stephen

Isn't diversification age 55 and 10 years of participation (not 5 YOP.

This topic was discussed at the ASPA conference today. The new MRD rules are not required to be followed until the regs are finalized. Before EGTRRA was passed they seemed certain to be be finalized this year however, it could be later. Another option would be to adopt the new rules and continue the distributions as they have been under the old rules. The difference would be that you would do the withholding for the difference between the two. For example: Old rules 10,000 distribution. New rules 6,000 distribution. Withhold on the difference of 4,000.

We use ASPA courses as study materials. Our company covers the expenses for materials (We have access to all of the supplemental reading online and supply interested employees with the study manual.) and exams for your first attempt at taking any of the exams. Should you fail an exam the company will still pay for the materials but you are responsible for paying the exam fee. PA-1 class is taught in house. We meet for 30 minutes to 1 hour every other week and cover 4 chapters per week. We have been offering this class once per year. Currently we do not have a C-1 or C-2 (DC) class. But, we do have employees taking the C-1 exam this fall. A small bonus is paid along with an additional piece for everyone that takes and passes the exam when you do. The bigger "bonus" comes with slary increases for the employees "increase in knowledge and therefore value to the company."

I believe ASPA is going to split up the C-1 and C-2 exams into two parts each. I'll try to find out more at the conference next week and post my answer here.

I'll be there. Tom is speaking as well. (He's too modest to mention it himself.)

Also, for plan years beginning in 2002 no more multiple use test!

Best of luck to you. I also would like to hear back from you regarding what the DOL's repsonse is.

What is the distribution policy for your plan? How often are the assets in the plan valued? Frequently there is a wait time before you can receive your balance depending on how frequently the plan completes an allocation (some plans are annually, semi-annually, quarterly, and daily). If there are discretionary employer contributions allocated at plan year end that too could cause a delay. As you may have to wait until the year-end allocation has been completed. Another possibility is that if your vested balance is greater than $5,000 you could wait until your account has recouped some of the $50,000 loss before taking a distribution . As the company cannot force you to take a distribution without your consent.

I need some more information to be able to give you an answer. 1) What is the vesting schedule for your plan? 2) How long did you work there? 3) How long were you gone before they forfeited your balance? 4) What was your vested percentage? 5) What money Types are involved? Employer Discretionary Contributions (Profit Sharing), Employer Matching Contributions, Salary Deferrals (always 100% vested including any gains or losses on them), others? I must admit I have not had a plan that forfeited only the employer contributions and let the employee keep the earnings? (It would require the administrator to track the contributions to each participants account.)

If you have been married to your new wife for more than 1 year I believe she does have to consent to any beneficiary other than herself. The law behind this rule is ERISA. The rules are set up to protect your spouse. With her consent you can change the beneficiary designation as you suggest. Please note the same is true for any qualified plans in which she has an account.

I think the answer is yes he can.

We have a couple of clients taking advantage of the 30 day extension. One is in the DC area and was affected by the September 11 Tragedy and the other had asset statements delayed by the attack. For everyone else we are filing on time.

My experience has been that the party in error is usually asked to deposit the difference. To my knowldge none of the instances where this has occurred have they followed one of the "Correction Programs".

Or in other words there should be plenty of time for the speakers at the ASPA conference to comprehend and be able to pass along to us some understanding of "the catch up" and how it is to work. Maybe Treasury will say the first $1,000 is catch up...

I agree with actuary smith's Tina Turner refernce. "What's lives got to do with it?" The administrator case load should be based on complexity and time spent which hopefully equates to billings. The last firm I worked for I had roughly 50 clients (which equated to 90 allocations some semi-annual some quarterly ranging in size from 20-900 participants). The annual billings for these clients was approximately $155,000 - $160,000. During crunch (Mid January through End of May) this caseload equated to 50-60 + hours per week and 40-45 hours per week the rest of the year with no overtime pay.

Thank You. It looks like our plan does allow it.

When making my cafeteria election for 2001 we did not know we would be having our third child this year (born 9/11/01, I'm happy to say there was some good news for that day). Needless to say there are substantial medical expenses we did not consider when making the cafeteria election for 2001. My wife, who was working part time, is no longer working. Do either of these events allow us to change the cafeteria election for the remainder of 2001 (so we can get reimbursed for the out of pocket expenses related to the birth of our child)?

The text also comes on CD ROM with a search option. I highly advise this option. If you can afford it you may find it nice to get the text with a CD ROM.

My advise would be to follow the document and be consistent. You should also follow the cash flow in the plan to see if there was enough cash at the time of the recycling (including any transactions to that date) to fund for all of the recycling.

By the way I think Tom Poje, a frequent message board answerer, is a co-author on the Coverage and Non-discrimination book.

There have been cases settled where the participant was forced to repay the overpayment to the plan. I don't remember the case name but I believe I read it on EBIA. It involved an obvious overpayment that the plan could document. Which it sounds like you can definately do in this case. You may be able to run a search on Benefitslink to find it. I would think the participant would be required to repay only the $50,000 regardless of subsequent gains or losses in the IRA.

I agree with the lkpittman and MJ Hartman sites that this is not a control group based on the information given. I also agree with JimD: coverage, ADP/ACP and Top heavy testing is done on a company by company basis.

There have been lots of great links from BenefitsLink to summaries of EGTRRA. I would suggest you do a search from the home page and go from there. Regarding some of the specifics such as how the catch up provision will affect testing, who's eligible, enrollment, etc we are waiting for additional guidance from the IRS.

Is you account balance all from Salary deferrals? Does the plan allow for hardship distributions from other sources? Does the plan allow hardship distributions of earnings? I am not a distribution expert: however what you propose even if you are allowed to do it by the plan will not relieve you of all of your tax obligations. 50,000 - 10,000 (20%) - 15,000 loan = 25,000. This does not include state withholding (2,000 at 4%) if there is any, 10% penalty ($5,000) or the additional income tax (at least $4,000 if you are in the 28% tax bracket) to be paid with 2001 tax filing.

Typically back taxes would not qualify for a hardship withdrawal. The plan document may allow for it. I would suggest you contact the Plan Administrator. I believe the 10% penalty would still apply if you are not at least 59 1/2 years old. Also, future slary deferral withholdings would be affected (no deferrals for 12 months under existing laws) and you would have to pay income tax on the distribution.