Alan Simpson

Does the document allow you to take TPA fees from the plan assets. If so, charging a distribution fee may work for you. While the DOL position is that you should not charge a participant a fee for taking a distribution, reasonable fees can be taken from the plan for making distributions. In this case the only participant left is the one getting the distribution, but the fee is being charged against the plan assets, not the participant. (I know that this is splitting hairs).

What about the fact that IRAs can be subject to creditors if the participant falls upon hard times, where a qualified plan is out of the reach of creditors.

I don't know of a way to copy within Relius (Quantech). However, you could always use the CENSUS DER routine to import your allocation percentages from an ASCII file. All you would need to do is setup a spreadsheet with the SSNs of the individuals and the put the appropriate investment percentage in columns. You then setup a CENSUS DER routine that imports the Secondary allocation percentages.

The loan origination fee is not an in-service withdrawal. It is a fee paid from the plan that just happens to be allocated to a specific participant instead of to all participants.

I have looked at the Final Regulations and Question 20, which deals with mutiple loans, does not have an answer. I agree that Question 20 in the propsed regs did have an answer.

Check your plan document to see if the participant can even elect-out of the plan. Most standardized prototypes do not allow for a participate to elect-out. Instead you must use a non-standardized prototype to allow the election to not participate.

Do ALL the notes allow for the note to be called? Otherwise you probably won't be able to call the note and you will have to continue with the loan program for the existing loans. You could however stop allowing new loans since they are not a protected benefit.

It performed like it should have, but that was over 4 years ago so it could have changed since then.

Docman is a McKay Hockman product and you can find more information at http://www.mhco.com or call them at 973-492-1880. I do not currently use Docman, but have done so in the past.

I have a client that is having trouble access the web module using Netscape. Has anyone else had this problem?

What would you do if the investments in the account take a nosedive? For example (yes I know the example is extreme but it illustrates my point): Beginning Balance of $1,000 P/S Contribution of $1,000 put into account at quarter end Earnings from Investments of $-1,000.00 (account lost 50%) New account balance $1,000.00 Now, if the PS is not actually due to the Employee would you take out the $1,000 or only the $500? If you only take out $500, then you are not giving the Employees who are due the PS their appropriate amount or are making them suffer for the investment designation of the termianted Employee. When we get PS contributions to plans with a year-end requirement we place it in a money market account for the plan and allocate it and the earnings at the end of the year. Yes, the participant may "lose" out on some earnings, but then again, the money didn't have to be deposited into the plan until the tax filing date for the Employer.

Is anyone using a color laser printer with QT and Crystal Reports. We would like to start using one but due to the high cost we do not want to purchase it until we are sure that it will print properly. I know that Quantech has performed a limited test on the HP 4500DN printer, but was curious if there were users already using a color laser printer.

Okay, I do agree that there could be a penalty for failing to deposit taxes when due (IRC 6656). However, IRC 6656 says “In the case of any failure by any person to deposit (as required by this title or by regulations of the Secretary under this title) on the date prescribed therefore any amount of tax imposed by this title in such government depository as is authorized under section 6302© to receive such deposit, unless it is shown that such failure is due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect, there shall be imposed upon such person a penalty equal to the applicable percentage of the amount of the underpayment.” However, basically for the penalties to apply there has to be a willful neglect to pay them. I think there would be a strong argument that this was not willful neglect but just good ol’ “stupidity”. There may be interest due on the taxes that should have been paid, but I think the penalties could be avoided. That being said, I stand by my original posting.

There should be no problem regarding the 20% withholding since according to the initial question "He did include the income on his taxes so he did pay all taxes due". This makes the 20% withholding a mute point. Therefore, the outstanding problems are: 1. Was there a distributable event (i.e. distribution after NRA, in-service withdrawal, etc.)? If not then the plan needs to go through a corrections process. 2. According to the original question there was no 1099 issued for the distributions. How did the client include the "distributions" as income? I believe that a 1099-R should be issued for the distributions even though it is filed late and the client may need to file a corrected tax return. This may also necessitate a corrected 5500. 3. If a premature distribution penalty is due (10% penalty), was that paid? I would guess so based upon the statement that “he did pay all taxes due.” 4. What procedures have been put into place to ensure that this scenario does not happen again? In response to Mary Kay and the requirement for withholding, I agree with you. But then again, this is a mute point since the client has paid the taxes.

I agree with Tom. I know of no way to settle part of a trade within QT.

How about "Salary Deferral Agreement"?

Am currently working with two separate trust companies. One has Sungard series 7 and the other has Sungard Charlette Navigator. Is there anyone who is connecting to these systems and Quantech 5.0 for trade instructions?

Has you plan limits table been update to the $10,500 or is it at $10,000 for the 2000 plan year? If it is still at $10,000 that probably is the root of the problem.

What if the plan doesn't allow after-tax contributions?

Try www.freeerisa.com. If I remember correctly this site will let you look up 5500's and give you the 5500 and print it free of charge. However, if you want the schedules attached to the 5500 you have to pay.

If you will give me your e-mail address I will provide you with a couple of firm names that provide E&O insurace. Neither of which is located in the state we do business.

I want to access my Quantech workstation from outside the office but do not necessarily wish to use the software (terminal server) recommended by Corbel. Is anyone using packages like PcAnywhere, etc to do this? If so are there any limitations or problems? [This message has been edited by Alan Simpson (edited 06-08-2000).]

As a TPA that allows plans to have self-directed accounts I would like to point out a few things. If the plan participants are required to use a specific broker the Plan Administrative Committee/Trustees are still retaining some fiduciary liability since they are requiring the participant to use a specific broker, not the broker of the participant's choice. While generally this may not really matter, it could if you have a participant with a large account balance and a down market. The participant could then be upset with the investment advice from the broker and possibly go against the company because the participant was "forced" to use a specific broker. If the company really wants to lessen its fiduciary liability they should review a number of brokers and allow the participants to pick and choose from those brokers as well as offering a few mutual funds (maybe 6 or 7) for those that do not wish to have a brokerage account. When a participant indicates that they would like to use a broker that is not on the "approved broker" list, some due diligence shold be performed to determine whether that broker could be added to the "approved" list. Be aware, that self directed account need to be watched carefully to avoid any possible prohibited transactions, that the broker is aware of the approved investments according to the plan document/investment policy, and that recordkeeping fees for the plan will more than likely increase due to the extra time to reconcile multiple accounts. Historically, it seems that the participants with large account balances are interested in the brokerage account while the smaller account balances are more likely to use a select group of mutual funds, if offered.

I am in the same situation as you are and just received a refer of two locator services, one of which boosts a 90% finding rate. If you will e-mail me I will give you what little info I have on these companies. ------------------

There was one recently titled "30 Serious Errors in Pension Calculations". If that is the one that you are looking for I believe it can be found at www.ncrb.com/errors.html