david rigby

Oh boy. In order to be compliant, all I have to do is declare it?

The alternative of bringing children into the business would seem to head in the direction of passing on the excess, assuming they can earn a meaningful benefit. If they children aren't interested, I can be adopted.

What is meant by "...plan has a Puerto Rican employee ..."? Where is/was the EE located? Paid in US dollars? Above answers are correct about ERISA pre-emption.

The overwhelming majority of plans (pension, profit-sharing, 401k, etc) use a "5-year cliff" vesting schedule: 100% at 5 years of service, 0% prior to that. EGTRRA changed the requirement, prospectively, that matching contributions in a 401(k) plan must reach 100% vesting in no more than 3 years, but that change does not apply to other plans.

http://benefitslink.com/IRS/revproc2003-44.shtml

Numerous discussions on these Message Boards that indicate "No". IRS reasoning is that only "employees" are entitled to make deferrals under 401(k). For clarity and documentation, your best bet is to use the Search feature.

Well, no one shared experience so I will share how I completed the Schedule B: - All items on pages 1, 2, 3, and 5 reflect the surviving plan without regard to the merger. - All entries on page 4 reflect the plan merger, using my understanding of the Rev.Proc. section mentioned above. To produce these entries, I use 12 months for the surviving plan, plus 6 months (that is, between merger date and EOY) of the non-surviving plan. In all cases, the results of these two are added to develop the Schedule B entries. (Read the examples in section 4.07 carefully.) - The Schedule of Active Participants (Line 8c) reflects only the surviving plan. Of course, if you have a different perspective and/or experience, I am willing to learn.

Interesting. Since you say "...may be able to find the funds...", why not just ignore the possibility of rescinding the waiver application? If the sponsor has the cash available (on a timely basis), then make the contribution; the waiver will still be amortized, but you get a credit balance. All the administrative expense has already been incurred anyway. My guess is that a rescinded waiver would not count against your 3-times limit, but maybe someone else has seen this happen. (I doubt the IRS will refund the user fee.)

I think you have a 401(a)(4) issue if you do a "staggered" freeze.

Not sure either, but I think there is a principle (perhaps in a reg.) stating that if the sponsor ceases to do business, or goes bankrupt, the plan is automatically terminated. Most plan documents will have similar language.

Assuming the plan year begins 1/1/03, the assets used to determine the 2003 PBGC variable premium should be $1M. If the $75K is accrued for the 2002 PY, then it can be included, with proper discounting.

Be careful. A "professional organization" may not be a "professional service corporation".

Blinky is correct. BTW, in his own humorous way, Blinky is asking you to turn off the "CapsLock" key.

Please be careful. In the United States every year, more people are killed by vending machines than by sharks.

Click on "My Control Panel", then click "Edit email Address".

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

A pre-retirement death benefit might not be payable immediately. It might be deferred to the participant's first eligible retirement date, so there can be a deferred benefit. The plan can offer a lump sum alternative to such surviving spouse.

Not specified is the type of plan. If this is a DB plan, the investment vehicle is probably irrelevant. If this is a DC plan, then the comment about the fiduciary's responsibility is relevant.

Try this: http://www.benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=17117

Amen!

http://benefitslink.com/IRS/revrul2003-83.shtml Huh? What am I missing? Where is the accrued liability "used to determined plan costs"? Where does it pass condition (2) of Rev. Rul. 81-13?

Permitted yes. But not required unless the funding method does not already provide for the next step.

This might have some relevant information: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p515.pdf There is a reference to graduated withholding tables in Circular A or Circular E, but I could not locate a link for those.

The UAAL cannot be negative; just set it to zero. But then, whether you revert to Aggregate or stay with FIL is part of your funding method. BTW, if you stay with FIL, then it should behave as if it were Agg (at least for that year); thus, if you have a credit balance, the 412 NC will differ from the 404 NC.

No expert I, but that sounds like either a continuation/new SERP, or it does not meet the definition of "distribution". I wonder what the plan document requires.