Company A has a 401k plan and ESOP.

Currently run by owner A. He has a Son B and a manager C.

Owner A wanted to institute an employee retention program to ensure Son B and Manager C stay with the company. The were each given 10% of stock in 2013. However the stock is vested out over 5 years.

The owner wanted to know what counts for HCE determination. Do we caount the stock in their name or only the part that is released to them (pro rated share). That would make a difference at least in Manager C rather he be a 10% owner (and a HCE) or a 2% owner (and potentially not a HCE as his comp is only $139k and is not an officer)

Employee's wife and children travel back to the home country each year for 2 months. During their absence, the employee wishes to delete them from all health plans and then add them back on when they return.

Would you consider an extended vacation out of the country by family members, and then the return, to be qualifying events that would allow cafeteria plan election changes?

Thanks!

Is the distribution code used when dealing with 59 1/2 the age when the distribution occurred or is it 59 1/2 during the tax year?

I have a plan that terminated as of 6/30/2013. I'm filing the final 5500 now, but since the FIRE site is down till February, can I file for an extension for the final 8955?

I am doing some research and would greatly appreciate some guidance…

Summary

Two IRA owners want their management company to be owned by their IRAs.

This is a construction management company, and the construction loan requires a personal guarantee.

Generally, an IRA owner cannot guarantee his IRA’s debt. Since

This loan will eventually rollover into a nonrecourse loan.

Question: Is there any exception or provision that would allow the investment, without resulting in a prohibited transaction.

I am doing some research and would appreciate some guidance.

Summary

Two IRA owners want their management company to be owned by their IRAs.

This is a construction management company, and the construction loan requires a personal guarantee.

This loan will eventually rollover into a nonrecourse loan.

Generally, an IRA owner cannot guarantee his IRA’s debt.

Question: Is there any exception or provision that would allow the investment, without resulting in a prohibited transaction.

Prior to PPA, you used to calculate a lump sum using the same method as actuarial equivalence, 1.417(e)-1(d)(1). So if actuarial equivalence had no pre-retirement mortality, you would use interest only for lump sum determination as well. But did PPA change this to always use pre-retirement mortality? Reading through PPA, it seems to not fully address this. What is being done in practice?

This is a doosey of a question...

Our church had a 403b annuity account set up many years ago. Two pastors were part of the plan. We hired a new pastor and no matter how many times we filled out the paperwork (long crazy story) he never successfully got added to the plan. Eight years went by and we finally decieded that we needed a new vendor.

We have set up a new account with Vanguard and all three pastors are in the plan and we have made our first contribution this January!

Problem solved, partially....

We would like to restore the employer contribuiotn for all eight years to the pastor that should have been in the plan. We are working on the final amount but it is approximatly $5,000.00 How do we pay him back properly? Our plan allows for a fixed employer contribution of $50/month for qualified employees. It also allows for employee contributions through a salary reduction agreement.

Can we simply pay him back as we have funds making extra contributions to his account since the employer contribution was allowed for and should have been paid to him in those previous years? Should we give him a temporary raise and have him add that to his contribution on his salary reduction agreement until the total almount is paid back? Do we need to modify our plan to allow for some kind of special discressionary contributions?

I would love to get some advice on this. Thanks.

We are an organization that offers health insurance to all of our employees, paying all or almost all of the employee only premium options and not contributing very much additional premium for family, children and spousal levels. We also provide $140 a month in HSA employer contribution to the employees who elect our HDP (HSA eligible plan). Essentially, we pass the cost savings of the lower premiums on to our employees through this contribution. The HSA plan is part of our Section 125 plan.

We have one employee who can be much better off financially to obtain a HDP for his wife and himself on his own, directly from an insurance carrier (even considering his premiums will now be post tax). Our HSA administrator will not allow him to participate in our Section 125 HSA payroll deductions and therefore will not allow him to receive the $140 a month in employer HSA contributions. They claim this is because they have no way of confirming his actual eligibility regarding participation in an HSA account.

Our question is whether or not we can make a $140 contribution directly to his HSA account and what the ramifications of that would be. We know that Employer Contributions without a Section 125 Plan are allowable (assuming comparability rules are met, etc.). Having said that, we wonder if, by having a HSA as part of a Section 125 Plan, we are precluded from also have HSA Contributions that do not relate to the Section 125 Plan.

We would make this opportunity available to all employees (all who participate in a different HDP plan would be able to receive the contribution) and in the same monthly amount as those inside the Section 125 Plan (both sides would receive the $140).

