I see two problems with 403(B)s: First, participant investments are too safe and too expensive. As noted in a recent Scott Burns column, over half of all 403(B) investment goes into fixed annuities. Second, participation is low due to the lack of employer involvement (generally no matching, little support, etc..). Congress is aware of these problems, and will likely act to address them. What ideas does anyone have that addresses these issues? Thanks for responding.

My former employer tells me they want to terminate the 401K plan with the existing plan administrator and move the money to another plan administrator.

What are my options? Can I keep my money with the existing plan administrator? If I roll my money out of the existing plan now, the plan administrator claims they will charge me a sizeable back end fee.

Even if my former employer leaves the existing plan, can I just keep my money in the plan for the next few years until I don't have to pay the back end fee?

My employee retirement plan summary does not mention anything about back end fees. It says my money is nonforfeitable. Will my employer have to absorb this back end fee, and make available the full amount of money in my part of the plan?

What recourse do I have if the former employer takes the back end fee out of my part of the plan. Do I go after the former employer or the plan administrator?

Thank you for responding.

One of my clients is interested in having his IRA form an investment subsidiary. Has anyone had experience with this use of an IRA? And/or any opinions as to whether it is feasible?

What would be the tax savings from having a 125 plan,

and would it be more cost effective to not have one

and give employees slightly higher benefits?

Assume taxpayer converts to Roth in 1998 and elects 4 year spread of income. As part of divorce settlement, the Roth account is divided 50/50. Who reports the income in the subsequent years. Taxpayer who is converting will file MFS in 1998 (lived apart from spouse entire year) and will report 25% of total in 1998. Any ideas? The temporary regs do not seem to address this situation nor does any other literature I have seen.

We are switching from a self-funded health plan to a fully insured plan. The assets in the self-funded trust will be used to pay premiums for the insured plan. Is anyone familiar with any requirements (e.g., notice?) to terminate the self-funded trust? Thanks in advance for your help.

I direct a small (4 employee) non-profit and am interested in starting a cafeteria plan. Do you have any suggestions for starting from ground-zero? Thanks.

Client is in desparate need of funds for health issues. Has MP and PS plans but has been an S-Corp and can't borrow. Can he elect c-corp status and qualify for loan or is account balance S-corp "tainted"? Any other suggestions on how he can get funds? Can't terminate, collective bargained employees are also covered.

Profit sharing plan and trust has year ending June 30. Want to change plan year and year of trust to calendar year-end. Per Rev Proc 87-27 no IRS approval necessary for the plan year change b/c the plan not subject to 412. Automatic approval provided for change of trust year assuming conditions in Rev Proc 87-27 are met. My question has to do with operating the plan during/after/in light of the short plan year. For most amounts/limits, eg. compensation limit 401(a)(17), simple pro-ration made as follows: full mos. in short year/ 12 mos. With respect to year of service determination in short year, plan says such determination will be made for all purposes in accordance with DOL Reg 2530.203-2©. DOL Reg. 2530.203-2© deals specifically with vesting computation period. Would same apply to determining year of service for purposes of eligibility requirement in the plan?? It appears that reference to the DOL Reg cited above in the plan's definition of year of service mandates applying the Reg's rationale for all plan purposes where determination of year of service required. Any comments or suggestions??

We are a company of 200+ employees currently working on making sure our Affirmative Action Plan is compliant with the state of MD. Looking for a sample Affirmative Action Plan, or any sugggestions. Thanks

Client's 401(K) plan was amended 1/1/98 to use forfeitures of matching contribs to reduce employer match.

So, the 1/1/98 amounts in the forfeiture account should've been applied toward employer match. They've been matching. Can the client direct that an amount equal to the 1/1/98 forfeiture be refunded only this time under the "mistake of fact"? They reduced the November match, but I want to cover them for 1/1/98-10/31/98.

Any thoughts??

A client of mine just experienced the following problem: She needed a particular type of surgery, so she consulted that specialty section of her PPO directory. She then visited the doctor, presented her membership card, and was told that yes, they "accepted" this carrier, and even estimated for her how much the insurance would pay.

When the claim went through, it turned out that the carrier had not had a contract with the provider for almost five years, through they continued to print his name in the directory.

In the directory, the carrier has a section up front called "To Visit a PPO Provider." In it, they outline a three step process:

1) Review your plan to make sure that what you want done is covered;

2) Call a provider from the directory and identify yourself as a PPO participant and confirm that they are currently participating with the PPO network;

3) Present your PPO card at the time of the appointment.

The client did all this, yet still the claim was processed as non-PPO. We are currently appealing that, but has anyone else run into a similar situation?

Your friendly state legislatures are probably under fire to change their pension policies, especially for those plans they control. Give us the news from your state, along with your opinions and personal perspectives on the proposed/debated/demanded changes.

As moderator, I'm here to facilitate and encourage, but I won't let that stop me from climbing on the soapbox. Feel free to start new message threads (as I've done here), especially if you find yourself on a tangent from another original topic.

I have a DB plan sponsored by a governmental unit (a hospital owned by a county). The plan is safe harbor, uses a volume submitter document, and is pretty much vanilla.

The sposor adopted the GATT provisions (mortality table and interest rate) for determining lump sums 3 years ago. Two years ago, the plan was frozen, in anticipation of terminating when they have enough money. They don't have enough; with the recent decline in 30-year treasury rates, the underfunding has gotten worse.

Can the plan be amended to change the actuarial equivalent definition (currently GATT basis) to something less expensive (such as an interest rate of 7.5%) ?

Currently, the plan contains fairly common language stating that "an amendment shall not not reduce the vested benefit of a participant determined as of the later of the adoption date or the amendment's effective date." (Note that that sentence does not refer to the defined term "Accrued Benefit".)

SBJPA Section 1459 provides that a plan with eligibility requirements less than the statutory age 21 and 1 year of service can exclude from ADP and ACP all eligible NHCEs who are under age 21 and have less than 1 year of service provided they pass their own test. I'm wondering if this exclusion can be used on a new plan who has statutory eligibility but for the initial enrollment waived all eligibility requirements for employees employed on a certain date. For example, a new plan with a plan effective date of 1/1/98 has eligility of age 21/1 year of service, but allowed all employees employed on 11/1/97 to be participants. Can two sets of tests be done for 1998 in this case?

Thanks.

Do you take a plan out of prototype status if you exclude a class of employees that you define under "other"? Client wants to exclude co-op workers who are high school and college students. Would this be an allowable excluded class? Client wants immediate participation for all eligible, but would like to exclude this group. Setting the age requirement at 21 will not keep all of these people out. Any suggestions?

I would like feedback on the pros and cons of introducing a corporate vitamin

plan whereby the company would supply

employees with factory fresh multi-

vitamins as part of the wellness program.

The product would be sealed in a

custom labeled container and covered by

product indemnification and isurance.

If a leased employee is not considered to be an employee for pension purposes until they complete a year of service, does the compensation which they earned during that first year count in determining if they are an HCE in year 2 or is year 2 considered there first year of service and therefore they could not be and HCE in year 2. For example if a leasted EE earned 100K in year 1 and therefore they would be considered an EE in year 2, would they be considered an HCE in year 2?

I would appreciate any comments on what loan documents, if any, successor trustees are receiving for takeover plans which provide paperless loans. Are cancelled checks, which consititute the loan note for many paperless loans, the only loan document received by new trustees?