If one party refuses to sign a Domestic Relations Order, should you put "Declined to Sign" on the dotted line where the party would be required to sign. Also, I know Clerks of a Court can issue Subpoenas. Can a Clerk of Court also sign off on a Domestic Relations Order pursuant to a Judgement of Absolute Divorce or does a Judge have to sign off. This is in relations to an Order in Maryland.

What is the IRS Code that states QDRO's can be used for Alimony, Child Support or Marital Property in general?

I have a plan that is a 3% safe harbor and a cross tested profit sharing (each person is in their own group).  There is a last day and 1000 hours requirement for the profit-sharing allocation.  This is a 12/31/2023 plan year end.  Can I do an amendment in 2024 to take out the last day and 1,000 hours requirement for the 12/31/2023 plan year by the end of 12/31/2024?

Hi everyone,

I am an insurance broker looking for software to manage FSA Plans. I am currently reviewing WEX and Alegeus, and I would like to hear thoughts from anyone with experience using this software, including their pros and cons. Alternatively, I am open to recommendations for other software to use. Any help would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks in advance.

So, it is my understanding that the IRS, when calculating the "turnover" rate, considers all employees ELIGIBLE to defer as participants for purposes of calculating the participant numbers. The fact that the DOL has altered the definition of "participant" for purposes of 5500 counting does not affect this IRS stance. 

Anyone disagree, or have other thoughts? Thanks.

Hello. I'm not sure about the rules on here or if I have to say more. The question is in the title. Please point me toward sources/citations that can help me answer the question (if possible). Other thoughts are also welcome. Thanks.

I'm hearing about more and more vendors that claim to be able to save self-funded employers on their rx spend by sourcing FDA-approved name-brand medications from countries such as Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. The vendors contract with employers to offer this program to employees, then the vendor works directly with employees to obtain their prescriptions from pharmacies outside the US under FDA personal importation guidelines. These vendors tell employees they can get their drugs for a $0 copay and generally charge the employer a percentage of the savings when the drug is sourced. I'm wondering what the legality is for the both employers offering these programs and employees participating in these programs. What compliance issues should employers consider before implementing these programs?

Thanks for any insight!

I had a financial advisor ask me about this today.  It's been awhile since I've had any contact with this topic.  My recollection is that regular IRAs are exempt from bankruptcy up to $1,000,000 and rollover IRAs (from qualified plans) are unlimited.  But is there a difference between federal and state bankruptcy.  I think bankruptcy laws are a state thing not federal.

The ob/gyn client with $5 mil just retired and wants to keep the K plan open indefinitely. I told him only for a year at most.  I told the FA to have the client contact an ERISA attorney.

Still - any comments  are appreciated.

Profit Sharing Plan is terminating. Does the 10% penalty apply to any Participant under the age of 55?

Thank you for your help.

My ex and I never signed our QDRO. He recently passed away and I went to claim my portion of the pension. That's when I found out. Is it an issue getting it signed off by the judge now? Is there case law that supports a judge signing it? BTW it is discussed in detail in my divorce decree if that helps. TY

I was reviewing the Department of Labor Handbook and I see that a QDRO can contain more than one retirement plan. Would you recommend including two retirement plans into one QDRO -- Pension and 401k if it is the same employer?

XYZ CPA is a small CPA firm that employed Bob, Sue and Dick.  Bob and Sue are husband and wife, Dick is just the other partner.  No rank and file employees.  Dick decided to retire so XYZ is changing to Bob & Sue CPAs LLC.  B & S CPAs has its own EIN.  

Questions:

- I'm pretty sure that I don't need to terminate the old plan... I can just amend it to change the plan sponsor... correct?
- On the 5500-EZ, would I make the necessary changes and file?  (put in the new sponsor and EIN?)

Thanks

Can you draft a QDRO for Alimony payments?

If there are two retirement plans to be divided, should you submit both Domestic Relation Orders to the Court at the same if the other spouse refuses to sign.

Hello,

I have a client interested in acquiring or merging with a small to mid-size 401(k) TPA firm. Their services include, but are not limited to, plan designing, plan valuation, preparing renewal packages, census scrubbing, contribution calculation (including profit sharing), and compliance testing (Coverage, ADP/ACP, 416 top-heavy tests, 401(a)(4), and top-heavy). They are open to opportunities in any location.

If you know of any firms available for acquisition or merger, please send me a direct message.

Best regards,

John

This 401k plan uses for a PS allocation individual groups - one group per participant.

The plan has 3 HCEs and 1 NHCE.  The desired allocation is for the owner to hit his 415 max (he makes $330,000).  But, he wants to give a lot to the others.

It just so happens that the owners PS contribution rate is 9.03%.  The other 2 HCEs and the NHCE is 28.83%.

The plan passes the non-discriminatory classification test and the average benefits test, but only on a contribution basis, not on an equivalent benefit basis.  401(a)(4) rate group passes as well.

Because of the plan's allocation method in the document, do we have to pass the average benefits test using the equivalent benefit basis, or can we rely on the contribution rate passing, even though this is a cross-tested plan?

Thank you 

Employer contribution for 2022 of about $9,000 was paid in Sept 2023 in time for tax deduction purposes.  The plan is a dreaded separate brokerage account for each person, granted a small plan.  Despite us providing the participant allocation of the money to the broker (more than once - the brokerage firm had personnel changes) they did not implement the allocation so the funds sat in an unallocated account until just now.  The broker is asking about makeup earnings. While that seems to be the right thing to do, I'm not certain it is required. It is likely a fiduciary issue. It's just another thing to do, explain to the client, he will ask who should pay (I'm guessing it could be $1,000), and it won't be us but we'll have to go round and round and take a lot of time and we will want to bill for the time.  I'd like to ignore it. 

Thoughts?

Plan sponsor has had  401(k) plan in which a participant is 100% in profit sharing.  He wants to adopt a DB plan for 2023 and the employee terminated in 2024. Can years of service be prior to DB adoption be excluded for DB vesting?  The plan document says service for vesting must be recognized for a "predecessor" plan.  Does predecessor include K plan or only a prior DB plan?

Thank you

Hi

As I never came across one (nor dealt with 412e3 plans for over 10 years), how does one calculate RMD’s?

Thanks

I'm curious about others' experience with the deferred loss of coverage rules under COBRA and how most people measure the coverage period.

For a simple example, an employee terminates employment on May 2, 2024. By the terms of the fully insured policy, coverages ends on May 31, 2024. In my experience, most plan sponsors would continue "active" coverage through May 31, then send a COBRA notice stating that they are eligible for COBRA starting on June 1, 2024 (and ending 18 months from June 1 and not from May 2).

As I read the regulations, the COBRA rules default to an 18-month period based on the date of the qualifying event (here, termination) even if the loss of coverage occurs on a later date. However, the regulations allow plans to measure the 18-month COBRA period based on the date of the loss of coverage following the qualifying event.

A quick skim of most available wrap plan documents and policies either don't squarely address the issue or simply state that participants are eligible for COBRA based on a qualifying event without additional clarity (maybe by design).

In practice, though, I have found that starting a full 18-month COBRA period on the day after the loss of coverage (June 1, in the example above) is far more prevalent, whether intentionally following the regulation or just out of routine. 

Am I wrong?