It seems silly to force the employee to pick an employee plan with us and an individual spouse plan with the insurance company just so that he can get our $140 a month, something that will happen in this case and cost our company a lot more money.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Business owner/HCE is regretting his decision to stop the safe harbor match, realizing how much his deferrals will be limited. He has a calendar year plan and wants to reinstate safe harbor mid-year in 2014, but since it is not a new plan, I don't believe that is allowed. Please correct me if I am wrong here.

Are there any other creative solutions that can be implemented for 2014 that would allow him to maximize his salary deferrals?

Having a hard time finding guidance on if an employer who successfully terminated their plan (Nov. 2013) can now establish a SIMPLE 401k for the owners only now (doctors) and then start a new 401k for all employees once the 12-month waiting period is up. Does the 12 month rule apply to SIMPLE 401ks as well?? Where does it say you can or can't?

Thanks!

Coal Company A is a wholly owned subsidiary of Big Electric Company B. For years, Big Electric company B has excluded A from it's retirement plan and company A maintains its own Plan. In 2013, B hired some of the A employees. 1) Do A employees have a distributable event? and 2) would former A employees share in PS which has a last day provision. I'm thinking no and no, but am not completely sure.

401(k) Profit Sharing plan has Money Purchase related rollover dollars in it....

It no longer requires J & S annuity - but the MP rollover piece still retains that requirement from the transferring plan (i.e. the MP) - so you'd require spousal consent... Also, if the 401(k) PS permits in-service at 59 1/2 is the MP rollover piece precluded until either age 62 or the NRA in the plan...

I'm looking up the rules, but not putting my finger on it! Thanks

The following excerpt from the RR indicates further guidance will be forthcoming. As far as I know, there hasn't been additional official guidance, and I just wondered if I had missed anything? Although I find it almost inconceivable that the IRS would require retroactive effect for things like contributions, benefits, nondicrimination testing, controlled group attribution, Key/HC employee status, etc., etc., I'd feel a lot better if I saw it in writing...

The Service intends to issue further guidance on the retroactive application of the Supreme Court’s opinion in Windsor to other employee benefits and employee benefit plans and arrangements. Such guidance will take into account the potential consequences of retroactive application to all taxpayers involved, including the plan sponsor, the plan or arrangement, employers, affected employees and beneficiaries. The Service anticipates that the future guidance will provide sufficient time for plan amendments and any necessary corrections so that the plan and benefits will retain favorable tax treatment for which they otherwise qualify.

An IRS information data request regarding a 401(k) plan asks whether there have been any significant adjustments to compensation or any unreasonable compensation issues with respect to any plan participants. What is the request getting at, and what constitutes a "significant compensation adjustment"?

Calendar year plan terminates 4/30/2014 and had a funding shortfall as of 1/1/2013. Assume assets are not distributed until 2015. MRC for 2013 was $100,000. MRC for 2014 is $50,000.

What are the quarterly installment dates for 2014 and what are the required quarterly amounts?

(Main question: Is this considered a "short plan year" for 430 purposes, and does that mean that $22,500 is due 4/15/14 and 5/15/14?). If not, do the same 4/15, 7/15, 10/15 and 1/15 dates and rules still apply with the quarterly amounts being $11,250?

A church wants its employees to set up personal IRAs and the church, not the employee, will contribute annually to the IRAs. Are employer contibutions to IRAs permitted? Wouldn't the contributions be income to the employee subject to withholding, etc? Thanks.

We were recently hired to replace client's TPA. The client was audited by DOL in 2012 and found to have late deferrals for 2010, 2011 and 2012 which totaled about $80,000. Interest was calculated and deposited to plan in 2013 with DOL approval. Interest due was around $850. DOL gave client letter that case was closed and they would take no further action.

When TPA prepared 2012 5500, they showed the late deferrals on Schedule H. No late deferrals were shown on 2010 or 2011 Forms 5500. The former TPA also filed an extension for the 2012 Form 5330. So, it is now due on 1/31/14. Client has asked us to prepare the Form 5330.

Questions:

Should we just prepare a 2012 Form 5330? Since the interest didn't get paid until 2013, I think that a 2013 Form 5330 is due as well, since the error isn't considered to be fully corrected until 2013.

What about 2010 and 2011? Client doesn't really want to go back and file 5330 for those years and I guess the IRS won't be looking for it, since the 5500s for those years don't show any late deferrals.

Can I exclude Non-Shareholder Physicians who regularly work less than 40 hours per week? It's not an exclusion based on primarily on service so I wasn't sure if this might be an out.

I'm a TPA working with a governmental plan that's been restated on a new individually designed document. Their lawyer is saying the per Rev Proc. 2007-44 they are required to file for a determination letter. I'm not sure if this is greed or ignorance.

Surely no one is required to file for a determination letter are they? Especially governmental plans.

Thanks in advance for clarification.