scarabrad

Supremely helpful and I greatly appreciate the input. As it turns out, there are 2 children of the deceased, a 31 yo competent independent adult and her brother who apparently has fairly severe autism and cannot manage his affairs. The family is relatively clueless with respect to financial affairs and that's where I have offered to help, as a completely independent bystander/family friend. No one has any clue how much the decease accumulated over his 10+ year work career. It could be a pittance or reasonably sizeable. Ultimately, the intent was to provide some support for the autistic child (that is the general sense I get from discussions with the family). I am not a lawyer nor do I have any semblance of power of attorney to step in and am only getting involved because I am reasonably financially savvy, love a challenge and yes, get the best massage on the planet from my masseuse. Adds several days or months to my life. Thank you, again, for your input. I'll keep you all posted as developments arise.

That is super helpful as is. No one can get any details whatsoever on the plan provisions so not sure where they can go from here. Tough situation for the entire family as no one really knows how to proceed (thus why I have offered to get involved). Much appreciated! SR

Hi esteemed experts! Not in the business but have benefitted greatly from your input and expertise as I navigate retirement planning for my own business. Here's a strange situation and I am looking for some basic guidance. Bullet points for simplicity 1) My masseuse is vietnamese. Her sister's spouse/sig-other passes away suddenly. He has assets in a 401k 2) The deceased did not trust his wife with funds (and they were not legally married) so he decided to put my masseuse (his sister in law) as the beneficiary of the 401k assets with the understanding that funds would be used for the benefit of the deceased's child (single child). 3) Somehow, the beneficiary name was my masseuses first name and the deceased's LAST name (they are unrelated and not married). The deceased, apparently, did not understand English well, nor the ramifications of this but thought if he put his sister-in-law's first name and his last name, that somehow it would work out in the end. 4) So.....401k has a non-existent sole beneficiary (there is NO ONE with the legal name ascribed to beneficiary status, essentially a made up name), the deceased was never officially married to the now widow and the intent was for the 401k to go the widow's sister for management purposes (my masseuse, a very intelligent, caring and trustworthy individual). I have offered to call the 401k admin to explain the situation and get some advise (I believe it's empower), but they won't talk to anyone who isn't associated with the account (not my masseuse, not the widow, no one), nor will the employer get involved. How does one even begin to address this (state of Massachusetts). Will the assets eventually escheat to the state? Are we talking legal counsel and a drawn out process? To top it off, no one knows how much the assets are and whether or not it is even worth pursuing (could be hundreds, could be hundreds of thousands). Any takers for this bizarro situation? Thank you! SR

HI folks, Need some help from the experts. I had two employers last year in 2017 and mistakingly overcontributed around $5200 in employee contributions across two distinct unrelated 401k plans. My second employer originally told me that I could not remove the excess from their unmatched account, so I removed it from my previous employer's 401k. In doing so, I lost out on an identical match from my old employer. My current employer now tells me that I may, in fact, be able to remove the excess from my unmatched supplemental retirement plan. Is there any way to reverse a distribution of excess contributions from my previous employer? The distribution to me occurred about a week ago and I still have not cashed the check. Is this an allowable transaction? If so, I'd like to undo it and take the funds from my current employer's unmatched plan. Thoughts? Thanks in advance. SR

https://www.businessofbenefits.com/2018/03/articles/403b/a-403b-psuedomorph-the-irss-gradual-shift-on-applying-415-limits-to-403b-plans/ SpiritRider...you've chimed in on this issue time after time and have been very helpful with respect to this issue of aggregating 403(b) contributions with non-affiliated group retirement plans. Do the details in the above article change the rules somewhat, such that there is no longer concern about having to aggregate the total employee + employer limit for a 403(b) participant. In prior discussions, you have stated that I am considered an "owner" of my hospital-based 403(b) plan and, as such, would be limited with respect to solo-401k contributions I could make from my side income to a total of $55,000, due to aggregation rules. Does this no longer hold true? Anyone else have an opinion. Thanks, in advance, to the very smart and informative folks on this board (especially you, SpiritRider!) Scarabrad

Solo DB plan (one participant). Assume plan docs do not limit the window. Thank you all for useful and erudite input.

That was precisely the scenario about which my original post was trying to address, perhaps confusingly so. Thank you very much for your input!

My 2 cents, Thanks for the response (worth at least 4 cents, IMHO!) So, if the section 415(b)(1)(A) limits increase in the future to $240,000 (from current $210k), does the benefit at age 62 adjust to meet that increased benefit under future 415(b)(1)(A) or is it limited to the 415(b)(1)(A) limits in place at the time the 415 high-3 average was earned (and thus would be limited to ~$210,000 currently in place.)

I'm confused. I thought the maximum annual benefit payable by a defined benefit plan was $210,000 for 2014, $215,000 for 2013, $200,000 for 2012, etc? Where does the $160,000 limitation come into play?

But, hypothetically speaking, what if the benefit amount rises (adjusted for inflation) to, say, $255K in future years (ie, 2025, c/w $205K in 2013), when the plan participant is still earning income and the plan remains active? Would the fact that the 3 highest years averaged $255K were from 2012-2014 prevent one from capturing the higher benefit amount in the future? In essence, if the 3 highest years (current, 2012-2014) of compensation reach the maximum annual compensation limit for 2012-2014, does that "protect" or allow for benefit increases in the future, as the maximum allowed benefit rises, adjusted for inflation? Thanks in advance.

For 2014, the maximum amount of compensation taken into account for plan purposes will increase from $255,000 to $260,000. If one has net schedule C income of $250k for 2012, $255k for 2013, $260k for 2014, does this allow annual adjustments to the maximum plan year annual benefit payable through a defined benefit plan at retirement (currently $210,000 for 2014). Anticipated retirement date is 2033 at age 62. For example, if the maximum annual benefit adjusts upwards to $255k by 2025 (hypothetically speaking), will the fact that net schedule C income for 3 consecutive years (2012-2014) averaged $255k allow the annual benefit to adjust upward to the new max of $255k, even though the 3 highest year net Sch C income was accrued in 2012-2014? Appreciate any input! SR

Wholly unrelated.

Folks, Let's say I have 3 employers, from all of whom I receive W2s at year-end. These employers offer different match arrangements for their 401Ks. For assumption sake, let's say I can put away $10,000 with employer A and they contribute $32K (match) to my 401K. For employer B, I put away $5000 and they put away $8000 (match) For employer C, I put away $2000 and they put away $5000 (match) By year end, I will have made 17K of salary deferrals and my employers will have put away $45K on my behalf. Is this legal, given that the total contributions on my behalf (my own and my employer matches) equals $62K, which exceeds the $51K limit? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Numbers are hypothetical, but generally accurate. SR

If one is making a maximum allowable DB plan contribution for plan year and intends on making a 6% net schedule C income profit sharing contribution to a DC plan, as well, can that 6% additional contribution be made to a previously established SEP-IRA that hasn't been funded for the past 2 years or need one set up a 401(k) plan to make that 6% contribution? Thanks in advance! SR

GeerTom, I am simply a W2 employee of both institutions which are entirely unrelated. I have no ownership interest. How does that affect my situation? Thanks for the input thus far!