Usually, amounts withheld for the FSA are pro-rated over the regular number of employee paychecks. What about if nothing is withheld from the first check of the year? Can the total amount for the year be spread out over the remaining 25 checks (assuming pay checks every 2 weeks)? Or should the payroll deduction for the FSA be doubled up on for the second check in January?

Thanks.

I was employed at Company A and an active participant of their 401K plan. Company B purchased a division of Company A in March of this year. I went to work for Company B in a similiar position. Company B has a 401K plan. My past employer cited 3 letter rulings and denied distribution of my 401 funds on deposit in their plan. In May of this year Company A changed plan providers. I had no choice and transferred funds. I just received notice from Company A that they now will allow a "Direct" transfer of funds to Company B's plan or let it reamain on deposit in Company A's plan. Did some major change occur to laws that govern this happen in the past few months? Or is Company A just trying to fix a mistake? I took a "hit" on load fees when assets were transferred in May. Do I have any recourse to recover funds? My preferance is to roll it over to an IRA as both plans are expensive. Is there a difference between a direct transfer and rollover?

CAN THE PLAN TRUSTEE ALSO BE THE BROKER ON THE PLAN AND RECEIVE COMMISSIONS? HE IS ALSO A FULL-TIME PAY EMPLOYEE OF THE EMPLOYER.

In the following example, what would be the correct top-heavy contribution?

1998 Top-heavy contribution required: 3%

1998 Profit sharing contribution: 1%

1998 QNEC contribution: .5%

1998 Reallocated forfeitures (all ee's): .5%

Does the employer make a 1.5% or a 1% top-heavy contribution?

We have been operating the plan where reallocated forfeitures are only used to determine the minimum top-heavy contribution, but they are not used to satisfy the funding requirement. We are doing it this way because forfeitures are an employer contribution received in a prior year and were accounted as a contribution in a prior year. But now am confused by Reg 1.416-1, M-7.

Where can I get a list of DB Plans offering the MRD option? Are their any government DB plans that offer this option?

Can anyone tell me who are the large plan adminstrators in the New York state area, and if one adminstrators is better than the rest? Any why?

Would you be willing to post the following information to help assess the competitiveness of our benefits package?

Type of business:

General features of benefits plan:

(HMO, Dental, Eye, chiropractic, etc...)

Cost to full-time employee per month:

Cost to part-time employee per month:

Thanks

Our firm has the opportunity to assume TPA responsibility for a number of accounts due to the resignation of another TPA. Does anyone have a due diligence questionnaire or other materials that would be useful?

Any recent studies or articles regarding trend for employee participation in flexible spending accounts?

Any pitfalls to be aware of when a company sponsors a cafeteria plan and the employees contribute to MSAs?

I know that the MSA contributions are not allowed through the cafeteria plan and the MSA can not be part of the cafeteria plan. I assume that the premiums for the high-deductible plan can still be paid through the cafeteria plan and the deductible the employee has to cover that is not covered by the MSA will be a non-reimbursed medical expense that can be paid through the cafeteria plan spending account.

Any other items to be aware of?

I intially converted my IRA to a Roth IRA during high stock market valuations. I read that if one reconverts prior to November 1, 1998, it is as if the conversion never occurred. I went to the discount brokerage office and requested the form to switch back

on October 29. I was told that this would not be processed in operations until November 15. I asked for a receipt. They didn't provide one but I took a copy of the form. If the stock market dips again, I may reconvert to Roth but wonder if the regs will consider this transaction to have occurred on October 29 or on the "process" date. Thanks.

We receive an electronic download for a plan that has individual FBO accounts for each participant. A participants account may have six fund investments with one account for each investment. The participant may have three sources of funds invested in an account (401(k), Match and P/S). Using the transaction import for transfers apparently requires the use of an account number. We want the transfer to be prorata across the fund sources. Is there a way to do fund to fund transfers in the import module?

I am looking for a good website for research, etc. for SIMPLE plans similar to www.rothira.com. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Just a note to anyone with a government plan in the state of Nebraska. LB 1191 has increased the state reporting requirements for these plans

I heard that the deadline for these amendments was pushed beyond 1999 to match the new deadline for the nondiscriminations rules but I can not find a source or a date. Does anyone know where (or when) I can find this?

I have a 401(k) plan that has a last day/1000 hour requirement in order for an employee to share in the employer's profit sharing or discretionary contribution; this requirement is relaxed to >= 501 hours only for purposes of passing 410(b) coverage. The 70% ratio percentage test is being applied. Plan A has 100 employees of which 69 qualify for an allocation under the plan's terms; the other 31 terminated in the year with > 501 hours. I believe in this scenario all 100 employees should receive an allocation. Plan B is identical but the numbers are 98/69/29 respectively. It seems that here the 70% threshold is satisfied by allocating to the 69 and omitting the 29 altogether. This doesn't seem logical. Am I missing something here ??

If you merge a D/C plan "A" into another D/C plan "B", does plan "A" have to be amended for GUST, or is it sufficient to amend plan "B" the survivor plan? Is there any instance whereby plan "A" would need to be amended for GUST prior to the merger?

Recently (mid to late Oct), a new section 713 was added to ERISA. Group health plans have to cover reconstructive surgery after a mastectomy (if the plan covers mastectomies). There are a few notice rules with tight deadlines.

In particular, notice of this coverage has to be provided to each participant and beneficiary:

(1)in the next plan mailing to participants;

(2) as part of the yearly informational packet mailed to participants; or

(3) not later than 1/1/99

WHICHEVER IS EARLIER.

Oh, and this notice must be "in writing and prominently positioned in any literature or correspondence."

My question: how are people handling this? For lots of companies, it's coming in the middle of open enrollment.

Thanks.

This (one person plan)exemption is not available where the business sponsoring the plan is a member of a controlled group (see 5500 EZ instructions). This appears to make the exemption unavailable to an individual who has plans for 2 separate sole proprietorships even the aggregate assets are < $100,000--or am I missing something? If an individual has plans for a sole proprietorship and a 50/50 partnership, however, could the exemption apply for each even though the aggregate assets exceed $100,000?

John Rossitter