Nassau

Are plans allowed to rollover tax-sheltered annuities

My client is asking if a participant from the UK can rollover their Pension plan from the UK to a 403(b) Plan in the U.S. The question is two fold, will his UK plan allow and will a US 403(b) allow?

ABC Company has been moving forfeiture assets from the participant account at the point of termination, not waiting until the end of the year, per the plan document. This has gone on for 7 years or so. What concerns should they have? Is this correctable? How often have you seen plan designs like this? What are their options? The Plan Document states In the event a Participant incurs a Termination of Employment, any portion of the Participant's Employer Contribution Account to which he is not then entitled pursuant to plan dopcument hereof shall be forfeited (a "Forfeiture"). A Forfeiture shall be deemed to take place at the following time: (a) If the Participant has no vested interest in his Employer contribution Account, the Forfeiture shall take place at the en of the Plan Year in which his Termination of Employment occurs. In such case, the Participant shall be deemed to have a distribution of his zero Account Value at the time of his Termination of Employment. (b) If the Participant has any vested interest in his Employer Contribution Account, the Forfeiture shall take place at the end of the Plan Year in which occurs the earlier of (i) completion of distribution of the Participant's benefits or (ii) incurrence by the Participant of his fifth (5th) consecutive one year Break in Service.

ABC Company has a 401a and a 403b. They would like to map participants who have previously been defaulted into a money market fund into the age appropriate Target fund. Plan has 3 providers. Would they need to do this for all employees? The plan has not chosen the TRFs as the QDIA. They only have it set up as the default. Would they be required to have all 3 provider lifecycle funds as QDIAs in order to get ther 404c protection when mapping the assets?

XYZ Company has a 401a and a 403b. They would like to map participants who have previously been defaulted into a money market fund into the age appropriate Target fund. Plan has 3 providers. Would they need to do this for all employees? The plan has not chosen the TRFs as the QDIA. They only have it set up as the default. Would they be required to have all 3 provider lifecycle funds as QDIAs in order to get ther 404c protection when mapping the assets?

If an employee changes classification from regular FT to per diem status and is under age 59 1/2, does this initiate a qualified distribution whereby the participant would be eligible to distribute money from the vested portion of an employer contribution source?

ABC Corporation realized that a plan participant had requested a 10% payroll deferral in 2005. At the time, the ABC Corporation was owned by DFG. ABC Corporation was sold off in April of 2007. ABC Corporation would like to know if DFG would have any liability regarding the missed payroll deferrals between 2005 and March 2008 when the deferral percentage was updated. The error occured while owned by DFG. Would ABC Corporation need to fund the missed deferrals and earnings or would DFG hold some responsibility?

A participant enrolled in the plan at 4% in May of 2007. The participant had one payroll deduction taken in that month, but due to a Recordkeeping error, those deductions stopped. Supposedly, the participant just realized that deductions were not being taken and called on 3/27/08 to restart her deductions at 4%. In situations where corrections are required, I understand that corrective contributions are made to the participant account in the form of a QNEC in the amount equal to 50% of the missed deferrals, plus earnings. I also understand that the client would have to put in all attributable match for that time period plus earnings (which would also be funded by the Recordkeeper). My first question is: Is this participant entitled to a QNEC at this point due to the amount of time that has lapsed? Is there a "statute of limitations" on this type of situation, or are we responsible to make corrective contributions for any time period? My second question is: If a correction is required, up to what date to we owe QNEC's? Up to the most recent time period, or only until 12/31/2007. The participant called in on 3/27 to change deferrals back - does that technically fall within the "9-month rule" where she still has enough time in 2008 to make up missed contributions from the first three months?

The Final 403(b) Regulations provide that employer contributions and employee after-tax contributions must satisfy the nondiscrimination requirements in the same manner as a qualified plan. The IRS Notice 89-23 good faith resaonable standard regarding nondiscrimination requirements no longer applies. ADP testing requirements do not apply to elective deferrals because they are subject to universal availability requirements.

I want to confirm that non-ERISA governmental plans are exempt from the 403B Regs. (i.e., employee-contributions only) My understanding is that these plan will not be affected by the Regs. So...no need for a written plan document, its still okay for partics to continue to self-certify hardships, there will be no reporting requirements, etc.)

Are Non-ERISA 403(b) Plans subject to the IRS requirements for loans?

How will the proposed DOL initiatives on fee disclosures effect 403(b)(7) plans? (E.g. will there be additional reporting requirements on the 5500 - Schedule C to include fee disclosures/amounts?)

This involves missed automatic enrollments. Assume we are going to make a corrective contribution based on 50% of what they would have been automatically enrolled at and that earnings will be based on the default investment. Through EPCRS how do you calculate the earnings when you base it on a midpoint?

This involves missed automatic enrollments. Assume we are going to make a corrective contribution based on 50% of what they would have been automatically enrolled at and that earnings will be based on the default investment. Do you know how to do the earnings when you base it on a midpoint? (in EPCRS)

If a client is considering the new automated enrollment PPA Safe Harbor (enroll at 3%, increase up to 6% cap) to eliminate nondiscrimination testing requirements. Their current match is 100% up to 7.5% of compensation (eligible for match after one year, 100% vested, same distribution reqs. as pretax, etc.). Do they have to change the current match formula in order to meet the new PPA Safe Harbor?

Should after-tax matched contributions be segregated from employee after-tax contributions and what are the withdrawal/distribution restrictions associated with the after-tax matched contributions.

If a 403(b) non-ERISA Plan has a division where two priests receive 1099's instead of W-2s. Can the priests contribute to the 403(b) non-ERISA Plan?

An employee is going to have taxable income amounts returned to him that he had with-held pretax due to the employer not meeting the non-discrimination testing for their flexible spending account. The participant is electing to have that amount with-held from his pay and added to his 403b plan so that the net tax impact will be zero. The participant is aware of the maximum contribution issues for his 403b and will not exceed that amount. Are there any problems?

Can a 403(b) Plan merge into a 401(k) Plan and what are the ramifications of such a merger?

Are 403(b) plan investments subject to risk of creditors claiming the assets - unlike 401(k) plans.

I have termination / rollover to a Company (like Fidelity) IRA paperwork from a participant who is in both the ( Non-Erisa) and (Erisa) plans. The participant has recently re-married and has a pre-nuptial agreement stating that all retirement accounts are to be kept separately from the spouse. Therefore, the participant did not have the spousal consent section of the termination form completed but had forwarded a copy of her prenuptial agreement. Would a prenuptial agreement override the spousal consent for a distribution?