david rigby

What do you want the death benefit to be? BTW, death benefits, other than the QPSA, are not covered by 411(d)(6).

What is the point?

OK, so I don't read very well. But, my point is that the reg should be reviewed in context. It might have a purpose other than relating to a retirement plan, and the word "plan" in the text might mean something other than retirement plan. I don't know, and I don't care.

I don't see anything in the quoted regulation about a plan.

Nor does the employee pay those taxes. Bingo, this is the answer to why someone would want to do it.

If it were me hiring, I would be looking at experience, knowledge, work ethic, enthusiasm, integrity, etc. (not necessarily in that order). Perhaps it is my deficiency, when it comes to evaluating an education background, my opinion of online study is less than traditional classroom.

In general, a participant must be 50 by December 31 to make catch-up contributions any given year, not by 12/31/01.

IRC 410 does not have a subsection (f), but the regulation cite above is correct.

Do you care about all that? In creating the plan, is there any reason that you cannot begin counting vesting service at 1/1/04?

If you attempt to "roll over" from a non-qualified plan to a qualified plan or an IRA, that transaction seems to be a non-starter. Go no further.

Is this it? IRS Reg. 1.410(b)-7(f)).

Perhaps I'm missing something, but if the plan is not qualified, then the concept of "rollover" has no meaning.

IMHO, we should not presume anything unreasonable just because the retirement assumption for an over-NRA employee is changed in multiple years.

1. Yes 2. Yes 3. I would phrase it a bit differently, but OK. 4. To the best of my knowledge, no such "tie-in" is required. The net effect is that you probably only need one 412 rate, which can be the gateway rate, and one 404 rate, which might as well be the lowest rate possible.

Some earlier discussion that may be relevant: http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=20594 http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=26931 http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=25867 http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=21218

Did you check plan provisions, about making contributions only if deductible?

5.07% may be the rate for 2004, depending on plan provisions. It is the December 2003 30-year Treasury Security Rate, http://www.irs.gov/retirement/article/0,,id=96450,00.html We will not know the December 2004 rate until a few days into January.

Before getting to your specific concerns, does the plan already address how benefits will be distributed upon plan termination?

Not at all?

Absolutely not, especially in light of this from the original post:

No special expertise in this area. IMHO, if you send a 1099 for 2004 but the check is dated January 3, 2005, you will have a problem. My experience has always been that the date on the check controls which 1099 is issued. BTW, could it be argued that the check writing account (for lack of a better name) is a subset of the trust? I don't know, but I doubt you can claim a distribution was made just because the funds were transferred to another account.

pax (or Blinky): what do you want the answer to be?

Recent discusssion: http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=27038

I'm not throwing bricks or accusations. No criticism of JohnG or others who choose to contribute financial analysis, and/or guide others in how to do that. Rather, these Message Boards are policed pretty well to keep out solicitation. If you re-read the orginal post, you can see how it might have been phrased to avoid that.

Gray Book Q&A’s have touched on this issue. Q&A 93-10 and 99-6: http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=19350 Q&A 2004-20: http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=23970