Why is it that every President since Bush wants to get rid of 401ks?

First it was Bush with his LSA, RSA, and ERSA Plan. Then Obama and his Retirement Annuities.

Now its Trump who wants tax S Corporations, REITs, RICs and small business limited liability corporations at a 15% tax. However retirement plan distributions would be taxed at 35%.

Making sure I can wrap my head around early eligibility. If calendar year plan is setup for 83 hours a month in first three months, consecutive months, enter monthly - with 1 year and 1,000 hours (plan year) as subsequent - if someone is hired 5/8/17 and doesn't work 83 hours each month by 8/7/17, then they have to work 1,000 in plan year 2017 to enter 1/1/18. If not, they have plan year 2018 to get 1,000 hours and enter 1/1/19, correct? Or am I missing something? 

Hello,

For retirees living abroad, may their international or government provided health insurance premiums and insurance out of pocket expenses be reimbursed by an USA HRA (former employer lumpsum awarded at retirement for medical expenses)?  I would think no to other government premium insurance cost, but yes to private international medical polices and OOP. ?

Carrie

Co. A acquires in Co. B in 2016.  Co. A's plan grants predecessor service with Co. B for eligibility purposes.  Co. B had a plan that was into Co. A's plan at acquisition. 

John Doe worked for Co. B from 2001 through 2005 and participated in Co. B' s plan.  John Doe is rehired in 2017.  We are trying to determine whether he is immediately eligible.  Co. A's plan document provides that after five consecutive one year breaks in service, rehired participants are immediately eligible if they had any nonforfeitable interest in the Plan to employer money.

Would "Plan" generally include Co. B's plan which at this point has gone away.  My inclination is yes because it was merged into Co. A's plan, but I'm not 100% sure about that. 

Thanks in advance for any guidance. 

client formed their own 401K after deciding to leave ADP MEP, December 1st, 2016.

Effective date of plan 12/1/2016, plan is a SHNE with the 3% non-elective contribution.

Wouldn't the safe harbor contribution be due for only 1 month?

Plan Year and limitation year both calendar year.

To permissibly disaggregate for testing - must the Maximum statutory age and service conditions be used (Age 21 and 1 Year of 1000 hours service) - or can I draw the cut off somewhere short of, but not in excess of, the maximum statutory conditions?  for example ...

can I draw the line and test everyone only under 1 year of service (based on DOH) without regard to 1000 hours?

can I draw the line and test separately everyone who has only under 3 months of service? 

can I draw the line and test separately only everyone under age 19?

or is the only parameter that can be used is to test separately everyone by using the maximum statutory age and service conditions?

A client of mine is a corporation with several family members as stockholders, as well as a family foundation being a stockholder.  Is there any attribution of stock ownership from the foundation to family members who are directors of the foundation?  I know there is attribution with a trust or estate, but I can’t find any information regarding a foundation.  This would be for purposes of determining 5% owners for top heavy, etc.

Thanks.

We have a defined benefit plan with only one employee in the corporation. We would like to terminate the defined benefit plan and roll the assets into an IRA. However, the assets are shares of a corporation in another country. Also real estate in the US. Our intention is to use an IRA custodian like PENSCO that can handle real estate in the portfolio. I know that we have to get the shares of this foreign corporation appraised for purposes of rolling the defined benefit plan into the IRA, but I don't know who it is that I should hire to assess the value of the foreign corporation. Any ideas?

I have a client that has a non-calendar year ERISA Plan (7/1 -6/30) that is a Mega-Wrap Plan (all benefits bundled under one Plan). One of the benefits is the healthcare FSA. It is on a calendar year. I was told that the FSA Plan is not deemed as a policy and cannot be bundled with an ERISA Plan if the Plan Years don't match. I could not find any written provisions to back this up. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Many Thanks!

Outside of normal IRC 415 Limits and ACP Testing, is there any problem with doing a match in excess of 100%?  Thanks for your reply?

