Lou S.

On #1 - No need to distribute "as soon as is administratively possible," other than under $5K cashout if in the document. And no need to even offer distributions if it happens to be a plan that only have deferred distribution dates, such as a DB plan with no lump sums. On #2 - My understanding, and it could be wrong, is you vest the participants affected by the partial termination when you determine it has occurred. You would therefore vest them when you determine a partial termination occurs. In your example say you determine that the partial termination occurred in November but spanned the period February - November. You would vest all affected participants. In the event that you paid out partially vested participants (and generated forfeitures) from the February and/or June group before you determined the partial termination had occurred, you might have to restore some forfeited benefits and process a second distribution for affected individuals. I don't think it is disqualifying event to have paid them our or anything that needs to be corrected through EPCRS but rather something you "self correct" because when you originally paid them out partially vested you simply didn't know that they would part of a partial termination group due to latter turnover/closings whatever. Kind of a no-harm, no-foul as long as you restore the benefits forfeited. At least that's my theoretical understanding of how it works.

Even assuming the plan has a last day rule if any NHCE worked more than 500 hours you can't possibly pass IRS testing without allocating some contribution to the NHCEs because your ratio percentage for the year is going to be 0% and I'm not aware of any testing magic that can make 0% pass when you have at least one NHCE included in the denominator of your test.

No, elective deferrals of keys are ALWAYS used to determine the highest allocation rate of any key employee but elective deferral are NEVER used to satisfy the top-heavy minimum contribution requirements. Therefore if the Plan document states that ALL employees (including key employees) receive the top-heavy minimum then you must make the 3% employer contribution to the key or you are not following the terms of the plan document.

Only IRS non-discrimination tests. Can assume that all 4 employees are all NHCEs and since the practice was around for 9 months in 2013 that all 4 likely worked more than 500 hours and must be included in the denominator of your 410(b) testing?

A loan is an asset of the plan and not a distribution. There is no 1099-R unless the loan goes into default or is part of an offset distribution. Not familiar with TD Ameritrade forms but you should probably call them and ask if you are using their correct form, particularly if TD issues the 1099-Rs for the plan.

Who is the IRA trustee who was supposed to be holding the private investment? Can the individual do a 60 day rollover? Does the participant have paperwork showing the receiving custodian would hold funds in the IRA's name? How has the private investment titled the funds? Why is it assumed that the custodian is at fault? They may be but why is that the assumption here?

Not my area of expertise but in my wife's plan it was pretty clear that you had to add dependents 30 days after birth to keep them covered. Otherwise you had to add them at next open enrollment. Not sure why ee wouldn't have called shortly after birth for something so important as infant coverage but I I agree with GMK, other than giving SPD reminders of coverage are probably a courtesy rather than a requirement.

If no schedule C because nothing to report, why not submit a Sch C with only plan identification and info blank? If no schedule C because info was not provided, that's a different story.

If made within 30 days of the tax filing deadline they count as 2013 annual additions.

Box 1 is gross amont Box 2 is taxable (usually same as box 1 unless there are after tax contributions being converted) Box 7 Code is G See instructions to Form 1099-R for additional details.

No controlled group. C owns 0% of LLC 1 and this does not have any common ownership and is ignored in the analysis of CG. So only look at A & B and you are left with 52% common ownership and 52% identical ownership so you fail the 80% test. Though nit picking point A/B/C own 101% of LLC#2 in your example.

An expensive lesson, but this is why you don't dump money into the plan until after year end.

Was the actual deposit in 2013 or 2014?

I would say 1/1/14 is eligibility. With semi-annual entry of 1/1, 7/1 everyone hired 7/2 - 1/1 is eligible on 1/1 following year of service and everyone hired 1/2 - 7/1 is eligible 7/1.

Yes it depends on whether or not there is a tax treaty with the country of residence. 30% federal withholding is assumed unless tax treaty exception applies. If you do a search I think there are a number of threads on this.

Does the participant qualify for on of the special catch-ups in the 403(b) plan? Been a long time since I looked at 403(b) rules but there used to be a few that might allow for unusually large contributions. If the answer to my 1st question is no, than the participant needs to receive a 402(g) refund of excess deferrals of $700 +/- gain(loss) no later than 4/15/14. I believe the participant can specify which plan they want the refund to come from but if they do not make an election then I believe the administrator can establish procedures for which plan the refund should come form.

I'm sure there are plans that would benefit from fiduciary liability insurance. I also suspect that the vast majority of plans that are run like austin describes that fiduciary liability insurance is very likely an added expense for very little benefit. edit to add - this just my humble opinion and your mileage may vary

Just thinking out loud but what is the penalty of not providing the notice when you replace the XYZ mutual fund class N with XYZ mutual fund class M where the ONLY difference between class N and class M is that class M expense ratio is lower than class N? This seems like a place where the DOL rules inadvertently hurt the the participants they are trying to help.

I was going to post a picture of the magic-8 ball which is probably as good as any guess about interest rates 3 months from now as anything else but the file size was too big.

Was it a prudent investment? I don't see why the CB plan can't purchase securities from the PS plan to save on transaction costs but maybe I'm missing something.

Damn, we're using the wrong carrier.

I think we do the same as Bird. We also tell them they can call their own carrier but if they don't offer it then here is a link to a website or some such thing like that. It a convenience thing for the client more than anything else. We have no expectation of getting rich off the minimal finder fee which I think is $50 or less.

Max accrued benefit for participant less than 10 years = YOP / 10 * 415(b) $ limit Max accrued benefit for service less than 10 years = YOS / 10 * 415(b) % of pay limit/ Max accrued benefit is lessor of 2 above. You are not limited to accruing 1/10 of the 415 limit per year unless you only have 1 year of participant/service.

How can you ignore the cash/accrual issue? That's going to be many, many plans right there.

If you have good records of your conversations prior to surgery indicating that you relied on their representations that your husband was covered that might go along way in your favor should wind up hiring an attorney to represent you in this down the road.