david rigby

Any chance this is phishing, and the letters are not really from the IRS?

If you amend, be careful that you don't create a discriminatory set of circumstances.

While you work on the "can" part of your questions, consider the "should". Will the sponsor experience another round of the same employees reducing or stopping the deduction (along with its extra paperwork, angry employees, etc)?

Data as of 30-NOV-07 Moody's Daily Long-term Corporate Bond Yield Averages Utilities Industrial Corporate Aaa NA 5.34 5.34 Aa 5.85 5.66 5.76 A 6.00 5.98 5.99 Baa 6.34 6.54 6.44 Avg 6.06 5.88 5.97 Moody's Daily Treasury Yield Averages Short-Term (3-5 yrs) 3.22 Medium-Term (5-10 yrs) 3.79 Long-Term (10+ yrs) 4.36

More discussion: http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/laborprof...l-comments.html

Agreed. I doubt the IRS would be very forgiving on this point.

Does this help? http://www.abanet.org/publiced/preview/bri...c07.shtml#06856

The AP benefit is determined by the QDRO, not by whether or not the plan continues. BTW, is there a QDRO, or is your question hypothetical?

You can use this to search for a CUSIP: http://activequote.fidelity.com/mmnet/SymLookup.phtml/

This refers only to the certification, not to the "valuation deadline".

By "reported", are you focusing solely on "shown on the Schedule B"? Or is this also a question about deduction? In general, a contribution cannot be made for X plan year before the plan year begins. If you have some amount not yet included on the B, is there any reason you cannot amend the 2006 B?

See IRS Reg. 1.401(a)-20, Q&A-25 http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-....26&idno=26

Sometimes the word "consulting" implies an independent contractor relationship rather than an employee relationship. Are you an employee?

The original questioner probably should be concerned, at least a little, to make sure that whoever gives instruction is authorized to do so (which is what the recordkeeper should do for every client/plan).

Be very careful about vesting.

Revenue Ruling 2007-67: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/rr2007-67.end.pdf

Words can be important. The confusing word here is "converted". It appears that nothing has changed w/r/t the plan. The relevant change is your employment status. That is the date at which your vesting status was determined. It also appears the plan administrator has made a distribution to you, and defaulted to make that distribution directly as an IRA rollover. If so, that IRA is now yours. You may find it useful to have a copy of IRS Publication 590 (call 1-800-TAX-FORM).

What is the point of such design? It does not encourage higher levels of deferral. Why not amend it to match real deferrals, or just make it a safe harbor contribution?

Is this it? http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-wd/0511015.pdf

You could try the SC website: http://www.sctax.org/default.htm Another source of information (hardly "proof" of anything) is how Prudential withholds: http://www.prudential.com/media/managed/St...Withholding.pdf A third source of information is to search these Message Boards. In particular, you will find some contributors who suggest the mandatory withholding for any state is zero due to federal ERISA pre-emption.

Start with this; review that agreement. (The Plan does have such agreement, doesn't it?) The Plan's ERISA counsel should be your first phone call.

Likely the plan excludes collectively bargained employees of the employer. If this person is a CB EE of a different employer, then the exclusion would not apply. But make sure that the other employer is not part of the same controlled group as the current employer.

http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=27738

(a) No comment. (b) IMHO, there is a near-zero chance that legislation will pass to postpone the effective date(s).

Reminder: If you determine that the participant is deceased, don't forget about the QPSA, and any other death benefit the plan may contain.