Traditional DB formula of [52.5% (AMC) + 12.5% (AMC-CC)] x Part/25, fractional accrual Partic. / Total Partic.

Does this formula satisfy the requirements for a designed based safe harbor?

Our client has a pro-rata Profit Sharing, fiscal Y/E 06/30.  Well after we finished reporting for PYE 06/30/15, the client advised us that 2 of the comps reported on the census were incorrect.  One owner's comp increased by $200,000, and another HCE's comp increased by $100,000.

We had allocated originally allocated 25% to everyone; revising the allocation, this was reduced to 13.52%.  The two people involved of course get a lot more, one owner gets a lot less and all the NHCEs get a lot less a little over half of original amount.  Distribution of participant statements will be a bit touchy.

If the employer wants to avoid reducing NHCE allocations, is there a way he can get around the pro-rata formula for the year?

You do see some strange things in non-ERISA plans. Consider the following, which I think is likely a bad idea from employee relations and/or union contract deals, but I can't see anything technically wrong with it in terms of violating the 403(b) regs. Any other thoughts? Maybe I'm missing something.

This is for EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS ONLY. Deferrals appropriately follow all the "normal" rules. 2-year eligibility (1,000 hours for a YOS) for employer contributions. Plan year is calendar. Fiscal year is 6/30 Y/E. If you don't meet your eligibility in the first two employment years, subsequent eligibility computation periods shift to the FISCAL year BEGINNING  AFTER the end of the two year period. So, in essence, it would be possible to completely ignore nearly an entire year of service depending on hire date - for example, if hired on July 15th, and you don't meet eligibility in the first two years, then the next eligibility period doesn't begin until 7/1 of the following year. Is that strange, or what? Anyone ever seen anything similar?

P.S. - I'm dubious that many of the new Pre-approved documents, when available,  would permit this anyway...

It has been my understanding that the new fiduciary rule issued by the DOL applies only to ERISA plans and IRAs (if and when it actually goes into effect).  As such, governmental plans and church plans would generally be exempt.  However, I recently came across the assertion (here) that money rolled over from an ERISA plan into a governmental plan would continue to be subject to the new fiduciary rules.  Has anyone else seen this interpretation of the new rules?  I can't find anything else to support the author's position.

(By the way, I do understand that advice regarding whether to roll funds between a governmental plan and an ERISA plan or IRA would be advice subject to these rules.  The article raises a separate issue by suggesting that the rolled funds would be subject to the new rules while in the hands of the governmental plan.)

Any thoughts on whether the following constitutes an ASG?

Dentist sells the assets of his practice to Buyer, AcquireCo.  

• Dentist's Co, OldCo, will be hired by AcquireCo to provide consulting services.  
• OldCo will pay Dentist a salary.
• Dentist is not an employee of AcquireCo
• Dentist performs no management services for AcquireCo
• Dentist has no ownership interest in AcquireCo
• All of OldCo's revenue comes from their consulting agreement with AcquireCo

I don't see how this is an ASG, but tell me if I'm wrong.  The only other issue I see is that Dentist could be considered a common law employee of AcquireCo.

Large employer dropping spouse coverage since not mandated under ACA.

Does not appear to be a COBRA qualifying event for the spouses losing coverage but doesn't smell right, anybody have a different view?

Seeking advice....my father retired two years ago and start receiving his pension from a labor union, which is 100 percent funded by employers. I am the only child, he is single, and I was left with a large burial bill, property taxes, and other estate bills. I discovered he changed his beneficiary on his pension to a friend, who will start collecting his monthly pension. Is there anything I can do at this point to receive his pension? Override the beneficiary or Obtain a DRO to assist with the expenses? 

Is anyone aware whether, for purposes of the special catch-up contributions, a non-governmental 457(b) plan can define "normal retirement age" at less than age 65 where the sponsor has only a 401(k) plan (with a normal retirement age below 65), and not a DB plan or money purchase plan?