PensionPro

It seems that it is rare for the DOL to file a lawsuit simply because of a lack of fidelity bond, but there is a case from about 8 years ago: PWBA Field Office Press Release PENSION AND WELFARE BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION V-301 Issued By The Chicago Office Of Public Affairs CONTACT: OFFICE: Sharon Morrissey (202) 219-8921 FOR RELEASE: IMMEDIATE December 4, 2000 LACK OF FIDELITY BOND PRECIPITATES LABOR DEPARTMENT LAWSUIT WITH SNYDER FARM SUPPLY AND PENSION PLAN TRUSTEE The U.S. Department of Labor has sued Alto, Mich.-based Snyder Farm Supply and its majority owner Thomas E. Snyder, who also administered the Snyder Farm Supply 401(k) pension plan, for their failure to bond the pension plan offered to the company’s employees. The lawsuit, filed today in federal district court in Grand Rapids, cites the defendants’ continuing fiduciary violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) for failing to maintaining a fidelity bond. ERISA Section 412 requires that fiduciaries of private sector pension plans obtain a bond in the minimum amount of 10 percent of the amount of plan funds handled, to protect employee benefit plans against loss caused by acts of fraud or dishonesty. The department is seeking to have the federal court (1) order to defendants to obtain and maintain a fidelity bond to meet the requirements of ERISA Section 412; and (2) remove Thomas Snyder as the plan administrator and be replaced by an independent trustee, who will subsequently administer and/or terminate the plan. At various times during the plan’s five-year existence, there have been as many as 44 plan participants and assets of $241,651. Most recently, the plan had 14 plan participants and $44,535 in assets as of Nov. 28, 2000. The complaint is a result of an investigation by the Cincinnati Regional Office of the department’s Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration, which oversees federal pension law. # # # (Herman v. Thomas E. Snyder and Snyder Farm Supply Inc. 401(k) Plan Civil Action # 1:00CV 887

There is no need to scratch out the calendar year on the top right corner of the 5500. The plan year information needs to be entered under Part I, "fiscal year beginning ---- and ending ----." We have not had any returns rejected doing this.

From the DOL Web site: The plan administrator shall file either: The most current Form 5500 Annual Return/Report form issued (and indicate in the appropriate space on the first page of the Form 5500 the plan year for which the annual return/report is being filed if different from the most current Form 5500), or The Form 5500 Series Annual Return/Report form issued for the plan year for which the relief is sought (but not a Form 5500-R if the filing is for a 1998 plan year or a prior year).

1563(a)(2) BROTHER-SISTER CONTROLLED GROUP.--Two or more corporations if 5 or fewer persons who are individuals, estates, or trusts own (within the meaning of subsection (d)(2)) stock possessing-- 1563(a)(2)(A) at least 80 percent of the total combined voting power of all classes of stock entitled to vote or at least 80 percent of the total value of shares of all classes of the stock of each corporation, and 1563(a)(2)(B) more than 50 percent of the total combined voting power of all classes of stock entitled to vote or more than 50 percent of the total value of shares of all classes of stock of each corporation, taking into account the stock ownership of each such person only to the extent such stock ownership is identical with respect to each such corporation.

The only issue could be the timing of the amendment. As far as I know there is no specific guidance from the IRS. Maybe others have more information on this. You should be okay if you amend during the determination year.

Some practitioners believe no amendment is required just a board resolution if you ONLY have a plan name change. Our conservative approach is to amend the document, especially if there is change of employer's name, change of entity type, change of EIN, etc. This also communicates the change to the participants via SMM for QDRO and other purposes. You may also want to check whether your document says something specific about name changes, headings and sub-headings.

No compensation, no deferrals (catchup or otherwise). See also prior post: http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=39983

If a plan covers a business that is part of a CG or ASG, you have to file Form 5500 regardless of amount of plan assets. The $250,000 limit is applied as of the end of the year, i.e. 12/31/2007.

By Nov 30, 2009 you would have an idea of (a) employee participation levels and (b) the results of the ADP/ACP tests for 2009.

Refer to Rev. Proc. 2008-50, (Section 3 of Appendix B titled "Earnings Adjustment Methods and Examples.").

