david rigby

You can be nice and respond, but take note that this is an ex-participant.

Safe Harbor plan?

It could also be an attempt to avoid an audit, if the split takes the two separate plans below the 100 participant level.

In a plan termination, the participant is in control of where the distribution goes. No, you cannot force a participant to make a direct rollover to another ER plan.

At the risk of the obvious, what does the plan say?

In addition to the cautions stated above, is there an insurable interest here?

Sorry, not direct answer to your question. Are you a TPA? The nature of your "takeover" is not clear from your question. Just my opinion: I think the determination of ASG is a job for the plan sponsor's attorney, and the response should be in writing. If you think the sponsor is trying to avoid the legal opinion, it might be best to keep moving.

You can find the instructions for 5500-SF here: http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/5500main.html#2011 Open the instructions, and search for the word "amend".

See http://www.irs.gov/ for the IRS relief.

There have been a few prior discussion threads on the question of "un-terminate". No definitive conclusion. Here's my thought process: the termination was accomplished via plan amendment. If there have been no other actions to accomplish the termination, then the plan can be amended again to reverse it. Caution: as stated above, you cannot reverse the 100% vesting. More important than my opinion: ask the advice of the ERISA attorney who drafted the original termination amendment. (You did use an ERISA attorney, didn't you?)

I think 1.402©-2 Q&A6(b) supports the position that such retroactive payment is not eligible for rollover. "...will be treated as a substantially equal payment in the series...". This leads back to Q&A3(b)(1) which states NO.

Find IRS Publication 590 here: http://apps.irs.gov/app/picklist/list/formsPublications.html Then start reading on page 23.

Hurricane Sandy caused havoc with regular reporting of rates around the end of October. The kind folks at Moody's have given me the following summary for several days. Note that the bond market was closed on 10/30, so there is no entry for that date. 11/2/2012 11/1/2012 10/31/2012 10/29/2012 10/26/2012 Avg. Corporate 3.94 3.92 3.87 3.90 3.95 Aaa 3.47 3.45 3.40 3.44 3.48 Aa 3.61 3.59 3.54 3.57 3.61 A 3.89 3.86 3.81 3.84 3.89 Baa 4.52 4.50 4.45 4.49 4.54 Avg. Industrial 3.87 3.85 3.80 3.83 3.88 Aaa 3.47 3.45 3.40 3.44 3.48 Aa 3.54 3.52 3.47 3.50 3.54 A 3.89 3.85 3.81 3.84 3.89 Baa 4.58 4.56 4.51 4.54 4.59 Avg. Public Utility 4.00 3.98 3.93 3.97 4.02 Aaa Aa 3.67 3.65 3.60 3.64 3.68 A 3.88 3.86 3.81 3.84 3.88 Baa 4.45 4.43 4.39 4.43 4.49

Required by whom? - IRS? No. - DOL? No. - Local or state government statute? For you to verify. - Local or state government policy? For you to verify.

It's not clear what this means. An excellent question. Your first source of information should be your attorney.

Did the non-profit have legal counsel? If so, he/she/firm might be willing to assist. If not, perhaps look for some pro bono legal advice?

An interesting ethical question. Perhaps your question should be part of your class.

While the consequences are most significant when discussing the cost of an audit, there may be other issues. For example, there are at least two uses of "500 participants" that affect DB plans.

Right jpod. Of course, the (well-informed) sponsor would not purchase any annuity contract with that condition.

Holy Avogadro, Batman!

Andy is quoting the Q&A from IRS Notice 2012-61, which you can read here: http://benefitslink.com/src/irs/notice-12-61.pdf

Yes and No, in that order. How would a sponsor (who may now be out of business) "monitor" an insurance company anyway?

That's my understanding. Sloppy?

You can search these Message Boards and find several prior discussions on this topic. IMHO, it's a good thing to offer state tax withholding, but those who administer very small plans may disagree. (If it's a large trustee/bank who writes the check, the inclusion of state withholding should be a no-brainer.)

Deer can read, can't they?