Doctor w/own practice (no control group or ASG issue) uses PEO for all employees.

Doctor has own solo 401(k) Plan.

Doctor has not adopted the multiple employer plan for the employees from the PEO working for him so it appears they are not covered under any plan.

I'm thinking the ee's must be covered under Dr.'s plan, but not sure?

Is there a limit (with the exception of the 50,000 and or 1/2 the vested value)   that  should be followed regarding  the number of times a participant can refinance a loan?

For a 401k plan that begins  10/1/2017 and ends 9/30/2018 - are they limited to $54,000 or $55,000 in contributions (exclusive of the catch-up)?  Compensation - 270,000 or 275000?  I always get confused on this. 

Thanks 

Does anyone have any thoughts on the meaning of "offset arrangement" on the Form 5300?  We've got a defined benefit plan that offsets benefits by the benefits under another defined benefit plan.  (There are complicated reasons for this structure.)  I'm seeing lots of discussion that a "floor offset" plan involves only a DB plan that is offset by a DC plan, not by another DB plan.  But I can't find a specific definition of "offset arrangement," without the "floor" part.

We have a participant who terminated employment with an outstanding loan.  He is requesting a partial direct rollover of his account balance excluding the loan; wants to take the balance of his account as a taxable distribution.

Obviously he will receive a 1099R, code L for the loan offset with $0 withholding.

Somewhere I recall that the 20% withholding would be calculated on the total account balance excluding the loan - the total being the amount rolled over plus the amount not rolled over.

Does that sound right??

I've only seen two uniform points plans in my life. We've just been given a situation where such a plan failed nondiscrimination testing, cause the formula (which has apparently always worked well in the past) heavily weights contributions based on years of service. One of the owners retired unexpectedly one month into the year, and the plan waives the normal 1000/last day requirement for retirement on or after NRA. Since his comp was so low, (only one month comp) former owner gets something like 60+ % of pay, so the average for the HCE's is too high to pass testing. Although I don't have hard data, it appears that restructuring won't work, or at least not at a contribution level that is possible/palatable. (Query - does the prohibition against uniform points n one of the restructured plans apply if the plan is uniform points to start with, or does it apply only if you are attempting to restructure to a uniform points plan where it isn't ALREADY a uniform points plan?)

Ok, so you go to rate group testing, which also fails. An 11(g) amendment could be done, but here's my question: when you do such an amendment for this type of plan, I assume that any corrective amount/increase to the necessary number of NHCE's must still be allocated (or calculated) on the uniform points allocation formula in the plan? Or to ask it another way, can you simply assign random amounts to random participants like you can in an "everyone in their own group" profit sharing plan, or must you somehow amend the plan to increase the formula for a select group of NHCE's, so that they get (x) points for each unit of compensation, rather than "y" units that they get under the current formula? I suppose it ultimately has the same effect, as the formula would be adjusted for those selected individuals to achieve a passing percentage, so it is ultimately the same thing.

Ugh - if now going to the rate group test, is it going to have to pass gateway? Or is the fact that the basic formula is a uniform points allocation which isn't subject to gateway a saving provision?

Or, is there a better way to do all this?

I know the 11(g) amendments are pretty flexible, but I've never run into this particular situation.

Thanks!

Employers can match employees' contributions to their FSA's, up to the limit for that year.

Can employers place their own limits based on plan type? In other words, can an employer match up to $2,600 for a family plan, up to $1,500 for a 2-person plan, & up to $500 for a single plan?

Along the same lines, can the employer match be different if an employee selects a Cadillac vs. a HDHP plan?

Thank you.

It appears that Roth 403(b) contributions in included in the W2 Box 1 calculation of wages and also noted with code BB in box 12.  Can the employee Roth 403(b) contribution be used to satisfy the earned income test associated with making contributions to a outside traditional or Roth IRA. 

Said another way... Assuming no other earned income, if MFJ, can a $13K after tax employee contribution to a Roth 403(b) be used to meet the earned income test to allow additional 2x6.5k contributions to a couple's Roth IRAs? 

We have a business that is 100% owned by one person.  We have set up a restricted stock plan under which participants vest in their stock as the owner sells his ownership.  So, for example, if the owner sells 10%, a participant would vest in 10% of what he is granted.  If the owner later sells another 16%, a participant would vest in another 16% of what he is granted.  I don't think this is a problem because restricted stock is exempt from 409A, so we don't have to follow the payment trigger rules of 409A.

A participant generally has to be employed on the vesting date, but if he terminates employment not for cause or due to death or disability, he can vest if the owner sells any stock during the 12 months following termination.

We have an employee whose last day of work occurred mid-September.  He was participating in both our group health plan and our HRA. He remains covered by the health plan through the end of the month. The question is if he is also covered by our HRA during that time?