According to Notice 2005-95, the deadline was the latest of the following: (1) December 31, 2005 (2) The last day of the plan year that includes March 28, 2005 or (3) the employer's tax return date including extensions for the year that includes March 28, 2005

The DOL Web site has this from the 2005 pension plan bulletin. I could find nothing more current. Best wishes. 2005pensionplanbulletin.pdf

File/issue amended 1099-Rs and inform IRA custodian of ineligible rollover amount as applicable. §1.401(k)-2(b)(2) (v) Distribution. Within 12 months after the close of the plan year in which the excess contribution arose, the plan must distribute to each HCE the excess contributions apportioned to such HCE under paragraph (b)(2)(iii) of this section and the allocable income. Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph (b)(2)(v) and paragraph (b)(4)(i) of this section, a distribution of excess contributions must be in addition to any other distributions made during the year and must be designated as a corrective distribution by the employer. In the event of a complete termination of the plan during the plan year in which an excess contribution arose, the corrective distribution must be made as soon as administratively feasible after the date of termination of the plan, but in no event later than 12 months after the date of termination. If the entire account balance of an HCE is distributed prior to when the plan makes a distribution of excess contributions in accordance with this paragraph (b)(2), the distribution is deemed to have been a corrective distribution of excess contributions (and income) to the extent that a corrective distribution would otherwise have been required.

Schedule R should not be filed if lines 1 through 8 are left blank or checked "N/A".

There is an exception to filing 5500 for the Qualified Termination Administrator (QTA) of an orphan plan. However, the plan sponsor remains liable for filing regular 5500 forms until final distribution. Who is signing the 5500 as plan sponsor?

Here is a link that answers the age-old question of finding an ERISA attorney. http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?showtopic=36422

Or are willing to take on debt.

The IRS office in Ogden is located at 324 25th St. Ogden, UT 84401

There is a Frontier Trust Co in Connecticut: Frontier Trust Company, FSB 90 State House Square Hartford, Connecticut 06103 I don't know what an FIN is, but that EIN (Employer Identification Number) is registered to the office of a real estate agent/broker in SC, so that probably does not help you.

The instructions to line 2b of the 5500-EZ say "do not enter your social security number." Also, the 5500-EZ instructions state that "generally, the Form 5500 series return/reports and some of the related schedules are open to public inspection." On a sidenote, the instruction to certain attachments of Form 5500 state that because of privacy concerns the inclusion of a social security number may result in the rejection of the filing.

The language of ERISA and the Code state that the alternate payee can only be "any spouse, former spouse, child, or other dependent of a participant" (IRC § 414(p)(8), ERISA § 206(d)(3)(K)), but to the best of my knowledge the statutes do not specify who can be a contingent beneficiary of an alternate payee.

1.401(k)-1(4)(ii) Treatment of elective contributions as employer contributions. Except as otherwise provided in §1.401(k)–2(b)(3), elective contributions under a qualified cash or deferred arrangement (including designated Roth contributions) are treated as employer contributions.

One must use employees' 401(k) deferrals in the ABPT. Disregard after-tax employee contributions and catch-up. 1.410(b)-7(e) Determination of plans in testing group for average benefit percentage test—(1) In general. For purposes of applying the average benefit percentage test of §1.410(b)–5 with respect to a plan, all plans in the testing group must be taken into account. For this purpose, the plans in the testing group are the plan being tested and all other plans of the employer that could be permissively aggregated with that plan under paragraph (d) of this section. Whether two or more plans could be permissively aggregated under paragraph (d) of this section is determined (i) without regard to the rule in paragraph (d)(4) of this section that portions of two or more plans benefiting employees of the same line of business may not be aggregated if any of the plans is tested under the special rule for employer-wide plans in §1.414®–1©(2)(ii), (ii) without regard to paragraph (d)(5) of this section, and (iii) by applying paragraph (d)(2) of this section without regard to paragraphs ©(1) and ©(2) of this section. Hope this helps.

If an ERISA plan, seems to be a PT under ERISA 408©(2): 408. © Nothing in section 406 shall be construed to prohibit any fiduciary from-- (2) receiving any reasonable compensation for services rendered, or for the reimbursement of expenses properly and actually incurred, in the performance of his duties with the plan; except that no person so serving who already receives full-time pay from an employer or an association of employers, whose employees are participants in the plan, or from an employee organization whose members are participants in such plan shall receive compensation from such plan, except for reimbursement of expenses properly and actually incurred.

You may want to check out the Bureau of Labor Statistics at www.bls.gov. One of their recent reports is attached as an example of what you might find. EBS_0808.pdf