benpat3

Does the tax relief provided in TX-2024-13 for taxpayers in various counties in Texas apply to the PCORI Fee? The relief gives taxpayers until November 1, 2024 to file and make tax payments. The relief includes Excise Tax Returns normally due on April 30, July 31... I don't see the PCORI mentioned specifically and can't find any guidance or opinion on the matter but it seems like the position could be taken that for taxpayers in the specific Texas counties have until Nov 1, 2024 to file and make the 7/31/24 payment. Looking for other thoughts or even specific guidance on this question. IRS announces tax relief for taxpayers impacted by severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes and flooding in Texas | Internal Revenue Service

Has anyone heard anything about plans having to adopt an amendment stating/outlining the requirements of IRC Section 432 and its regulations?

In regards to employer withdrawal liability and ERISA section 4211.

Does anyone know where I can find or have a copy they are willing to share of a sample "fresh start" amendment? Thanks

Would suspension of benefits rules that are more generous than what the law requires be considered an "adjustable benefit" that could be reduced for a critical plan? If not an adjustable benefit, what kind of benefit would the gap between the more generous rule and what is required under the law be called? Cheers

Under 404© what requirements, if any, are there when a plan sponsor changes the investment options available to participants based on the advice of an Investment Consultant?

The Plan does not utilize a debit card or payment card with the HRA. The participants have to submit the receipts to the plan for reimbursement so there is no automatic substantiation. It seems like the only real option for the plan is to request additional substantiation as to why the large amount of over-the-counter medicine is needed. If the participant can not provide more information/substantiation as to the need for so much over-the-counter meds, can the plan deny the reimbursement even though the plan document does not provide specific limits? I have seen comments and provisions in certain articles/HRA Plan Docs stating that the IRS does not permit stockpiling of over-the-counter meds but I can not find anything specific from the IRS to that point. Does anyone know where the IRS has stated that stockpiling is not permitted?

I think that is the issue. At what point are the OTC meds not considered qualifying medical expenses? Does the Plan have a duty to request additional substantiation from the participant? What would be possible consequences to the plan if it were to do nothing?

Is there any responsibility or obligation for an Administrator or a Plan to report or take action when a participant of an HRA plan is buying what appears to be an excessive amount of over-the-counter medicines under the HRA plan? The retailer uses the Inventory Information Approval Substantiation with the SKUs so the expenses are automatically substantiated. The over-the-counter medications are normal cold medications that are qualifying expenses and permitted under the plan. Any thoughts?

Does anyone have a checklist or list of the documents, policies and/or procedures that a Benefit Office (Plan Administrator) should have in its possession? If you were organizing a benefit office, what documents should the Plan Administrator make sure they have in the office? Thanks

If a participant applies for early retirement prior to the plan being certified as critical but the benefit payments would not start until after certification (notice of critical status), can the benefit be cut? No cutback can be made when the participant/beneficiary is already receiving the benefits, but what if the benefit has no yet started payment? Thanks

The instructions for Form 5330 state that "A Form 5330 must be filed by: 9. Any disqualified person who is liable for the tax under section 4975 for participating in a prohibited transaction." No other subpoint (i.e. section referenced) seems to match this situation. The instructions further state that a Form 5330 is filed to report the tax on a prohibited transaction (section 4975). The tax applicable to this situation is under section 4975. I do not see anything else that states the plan sponsor is responsible for filing the Form 5330 and paying the excise tax under section 4975. Can you point me to what says the plan sponsor is responsible? In terms of recourse, assuming the disqualified person is responsible for filing and paying but they do not do so, will the IRS/DOL come after the plan or plan sponsors? Thanks

If a prohibited transaction is discovered and it is determined that a Form 5330 must be filed, if the disqualified person fails to file a Form 5330 or fails to pay the applicable excise tax, is there any recourse against the Plan? The Plan had no knowledge or part in the prohibited transaction until the disqualified person identified to the Plan.

If a pension plan is charged an erroneous investment fee due to a billing error but the fee amount was caught and subsequently returned, is that a prohibited transaction under Section 4975©(1)(D)? Does the plan have to file a Form 5330 and the investment company responsible to pay the excise tax if applicable?

Yeah, sorry, the landscaping example was a poor choice. I was trying to give a situation that required a bill to be paid but that the bill was not a benefit or directly related to a benefit in order to see if that changed one's opinion. I guess what may be a better example would be a benefit office's water bill or electric bill; I know these kinds of expenses would hardly ever be unclaimed but that kind of expense. An expense that is an indirect expense of providing benefits but that is paid with plan assets. Would that change your response?

