david rigby

Tom has a great idea. Since Congress thinks the solution to everything is indexing, let's index this "trigger point".

How about some more search features? State? Zipcode?

There may or may not be "combined testing", but this will not be "since it is not a CB plan".

What is your relationship? Do you have any such responsibilty? If you think someone else is doing it wrong, but it's their responsibility, have you put your concerns in writing? If you have a cite (or other reference), give it, but it sounds like you might be taking responsibility for someone else's duty.

My only recommendaiton is to review this Forum: http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?/forum/89-qualified-domestic-relations-orders-qdros/. It's very easy to administer a QDRO wrong, so your "interview" process should be very cautious, and detailed.

Data as of 31-DEC-13 (Tuesday) Moody's Daily Long-term Corporate Bond Yield Averages Utilities Industrial Corporate Aaa NA 4.57 4.57 Aa 4.59 4.74 4.67 A 4.83 4.90 4.87 Baa 5.25 5.49 5.37 Avg 4.89 4.93 4.91 Moody's Daily Treasury Yield Averages Short-Term (3-5 yrs) 1.19 Medium-Term (5-10 yrs) 2.34 Long-Term (10+ yrs) 3.65

Fascinating. A law firm plan sponsor, and the advice just might be "get a legal opinion".

The trustee elected to terminate the plan? Unless the trustee is also the sponsor, this will be a problem. Get legal advice.

Don't overthink it. Almost always, the date of the check will indicate the year of 1099.

I'm not aware of any minimum. If you are changing PY to coincide with sponsor's FY, my hunch is that the IRS won't care how long is the short PY, since they will (probably) agree that such a change is a good idea. BTW, the change of PY is accomplished by plan amendment, and it MUST be adopted before the end of the short year.

Well...... there still might be time to fix this, possibly by creating 2 plans instead of 1.

I might take the other direction. It's usually easiest to report on SSA when the information is "fresh", so do it as soon as you can, without regard to the participant's status.

I'm often intrigued by discussion about "union members", as if that is the final answer to some question. Not sure how picky the IRS is on this point, but it's good to know the second phrase in IRC 410(b)(3)(A): "...if there is evidence that retirement benefits were the subject of good faith bargaining between such employee representatives and such employer or employers,..."

Will the HCE plan pass the coverage requirements on its own? If not, then it must be combined with the other plan(s). In that case, all other discrimination testing (ie, as mentioned in Post 2 above) must be done on a combined basis.

Don't overlook the practical aspects: at 34, retirement planning should not come before life insurance (very inexpensive) as well as college costs.

... and is not rollable.

Be careful. - Does "...could have started collecting in 2005..." refer to the NRD? If so, you probably have to be concerned about actuarial adjustment for late retirement, rather than retroactive payments. - To an early retirement eligibility date? If so, you first have to determine if the EE elected commencement of payments. (Mere eligibility to commence is not the same as election to commence.) In other words, there are no retroactive payments unless there was an election in favor of commencement.

Just to make sure, will the unfreeze include recognition of 2011 and 2012 as benefit service?

Data as of 29-NOV-13 (Friday) Moody's Daily Long-term Corporate Bond Yield Averages Utilities Industrial Corporate Aaa NA 4.62 4.62 Aa 4.54 4.73 4.64 A 4.76 4.84 4.80 Baa 5.22 5.50 5.36 Avg 4.84 4.92 4.88 Moody's Daily Treasury Yield Averages Short-Term (3-5 yrs) 0.86 Medium-Term (5-10 yrs) 2.04 Long-Term (10+ yrs) 3.47

Yep, and there is non-discrimination testing also. Before including after-tax contributions (mandatory or not) in a DC plan, it probably makes sense to consider plan provisions to provide for automatic pre-tax contributions.

The original post implies, but does not state, that the plan is a defined contribution plan. The advice above is good if it's a DC plan, but additional issues might apply if it's a Defined Benefit Plan.

"...when does the payment increase?" Never?

I suggest the answer is almost always Yes. If a contribution is discretionary, it is usually the governing authority (ie, the Board) that has the responsibility/authority to exercise that discretion.

Some prior discussions: http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?/topic/3725-how-does-an-employer-reverse-unterminate-a-plan-termination http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?/topic/36663-safe-harbor-and-unterminated-plan http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?/topic/52385-un-terminate-a-plan/#entry226898 http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?/topic/8786-un-terminating-a-401k-plan/

Most plan documents include (often in the definition section) a statement that defines the plan name. If so, changing the sponsor name will not automatically change the plan name.