BG5150

Not only must they be consistent with plan provisions, but they should be consistent from employee to employee... Did this person accrue a year of service (1000 hrs in many plans) in 2007? If so, you could make the argument to increase to 2%; if not, I (read: BG5150) would probably keep it at 1%.

I don't think you can stop a SH Non-elective early, before the termination. A SH Match you can, as long as you are paying the match thru the discontinuation date.

Does the document address how to correct 401(b) failures? [just out of curiousity, was the number of terminations unusual due to the economy, or is the turnover rate similar to other years? If it's similar, how did past years fare with the coverage test?]

As a tongue-in-cheek response: I don't perform any services on my lunch hour, but I get paid for it. Those hours are counted towards servcice, though.

Thanks for those. But is there a chart that show what percentages must/may be withheld? The one chart above just shows some newer rules, and the other just shows which states have mandatory or voluntary w/h. Your help is appreciated!

How many situations, though, do we see where an NHCE who is putting in catch-up contributions isn't already over the 5% of comp when the catchup hits?

TAG = Technical Answer Group, and is part of CCH/Walters Kluwer. There is a fee, but I'm not sure what it is. They have a database of Q&A's and you can submit to them your questions and you'll get an answer in a day. I have found that they are pretty good.

Beat me to it by about 17 hours.

From our buddy Sal: [from ERISA Outline Book, 2008 Edition, TRI Pension Services, 2008] Seems like you can have it either way.

What are the ramifications if plan fiducuiares are not covered by an ERISA fidelity bond? We have clients who have been putting zero on the Schedue I for years. What could happen if they ever get audited, what are the penalties?

Does anyone have a good, updated state tax withholding chart? I think mine is from, like, 1989 or something. Thanks!

And IF it's a 401(k) plan, and IF overtime is included in comp, what do you do about participants' 401(k) deferral elections. Do you withhold them and the rate they were using in the old plan years?

I was thinking about the pay-period calc when I was typing my resonse, but neglected to put it in there.

Using that example: a loan of $1,000 and a $50 payment. Using 5% interest and a bi-weekly pay schedule, the loan would be paid off in 20 payments, which is less than a year. Could you write something like this into the loan program: You can take a loan out for up to 5 years, but it may be forced to be less because the minimum payment of $50 may pay the loan off sooner.

So the deferrals that were re-characterized brought the people below the 6% threshold? At any rate, I think they would stay in. The tests are independent.

I'm guessing, though, the wall is flat. So if the arrow is pointing west, the only other alternatives would be for it to point east, up or down. And not to the north or south--which would require an arrow to point 180 degrees out from the mural. So, maybe west was the lesser of the 4 evils.

Be careful with that. Are you sure that the catch-ups were matched? (Checkt he document--and amendments--to seeif it's even allowable.) You may just have a failed ACP test. What's the match formula?

I don't think you'd have to do a VCP, especially if the entire contribution hasn't been funded yet (I think the SHMAC needs to be funded at least quarterly, and I would think you'd have time to do the 4th quarter). But correcting for a match is an interesting problem. For a PS, you'd just come up with comp that would satisfy 414 and allocate that way. But you can't for a match, since the people didn't (obviously) defer on all of the comp that would satisfy 414. I am interested in the resolution to this as well.

I have a client who limits its HCE's to $8,500 before catch-up. It is not in the document, but an administrative practice. That said, the plan has two HCE's who went over the limit, and are not eligible for catch-up. Can I pull the overages from the ADP test? And how (can?) we correct the participants? I wouldn't think it's an operational defect since the limit is not written into the plan. Your thoughts are appreciated. If I cannot cut these people back, then the ADP test will fail.

Let me ask this, then: Say 2005 is considered top-heavy even after using the accrual method (say a 2% PS was made in 2006 for the '05 year). So, later, the ER puts in an additional 1%. Then a couple years later, the QNEC is made for a failed ADP test and using that, the plan is NOT considered top-heavy. And further assume that the PS is on a 7-year graded schedule in 2005. Do I shift everyone's 2005 vesting back to the 7-year graded schedule? My main question is: how many years out would an "as-of" contribution be considered in Top Heavy calculations?

I am guessing (read: guessing) that as long as the methodology is consistent (cash vs accraual) and the funding is consistent (match gets deposited after plan year every year) that it would be okay. The money is going to be counted eventually.

In the Top Heavy Plan definition, Tripodi says to use only the actual contributions for plans not subject to minimum funding (401(k), PS plans). He does mention that in the ASPPA Q&A the IRS opened the possibility that the accrual method may be acceptable: Though all his examples go on to use the cash-basis for non-pension plans.

This is from The ERISA Outline Book: However, elsewhere in the book it makes this argument: Which of course leads to the usual caveat (emphasis mine):

From what I remember, 2 1/2 months means 2 1/2 months. It never mentions business days. We always tried to get things out by the last business day w/in the 2 1/2 months. Which, in this case, means the 13th.

It allows you to not file Schedule D, do an abbreviated Schedule R (only if Part II needs to be filled out) and also just do an abbreviated Schedule A. That simplifies my reporting for some plans by an hour or so. Some plans have dozens of funds that are pooled separate accounts and need to be reported on Schedule D, and that can take some time to create.