

Thanks, Steve

I work in New York state. I believe that at present time ther is a law here which states that any company that employs X number of workers is required to pay its workers for time serves on jurry duty. At present the company I work for pays all it's employees this benifit. There is a rumor going around however that to cut costs they may stop paying people like my self who work the third shift which is from 11:00pm to 7:30am. There theory goes that unless you are on a court case that is sequestered, your jurry work will usualy be 9:00am to 5:00pm leaving you plenty of time to get to work. Is this leagle? Can they pay a benifit to 2 shifts and not to the last shift? When would I sleep? I would have to practicly go directly from work to the jurry room with just enough time to shower and change. If I slept after jurry duty that would mean I had no life for 2 weeks I would work for the jurry system in the day for my company at night and sleep in between. Please let me know if they could really do this. By the way this is a major drugstore chain warehouse and nonunion.

Can anyone provide a sample -- or a source for a sample -- of a change form that employees in a Section 125 plan would use to change their benefits coverage as a result of a family status change?

We need to develop something that provides employees with a "check off" indicating the qualifying event and what they wish to change.

Thank you !

There hasn't been terribly much written on the above.

Does anyone have any experience with these types of plans?

I have a live situation. Who detrmines whether the employer adopts a MP or a PS? Is it so stated in the PW agreement? MUST a third party be the trustee? Under what circumstances can we have 5 year cliff vesting, if any, or do we have to go immediate? Can we use a standardized prototype?

Thanks.

Steve

Who maintains a govt. DB plan that allows plan loans?

If all employees of S Corp are leased except owners, and leasing co has 401k that employees contribute to, can business start a SIMPLE or SEP? Must offer to employees? Where in tax code, etc is this addressed besides IRC 414?

A 501©(3) organization has a SEP/IRA established fbo employees. The organization funds the SEP/IRA. Employees choose mutual funds for their account. This organization also has in place a employee maintained 403(B) in which the employees choosee the mutual fund investment. The responsibility the organization has is to deduct the contribution from each employees check and send it to the custodian. During an audit, the CPA doing the audit says this is a possible conflict in interest and may violate ERISA. Is this a conflict? When the plan was set up this organization was not allowed to do a SAR/SEP IRA so the 403(B) was chosen. Any help or suggestions would be most appreciated.

We are a "financial institution" serving as trustee for numerous ERISA plans. We just received a generic letter from a DOL "Investigator" citing the DOL's "investigative authority" and requesting a significant amount of information on ALL ERISA plans for which we are trustee. I would first like to learn if other institutions have received this letter. If that is the case, I would like to learn if there is some "organized reaction" to this nonspecific inquiry or what response individual recipients are contemplating. Thanks

HELP! I am lost. Does anyone know of any requirements of ERISA, that requires the Plan Doc be signed by the Plan Sponsor. If so, if the signature is not obtained what are the ramifications (other than poor business practice) ? Does this make the TPA the fiduciary of the plan? I would also appreciate some direction as to what section of ERISA covers this subject.

Thanks.

I am looking for the definition of a "Control Group". If an organization forms a partnership which does not involve a merger of assets, but has a common board at the holding company level, would this fall under the definition of a control group?

Anyone read, or know where I can get a copy of these bills? They've been referenced in a recent article in EBPR and I'd like more info for selling tactics. They are also known as "Retirement Security Act of 1998"..... anyone?

What is the implication to the plan where distributions from the plan to former participants are made in the form of checks and that the particpants have not cashed the checks and the stale date has been exceeded by a number of years? Besides owning the particpant the original amount of the distribution is there an interest payment also due. What law,case, etc. would address this issue?