k man

Are there any rules that preclude a husband and wife from participating in their own flex spending (cafateria plan) at their respective places of employment? If not, how does the 5,000 limit in the regs apply to a situation where the husband and wife each have their own plans?

yes but cant you make the contribution a 3% profit sharing for everyone and make the contribution to the NHCE's subject to no vesting schedule. wouldn't this eliminate the need to do testing?

An employer would like to give a safe harbor non-elective contribution to all NHCE's in the plan. however, he also wants to give a 3% non-elective contribution, subject to the plans vesting schedule, to only the HCE's. I know that this would be permissable if the employer gave the additional non-elective contribution to all the employees but is it ok to just give it to HCE's? Does it have to be tested if it is not be given to all participants? If it is ok, I would also like to know the legal basis or rationale.

A fiscal year plan has been amended to a calandar year with a short plan year. when determining HCE's, what period do you use for the look back year. Do you pro rate (using the short plan year as the lookback year) or do you count compensation for the last full calendar year? a citation would be appreciated.

whether the owner/trustee can make a loan of assets in his capacity as a participant of his participant directed account balance to another participant who happens to also be an officer. this would be different then the typical participant loan.

i am dealing with a plan that is terminating. we directed them to open a plan checking account in order to make distributions. instead they would like to make the distributions via an accountants trust account. can this be done? i do not think so.

Is it a Prohibited Transaction for the owner of a company to make a loan with proceeds from his participant directed account (401(k)) to an employee who happens to be an officer of the company and an HCE?

Is it a prohibited transaction for the sole shareholder of a professional association (law firm)to loan money to the P.A. so that the P.A. can make the annual contribution to the firm's defined benefit plan?

it might be.are you saying that you use the limit that was in place for 2000 (85K) or the equivelant of the amount idexed for 2001?

Can someone tell me the appropriate dollar amount used for the compensation test when determining HCE's. for example, if we are in 2000 and the idexed amount is 85,000 for 2000, would you use 80,000 for the lookback year since that was the level of compensation in 1999 or would you use 85,000 since that is the indexed amount?

How would I design a cross-tested plan where the shareholders/partners want to receive different profit sharing contributions but there is no reasonable business classification in which to differentiate them. can they be classified by name? can they be called class 1 shareholders, class 2 shareholders, class 3 etc.

A participant orginially employed with firm A terminates and does a rollover of her combined 401(k) and profit sharing balance into Firm B's plan. She subsequently leaves Firm B and returns to Firm A and rolls the money back to Firm A's Plan. She then incurs a hardship. Is this rollover money eligible for a harshdship distribution if the plan only allows for hardship distributions of deferrals?

Recently, the President signed the Electronic Signature bill making "digital" signatures legally valid. Is anyone aware of any DOL regulations (pending or published) clarrifying to what extent electronic signatures can be used on retirement plan forms? For example, is it sufficient to get an electornic signature on a Distribution Form. what about spousal consents and notary requirements?

The answer is the failure to make a loan payment when due results in the deemed distribution at the time of the failure. however, the plan administrator may allow a grace period and thus the deemed distribution will not occur until the end of the grace period. conseqently i agree with the prior post but not for the reason given. a corrected 1099 can always be done. because it is past the deadline is not the correct reason.

If a 401(k) plan has immediate eligibility for deferrals but one year for profit sharing and the plan is top heavy for the plan year, who gets the top heavy contribution? all participants or only participants eligible for profit sharing portion of plan?

Is anyone aware of what rules there are, if any, concerning what documents and records must be retained by a TPA firm and in what format? I am specifically concerned with trading confirmations and participant and plan level statements. I would like to store these documents in electronic format such as CD ROM. I dont see any reaon why if the SEC says these documents can be stored electronically that the DOL would have a problem.

i am not sure but i believe the employees are in fact supervised by the company. the leasing company handles the typical leasing company functions while the company retains the right to hire and fire. are you saying that under this scenerio, the employees are still employees of the company and thus you agree there has been no separation from service.

i am not sure but i believe the employees are in fact supervised by the company. the leasing company handles the typical leasing company functions. Are you saying that if they are leased employees, supervised by the employer, they are employees of the plan sponsor?

i guess the way you get there is that the employees are no longer technically employed by the employer. thus, with their change in status comes the question of whether they have had a separation from service. i agree with your latter point concerning the leasing company and i am inclined to think that the employees cannot be paid out based on same desk rule. would be interested in anyone elses thoughts.

A Plan sponsor (company) sells 88% of its stock to 6 or 7 entities. They will continue to use the remaining stock to make aquisitions. The hiring and firing of all the employees will remain under the control of the original plan sponsor entity. however, all payroll and benefits will be handled by a leasing company going forward. should these people get paid out or is it a same desk rule scenerio?

If the plan document accepts rollovers from other plans, is it permissable for a participant to roll from a previous 401(k) plan to a Money Purchase Plan?

i always thought you could get a hardship from your employer source. does anyone have a sample form?

two things: 1) is there any limitation imposed by the regs or code on the amount of a hardhsip distribution? I am aware of the restrictions for the purpose and on earnings but i dont see any amount restriction? 2) does anyone know where i can get a sample hardship distribution form taking into account the 1999 law changes?

Do you think it is a problem if a financial institution charges individual participants a fee for transferring assets in kind that are held in a directed brokerage account (option) contained within a 401(k)? The reaon for the charge is that it takes alot more time to transfer these assets in kind as opposed to liquidation and then rollover. Is this more appropriately a plan expense?

the plan accountant would like to know how to account for the accrued interest after there has been a deemed distribution in a post default situation. I read A19 of the Q&A in the proposed 72p Regulations to say that you disregard the accrued interest after a default except for the purpose of calculating availability of future loans. Thus, there is no interest that must be accounted for or assigned to the participants account as a receivable. Anyone care to comment.