Harwood

Kirk: If I sue my employer because Automatic Enrollment is contrary to state law, don't I start in state court? What would happen next?

But that opinion from the California Dept. of Industrial Relations has not stopped many California employers from implementing automatic elections. Each one probably hopes they are not the first one to go to court to see if ERISA pre-empts state law on this issue.

Does the "Uniform Simultaneous Death Act" come into play?

An ex-employee who is doing the same job for the same employer is very unlikely to be an Independent Contractor.

Don't know about regs - how about 213(d) itself? (9) Cosmetic surgery. (A) In general. The term "medical care" does not include cosmetic surgery or other similar procedures, unless the surgery or procedure is necessary to ameliorate a deformity arising from, or directly related to, a congenital abnormality, a personal injury resulting from an accident or trauma, or disfiguring disease. (B) Cosmetic surgery defined. For purposes of this paragraph , the term "cosmetic surgery" means any procedure which is directed at improving the patient's appearance and does not meaningfully promote the proper function of the body or prevent or treat illness or disease.

Does the power of attorney document reference the plan name or specifically state that it applies to distributions and actions regarding an ERISA qualified plan? If there are no specific references to a qualified plan, the power of attorney can be rejected, even if it is a blanket POA that says it applies to everything.

Payments from non-qualified plans are W-2 income. Consult your payroll department on withholding issues.

ERISA Outline Book 2004: "A safe harbor plan is deemed not to be a top heavy plan (even if the top heavy ratio, if calculated, would exceed 60%) if: (1) the plan consists solely of a safe harbor 401(k) arrangement, as described in IRC §401(k)(12), and, (2) to the extent there are matching contributions made to the plan, all of the matching contributions satisfy the ACP safe harbor prescribed by IRC §401(m)(11). See IRC §416(g)(4)(H), as added by EGTRRA §613."

This sentence appears in DOL Reg 2520.102-3(l) [that's parenthesis letter L, not number one]: "Plans also shall include a summary of any provisions that may result in the imposition of a fee or charge on a participant or beneficiary, or on an individual account thereof, the payment of which is a condition to the receipt of benefits under the plan." I don't think it relates to investment fees.

IRS Publication 517 http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p517.pdf "Designation requirement. The church or organization that employs you must officially designate the payment as a housing allowance before the payment is made. A definite amount must be designated. The amount of the housing allowance cannot be determined at a later date. If you are employed and paid by a local congregation, a resolution by a national church agency of your denomination does not effectively designate a housing allowance for you. The local congregation must officially designate the part of your salary that is to be a housing allowance. However, a resolution of a national church agency can designate your housing allowance if you are directly employed by the agency. If no part has been officially designated, you must include your total salary in your income."

A complex subject, to be sure. From the "2004 Tax Guide For Episcopal Ministers & Churches" http://download.cpg.org/pensions/publicati...ce_taxguide.pdf "The IRS has announced that retired ministers are eligible for a housing allowance exclusion if the following conditions are satisfied: 1. a portion of a retired minister’s pension income is designated as a housing allowance by the church pension board of a denominational pension fund; 2. the retired minister has severed his or her relationship with the local church and relies on the fund for a pension; 3. the pensions paid to retired ministers “compensate them for past services to the local churches of the denomination or to the denomination.” Retired ordained ministers who receive benefits from the Church Pension Fund have all of their benefits designated in advance as a housing allowance, including payments received from the Church Life Insurance Corporation’s 403(b) plan. This is a very attractive benefit for retired ministers that is not available with some other kinds of retirement plans."

Alanm: "Disclosing all fees in the SPD is a requirement under title 29 CFR 2520.102-3(1)" Are you sure of the cite, i.e. the (1)?

From the 10990-R instructions: Loans that are treated as deemed distributions or that are actual distributions are subject to Federal income tax withholding. If a distribution occurs after the loan is made, you must withhold only if you distributed cash or property (other than employer securities) at the time of the deemed or actual distribution. See section 72(p), 72(e)(4)(A), and Regulations section 1.72(p)-1. Employer securities and plan loan offset amounts that are part of an eligible rollover distribution must be included in the amount multiplied by 20%. However, the actual amount to be withheld cannot be more than the sum of the cash and the FMV of property (excluding employer securities and plan loan offset amounts). For example, if the only part of an eligible rollover distribution that is not a direct rollover is employer securities or a plan loan offset amount, no withholding is required. However, any cash that is paid in the distribution must be used to satisfy the withholding on the employer securities or plan loan offset amount.

A few odd characters but here it is: PLR200252093.pdf

You want 200252093

200252097 is re: "IRA is permitted to remain open in name of descendent's deceased spouse and minimum distributions from IRA may be payable to trust. Minimum distributions for tax year and future tax years will be calculated on life expectancy of decedent's oldest child using the applicable life expectancy table."

I got this from Joan Gucciardi after one of her 1999 presentations. An article by Cheryl Morgan giving details was due to appear in the Autumn 1999 issue of The Journal of Pension Benefits. 27REASON.DOC

http://www.sablaw.com/files/tbl_s10News/Fi...1/916044_11.pdf My favorite line: "Perhaps most significantly, under the proposed regulations, if any Deemed IRA fails to satisfy the applicable requirements to be a Traditional or Roth IRA under Code section 408 or 408A, the entire plan will be treated as failing to satisfy the plan’s qualification requirements."

"If you are a surviving spouse, an alternate payee, or another beneficiary, your payment is generally not subject to the additional 10% tax described in Part III above, even if you are younger than age 59 1/2." from the Special Tax Notice Regarding Plan Payments

After-tax is not found on a W-2 unless the employer decided to use an optional memo field to report it to the employees. However, year-end payroll registers/"master control" reports should have the grand total for each year. So, if the payroll records are still stored somewhere . . .

When these several employees eventually receive a 1099-R - check this box: "Box 2b—Taxable Amount not Determined Enter an “X” in this box only if you are unable to reasonably obtain the data needed to compute the taxable amount. If you mark this box, leave box 2a blank unless you are reporting a traditional IRA, SEP IRA, or SIMPLE IRA distribution. Except for IRAs, make every effort to compute the taxable amount." Participant, sadly, is responsible for determining the basis that is non-taxable.

Mr. Tripodi says to "Obtain repayment of the incorrrectly paid distributions" [page 15.609 in 2004 editon]

Edited excerpt from Corbel document: In the event a distribution is to be made to a minor Beneficiary, then the Administrator may direct that such distribution be paid to the legal guardian, or if none, to a parent of such Beneficiary, or to the custodian for such Beneficiary under the Uniform Gift to Minors Act or Gift to Minors Act, if such is permitted by the laws of the state in which said Beneficiary resides.

Proposal is very generous. Be sure to clearly define "immediate family"

smm - is the person actually working?