GBurns

STLGiant, Is it really a QDRO or is it a DRO? Why did you use the word "qualified"? Quite often I find the term QDRO being applied to any Order that is received in connection with the sharing of assets pursuant to a divorce. There is a difference between the 2 types of orders.

401der Why would you not want to get from ALL assets, Q and NQ?

Is this under a section 125 cafeteria plan or not?

I would think that the Plan/Employer/Plan Sponsor does have rights in this matter ...it is the Plan Sponsor for the participant "P", and is the Administrator informing a plan participant and beneficiary of the Plan's terms and conditions (the COB provision) and it is the claims payor notifying them of possible future denial of claims and loss of coverage under the Plan's COB provisions. How does this involve "armchair lawyers" ? Where this is even the rendering of legal advice?

For at least 12 months there has been www.hsainsider.com And since an HSA is of no use without the HDHP, What good is it to have HSA providers only?

The problem here seems to be the interpretation of what "outside the plan" means. Many normal operating things are "outside the plan" that have to be "outside the Plan", but those thing are authorized by the Plan. Selecting a Trustee requires that you go outside the plan. Changing investment vehicle providers requires that you go outside the plan. Using a discretionary formula requires, by its definition, that you go outside the plan.

You should follow the guidelines set out in Revenue Ruling 61-146. It shouldl be set up as a separate section 106 MERP. Do a search on the Cafeteria and the Health Plans Forums for previous discussions.

I am not sure that FMLA and ADA are not applicable in some way. The first thing that I would do is to check the Employee Handbook, your job description, employment offer or letter and the employee benefits SPD to see is there is any guidance there. I am assuming that you do not have a contract. The next thing that I would do is contact the EEOC, State dept that regulates Labor and the State dept of Civil Rights, to see what they think. Try to get beyond the telephone CSR and make sure that regardless of what is said verbally, that you get their forms in case you want file a written complaint so as to get a formal answer. What State are you in?

I do not recall seeing plans with "loan origination fees" or "loan maintenance fees". I wonder if these are normal?

If " All of our employees are retired military and don't need coverage or have it through their working spouses." is correct, Why would there be any "privately obtained health insurance expenses"??

A lot of people in a lot of large companies do not have much to do and so spend much time "spinning wheels" and trying to look busy. Needing to look busy is easily satisfied by "stringing" people along, having meetings and making needless telephone calls. If they had a position to fill it would have had a deadline etc and would have been a "project". If it was not, then it stands to reason that there was no position that was to be filled and vice versa. That is what was alluded to by Project Management. Hiring an unscheduled or unbudgeted person etc should be something within the "margin" (of error) in the budget. No budget is that tight that there is no margin and no overrun. As a result, if they really wanted to hire you it would have been within the budget. Unless, the persons who were thinking of hiring you had no authority to do so. Why would persons who knew that they had no authority to hire you, bother to go through so many motions???? To fill in their time and to look busy. Ever wondered why large companies can lay off large numbers of employees, yet still function as before? They were overstaffed with people looking busy.

Is there a definition of tax shelter or any guidance as to what is regarded as being a tax shelter for purposes of circular 230 and the related Treas Regs?

How would moving help you? The big problem with your current situation is revealed in your statement "they advise us what to invest a percentage of our 403(b) into ". The 403(b) sales rep usually does not give such advice and even if he/she did make such a mistake and did give such advice, you had no reason to do what was said. Investment decisions are yours to make and yours only. The sales rep gives you the list of available Funds and any relevant prospectus(es) and you take your pick. Moving to another provider does not solve the problem of being able to make investment choices and accepting the consequences of your choices.

stevena, You have to learn that people do not always mean what they say and people do not always mean what you think they mean. These people were probably only being courteous, and it would be bad protocol to make statements about the company's finances to anyone, so they could not tell you much about budgetary restraints.

Although I do not see many TPAs with their own re-pricing ( I usually see them using their Network's schedule), there is no reason why it could not be used if the hospital is contracted with the TPA and has a reimbursement schedule.

Circular 230 is in no way limited to "rendering opinions on tax shelters".

Getting a W-2 does not mean that it was taxed as a Corporation because it could have been done in error and the tax attorney might have seen some indication of that on which to base the comment.

Provided that this person owns a home and can qualify for an acceptable HE loan. Many people who reach the position of having to consider a 401(k) loan for paying credit card debt are at the stage where there are delinquency, foreclosure and collection issues that might affect even the possibility of an acceptable HE loan..

Different legal experts have commented in many articles on the various issues that fall under the new regs. Not everyone covered everything and Not everyone who covered everthing necessarily covered it or even interpreted every item the same way, so it would be prudent to look at more than 1 summary. You can find these summaries on many of the major law firm websites or try doing a search of Benefits Buzz since they did cover the major releases.

I do not think that the participant is trying to get Plan B coverage while only paying for Plan A. In fact this participant does not seem to even be trying to get any coverage or payment of the claim. All they are trying to do is to get the insurance company to make available their re-pricing procedures. All the insurance company has to do is to process the claim with no benefits paid. The resulting claims statement will show what price they would have paid to that provider for the services rendered minus a $0 Claim Paid amount leaving a balance to be payable by the participant. This would allow the participant to try and get the service provider to accept a lower amount rather than the overpriced "retail" bill that was first issued. It costs the insurance company diddly to process the claim and there would be no liability caused by the processing, that was not potentially already there. It is so amusing to see this situation when many of these insurance companies tout the vailability of this same re-pricing service as a free service for use on out-of-network claims. Some even offer the service to non client employer groups. Do a Google search on "PPO repricing" and see what is offered by many including large PPO networks like MultiPlan.

>>"I am 100% sure that there are no rules that *require* me to coordinate or merge my retirement account with my union's pension plan."<< >>"It may be because of union rules or studio policy"<< Have you looked at the rules of the Guild plan etc ? >>"I think my life would be a lot simpler if I could use a Schedule C."<< >>"I wonder why not".<< >>"What do you mean "excessive deductions?"<< These responses plus some others, suggest that you do not understand the differences and uses of the various entity structures and their tax implications etc. IMHO, you should seek advice and clarification of these issues before trying to make decisons as to what might be best for you.

IMHO, the problem is that the election to defer is prospective and therefore at the time of election to defer there is no compensation yet earned and other than a crystal ball there is no way of knowing whether or not there will be any compensation earned. A slightly similar situation occurs regarding "employee" especially part-timers. These are hired (or kept on a roster) pending hours coming available. Hours during which to render service might not become available at any time during the year. So IMHO, you could end up with persons who were participants in 1 year, and who start off as participants the next year, having no hours of service and/or no compensation during that year. Are these "employees"? Are these eligible plan participants for testing purposes? How are these to be treated? Using what rcline46 posted etc, they would be neither employees nor have compensation.

I do not think that JimD-EBR is part of that workforce and hence just might not understand what you wrote.

The cat is already out of the bag. Does anyone think that this book casts a wide enough net in number of concepts or plan designs for small businesses? What is a small business?

Coordinating the 2 plans might seem needlessly complex, but, What would you do if after a few years you find out that the rules that SoCalActuary refers to state that you either cannot have 2 plans or that they must be coordinated ? Filing it away is not a very good idea, you could end up with penalties and loss of benefits instead. The "sweet spot" of trade off between salary and dividends etc is a facts and circumstances decision, and requires a look at your company financials etc. That is the reason why a competent accountant, tax practitioner or pension consultant was suggested. There is no national or regional industry average.