david rigby

I can't imagine why the Plan would not want to inform the participant.

Thanks for posting your experience. Best advice is to make sure the letter includes a date and warning that alerts the recipient to a possible delay. Your tax dollars at work.

IRS Proposed Reg. 04/15/2008. http://www.irs.gov/retirement/article/0,,id=96688,00.html See 1.430(a)-1©(1) Cross reference to Reg. 1.430(h)(2)-(e) See the Reg dated 10/15/2009.

Amazing!

The mere existence of this "alternative plan" (as described) raises some alarms. I don't know what the intent is, and it may be legitimate, but further explanation is probably needed.

Another con: at-risk testing under 430(i).

Does 401(a)(36) apply?

You ask, "where can I find form 3115"? http://www.irs.gov/app/picklist/list/formsPublications.html

Did you notice the "age 62" requirement in 401(a)(36)?

Isn't "dependent" an important characteristic?

Just off the top of my head: - an estate probably cannot create an IRA, - assuming this death benefit is not rollable (by the estate), then the default withholding is not 20%, but might be some other percent. Have you checked IRS Publications 590 and 575 to see if either refers to "estate"? BTW, the PA might be prudent to remind the estate's executor that the estate should have its own TIN, rather than use the deceased's SSN. (But the PA will follow advice from the plan's ERISA attorney rather than my advice.)

Do you care what the tax responsibility of the estate is? I'm just asking.

Can I have the name of this TPA, and their client list?

Data as of 30-NOV-11 (Wednesday) Moody's Daily Long-term Corporate Bond Yield Averages Utilities Industrial Corporate Aaa NA 4.07 4.07 Aa 4.04 4.29 4.17 A 4.38 4.64 4.51 Baa 5.07 5.57 5.32 Avg 4.50 4.64 4.57 Moody's Daily Treasury Yield Averages Short-Term (3-5 yrs) 0.60 Medium-Term (5-10 yrs) 1.49 Long-Term (10+ yrs) 2.65

Assuming you are referring to the 120-participant trigger for audit, most practitioners will keep the sponsor advised every year how close the participant count is to 120, and what action (if anything) the sponsor can do to keep it down. If you chose not to do this, you will quickly see how angry your client can get.

There is another angle: does someone get a commission on the borrowed money? If so, there is an incentive to encourage borrowing.

Andy is correct. Someone has already spent significantly more than $400 chasing this refund.

Correct. The purpose of SSA is to record a deferred benefit. A benefit that goes into pay-status is included on the SSA with a delete code only if it was previously included with an add code.

You know, if you leave those plan assets invested in the market, maybe the excess will take care of itself soon.

It's very common for SS disability to take a long time, sometimes with retroactive effective date. Most PP that provide a disability benefit recognize this, and accept a retroactive effective date of disability. The important thing is (usually) whether the effective date of disability falls within the employee's employment period. It's possible your plan does not need to be amended to recognize this. Review any precedence.

Don't overthink it. See comment above about "horse trading".

Non-attorney comment: this implies you think the PA must get all monies out of that fund. I think that's overly demanding (some might use the term "controlling"). Suppose the ER says to the participants, "Fund X has not performed well, so we've added Fund Y and frozen X. If you want to move your current fund X allocation, you may do so."

J&S? Lump sum? Permitted by plan? Assuming you get by that, the LS is (probably) the present value of all future payments.

You laughed. Is that billable?

The IRS will presume the termination is involuntary, possibly leading to a partial termination, but the sponsor has the ability to refute that presumption.