I know I already posted this in another section, just not sure where to put it, so thought I would ask in this part. Does ERISA preempt state unclaimed property laws regarding benefit plan expenses, such as professional fees and other miscellaneous bills, that are not benefits to participants, etc? These are non-benefit related checks. We know ERISA preempts state unclaimed property laws regarding benefit payments. For example, if a benefit office pays the bills for the various plans and send checks to a lawyer or banker for services and those checks are never cashed, should the benefit office turn the money over to the state under the states unclaimed property laws. Does the answer change if the bill is for landscaping outside the benefit office and has absolutely no connection to benefits provided to participants?

Does ERISA preempt state unclaimed property laws regarding benefit plan expenses, such as professional fees and other miscellaneous bills, that are not benefits to participants, etc? These are non-benefit related checks. We know ERISA preempts state unclaimed property laws regarding benefit payments. For example, if a benefit office pays the bills for the various plans and send checks to a lawyer or banker for services and those checks are never cashed, should the benefit office turn the money over to the state under the states unclaimed property laws. Does the answer change if the bill is for landscaping outside the benefit office and has absolutely no connection to benefits provided to participants?

How complete of a search r to what lenghts do you go to locate missing addresses? How often do you search? thanks

A plan sends out monthly benefit statements to participants and retirees. Every time the plan does a mass mailing they receive hundreds of envelops returned as undeliverable or "return to sender" with no forwarding address. The plan continues to mail mailings to the old addresses, what is the process/requirements that would enable the plan to stop mailing to that particular address? After some many attempts or years can the plan just stop mailing to the bad address and keep the statement in the members file rather than waste the postage to send to an address the plan now knows is wrong? thanks.

I believe a question I asked recently on the board mirrors this thread. I agree with Everett Moreland's take. To add another question to this scenerio, what if the employee's are able to decide (request) when to take the accumulated value? The employee can take the accumulated value in lump-sum immediately or request to receive the payment in the next calendar year. How does this, if at all, affect the situation regarding 409A? Typically what I have seen is the employer mandates when the employee takes the payment instead of the employee getting a choice. Does this matter?

That is what concerns me. In this situation the teachers appear to have the option to take in a lump-sum immediately upon retirement or in the next calendar year following retirement if elected. It is the elected part that I am struggling with. I believe that technically this situation is not subject to 409A because it is compensation payable under a sick leave program which is excluded from the definition of non-qualified deferred compensation under the regulations. But I can not stop thinking about the ability for the teacher to request payment in a subsequent year, now if the school district automatically paid the amount in the subsequent year then I do not believe there is any issues with 409A. Any thoughts? Does anyone agree or disagree with my conclusion on the sick leave aspect?

If a school district pays a retiring teacher a severance payment based on accumulated sick leave (a teacher with no accumulated sick leave would be entitled to no severance) and allows the teacher to receive payment in lump-sum at the time of retirement or receive payment in the following year, does the school district need to be concerned about 409A regs? Do they need to offer an election to the teacher?

Can any provide a brief outline of the steps/requirements for terminating a health and welfare plan? Basically, all I see is that the plan sponsor must follow the amendment procedures in the plan document, make a formal written plan amendment terminating the plan, provide notification to participants, distribute the plan assets according to the terms of the plan and ERISA, file a final Form 5500 and distribute a final SAR. It appears the requirements are far less than with a DC or DB plan and that basically there is not much to it. I know my outline above is extremely simplistic, but is it basically correct or am I missing anything? Does anyone know of any guidance on the matter? Thanks

Does anyone know if there are any issues with a SUB Plan taking an administrative fee from a particular benefit in order to pay any FICA and/or FUTA taxes both the employers share and employees share? For instance, a supplemental seperation benefit is paid from a SUB Plan. The Plan assesses a 10% administrative fee on the benefit amount and uses this 10% amount to pay the FUTA taxes as the employer and the FICA taxes for the employee and as the employer. Thanks

Does anyone know how supplemental unemployment benefits under a SUB Trust must be reported for tax purposes? The SUB Fund has been told that it must report the benefits on a W-2 Form to the individual. This does not make a whole lot of sense to me. The participants are not employees of the Fund, they are not performing any services, so how can it be considered an employee/employer situation. The subsequent issue with reporting these benefits on a W-2 Form is that such reporting has caused problems with the State Unemployment Compensation and the Trust be charged as an employer. Any information or thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated and if anyone else has dealt with something similar please let me know. Cheers