In our plan adoption agmt, we have one clause that states that "an Employee is eligible to participate in the Plan under the same terms and conditions as under the Company benefit plan" - and our group health plan is then specified as the "Company benefit plan". However, later in the agmt, we have another clause that specifies "Permit Eligible Employees to participate in the Plan after Termination" and the "No" box is checked.

So our TPA is saying that the ex-employee's access to his HRA ends on his last day of work (or technically, the next day). But that seems to conflict with the first clause and in addition, it seems, shall we say, asymmetrical to allow an ex-employee to continue to accrue expenses under the health plan, while denying him access to the HRA at the same time. 

I am not sure which clause should take precedence or whether it is up to us, as the plan administrators, to override our TPA's interpretation if we so wish. Or should we just check with an ERISA lawyer...

Thanks in advance!

Client missed minimum funding deadline of September 15, but said date falls on a weekend. Client got the funding in by the following Monday, is this an issue or is the deadline pushed back since Sep. 15th falls on a Saturday this year? I cant seem to find any persuasive information on the matter and prior discussions on benefits link regarding the issue offer differing opinions. Thanks for your help.  

The company filed a Form 5300 for a determination letter a few years ago and qualified for the user fee exemption.  Now they are terminating the plan and filing a Form 5310.  Does the user fee exemption still apply?  There have been no changes, e.g., the company is still the same size.

Employer has a HDHP and provides a self insured HRA administered by a TPA.

Employer has a business associate contract with TPA.

If employer required to send out a HIPAA Notice of Privacy Practices to HRA participants even though employer does not receive PHI related to HRA?

A non-key employee is still employed at her company that has a 401k plan.  She turned 70-1/2 in 2017 and would have been due her initial RMD 4/1/18.  But, since she is still employed, chose not to take that.

Given her age, the plan allows for her to take all of her money out of the plan as an ISW.

Although still employed, she wants to roll all of her money out of the 401k plan and into an IRA before the end of 2018.  She would like to avoid taking an initial RMD from these assets until 2019.  

If she were to transfer the plan assets to an IRA before the end of 2018, would she then be required to take a 2018 RMD from the IRA or could that be delayed until 2019?

Thank you

I have a situation where Husband owns 100% of one business and Wife owns 100% of an unrelated business.  They are considering setting up a defined benefits plan for their businesses.

Operation of both businesses is kept completely separate and neither has any involvement in the others business.  Further, neither is an employee or officer of the others business.

They reside in Texas, a community property state.  However, they have a post-nuptial agreement which provides that neither has ownership in the others business and that income from the businesses are also separate property so there appears to be no direct ownership issues.

So long as the property is characterized as separate property, would the exception for aggregation under the control group rules for an independent spousal business apply? 

New 401(k) plan 2015 with pre-tax and Roth deferrals, enhanced SH match and integrated PS - 8 participants including one HCE.

TPA used incorrect formula to calculate SH match - basic tiered match instead of 4% enhanced match.  Match was contributed timely but at least three participants received less than they should have received, totaling several hundred dollars for 2017 plan year.  Plan document and SH notice all say enhanced 4% match.  No discretionary PS contributions made.

2017 can be corrected using EPCRS.  We haven't seen the numbers yet for prior years but it's possible the same error has been made from the beginning. 

What options are available if SH match was under-contributed for 2015 and 2016?

we have a client who has life insurance within the 401(k) plan.  The owner, will be required to take an RMD this year. 

when calculating his RMD, do we include the value of the life insurance, or not? 

Does anyone know if the hurricane extension applies to a TPA firm that is preparing the 5500 if they are in the declared disaster area?  I can't find info on this.  Thanks!

Situation:  the payroll company was calculating elective withholding including unpaid time off which in turn has caused people’s deferral rates to be off.  

For example, if a participant worked 32 hours for the week, and then had 8 hours of unpaid vacation. the payroll company was taking 40 hours X $10 an hour X 5% to equal $20 of withholding.   However, the participant was only paid $320 and correct withholding would have been $16. 

$20 of $320 of comp is actually 6.25% withheld, not 5%.  So the withholding election was technically not followed based on what the person was actually paid.

This has been happening since 2014. Since its unpaid vacation it's not huge $ wise but what correction is to be made.

A prospective client has just approached us to handle their 403b plan.  As it turns out, they are running two plans: a non-ERISA plan that is a deferral only plan and an ERISA plan that holds only the employer contributions.  We have never seen a set-up like this.  Has anyone ever encountered this before?

Does it matter if the Employer contribution is a non-elective versus a matching contribution? 

If anyone can provide guidance, I would appreciate it.