RPP2001

FACTS: Plan offers J&S. A beneficiary form is on file for X Participant and the beneficiary is a non-spouse beneficiary. Spouse consents to the non-spouse beneficiary. If X Participant's vested balance exceeds $5,000 and X Participant requests an age 59 1/2 in-service withdrawal, must a waiver of annuity form be signed by the spouse considering the facts above? In other words, since the spouse already consented to X Participant's death benefit being paid to a non-spouse beneficiary, is a waiver of annuity form needed for a distribution taken by X participant while living? Thank you.

When ranking employees based on compensation, do you cap the compensation at the comp limit ($225,000 for 2007) or do you use actual compensation (i.e. use $310,000 if someone made that amount)? Thanks in advance.

Thank you for that distinction. To add to my original post, I have a plan that was effective 1/1/07 which failed the ADP test and $10,000 is being recharacterized as catch-ups between 2 HCEs (who are also key EEs) for 2007. Is this $10,000 included in the account balances on the 12/31/07 determination date for the 2007 top heavy ratio? If so, since this is a new plan, is that top heavy ratio used to determine the 2008 top heavy status?

If a plan fails its ADP test but recharacterizes some of the deferrrals for an HCE, can those recharacterized amounts be disregarded for top heavy purposes? It appears based on my initial research that you can disregard "catch-ups" for top heavy purposes, but only for the plan year in which they are made. I need to verify that "catch-ups" in this case can be disregarded even though the amounts weren't over the 402(g) limit - they were just recharacterized due to a failing ADP test.