mbozek

Could you please explain the significance of the bolded language in your post. Its a mystery to me.
And could you also answer this question. 42 USC 666(b)(6)© provides that states enacting legislation requiring payment of back child support to a state agency under 42 USC 666(a) must hold the employer liable for amounts which the employer fails to withhold from the income due the employee following receipt of notice from the state agency. Since 42 USC 666 is a federal law state laws enacted to comply with its mandates are not preempted by ERISA (42 USC 666©(3)); therefore if a plan fails to withhold child support from an employee's pension because the state agency is not an alternate payee under IRC 414(p)(8) will the employer will be requiired to pay such amount to the state agency?

Governmental pension plans are exempt from regulation under ERISA, See Daniels-Hall v. National Education Association, 2008 WL 2179530 (W.D Wash). They are also exempt from the Uniform Prudent Investor Act.
State and local government retirement plans are subject to state fiduciary rules that apply to public plans, e.g, CA. However, some states such as FL exempt plan officials from liability for performing their official duties under the doctrine of soverign immunity. FL AGO 89-63.

When the safe harbor reg was issued in 1979 90% of 403b assets were held by TIAA/CREF which had only 2 products - TIAA traditional annuities and the CREF variable annuity. DOL reg did not require that a safe harbor plan add another vendor such as VALIC or Fidelity in order to have a reasonable choice.
I don't see anything in the DOL reg that requires a safe harbor plan to have multiple vendors. No brainer. DOL Q/A-16 is vague as to whether a plan must have multiple vendors because the regulation does not require it and FAB cannot contradict the safe harbor reg.

Does signing the 5500 make the accountant a plan fiduciary under ERISA regs?

If he is getting divorced all of his marital assets are subject to division under state equitable distribution or community property laws. Court will determine spouse's interest in client's pension.
Participant needs to wait until divorce decree and qdros are approved before changing beneficiaries.

When ERISA was enacted in 1974 all contributions eligible for tax deferral under 403b had to be 100% vested. It was assumed that only vested contributions could be counted for determining the 415 limits. However, in the 90's the IRS published some guide line, ruling etc which concluded that for 415 purposes non vested 403b contributions would be included as employer contributions in the year the contributions were made instead of in a later year when they were vested which permitted employees to receive the max amount under the 415 limits in each year they participated in the plan.
So providers began including language that allowed for deferred vesting of 403b contributions up to the 415 limits. To comply with the non reversion provision of ERISA 403c the plans contain a provision that forfeited amounts are transferred to side fund or suspense account in the contract that is used to fund contributions in the following plan year.

I have never seen a w-2 with income that did not have withholding for taxes and FICA. I don't think there is a minimum amt of w-2 wages needed for FICA withholding.

The partner may be a partner in name only but is an independent contractor to the firm who receives a 1099 misc. Law firms designate an IC with clients as a partner to boost the attorneys profile with clients but the partner will be paid as an IC based on his/her own billings. Some law firms designate employees as partners but are paid as w-2 employees.
If the partner is an IC for tax purposes then that person can establish a solo 401k plan.

IRS doesn't care about leaving a state choice of law provision blank because IRS only regulates the tax law. Every ptype /individual plan I have reviewed designates a state law because sponsor wants a law that it is familiar with, e.g, state of incorporation, which will not disrupt its operations. Most financial institutions designate NY because they know the state laws and they do not have to deal with anti business laws in other states which could cause a conflict.
If plan does not designate a state law under a choice of law provision then it runs the risk that a court will select a state law that will be detrimental to the plan sponsor's interest.

This is too complicated to be discussed without having counsel review all of the applicable laws including the rules under FINRA that govern the payment of commissions to registered reps. I know Series 7 brokers who are brokers of record on their own IRA accounts or accounts of family members who avoid ERISA/PT issues by waiving their commissions. I don't know if this would be a PT if the Broker received incentive comp or bonus from plan sponsor for meeting certain level of commission sales even if no commission is paid on the 401k trades. Financial services industry comp is extremely complicated and there are many forms of comp that may be a problem when retirement plans are the client.

What would be the services provided for $5000?
How much is the minimum investment required to open a managed brokerage account? 500,000?

GBurns:
Short answer: You are discussing matters governed by the IRS under the tax laws. EBSA does not regulate or have any oversight over IRC provisions regulating qualified plans. EBSA inquiry is focused on whether employee has a vested benefit in the plan under ERISA TITLE I. If the answer is yes then the benefit must be paid.
If you think about it, allowing plans to deny benefits to employees whose benefits are documented in plan records but which are not confirmed by employment records would be an invitation to deny benefits to all participants where the records of employment are routinely destroyed as part of the employer's document retention policy. It could also be construed as a violation of Section 510 of ERISA.

Just looking at the basics what will be your role in this plan? As a FA you are registered rep which means you can buy/sell securities. RE is not a security. Are you going to be the named or de facto fiduciary. Will your compliance dept approve such a role?
If this going to be a cash balance plan the plan sponsor must hire an enrolled actuary who will design the plan benefit formula and determine what the funding requirements will be. In a Cash balance employer must make annual contributions necessary to meet the minimum funding requirements under the tax law. I have no knowledge of what would be the funding requirements but I think the first step is to hire an enrolled actuary assuming you can find one who would accept an assignment to represent a plan funded solely in RE.
If the plan is invested only in RE where will it get the cash needed to pay expenses, distributions, etc? RE is not a diversified investment like an index fund so there will be limitations on what % of plan assets can be invested in RE.
Another question is what is the exit strategy for the owners? Are they intending to fund the plan for a short period with RE, say 5-10 years, retire, terminate the plan and distribute the benefits. If the FMV of the RE is not sufficient to pay benefits and costs of termination will they contribute more funds?
I am going to stop here because I think establishing a retirement plan solely invested in RE is a really bad idea that I would not want to be associated with.

How do you know that is the permanent address of the participant? If the participant will not accept mail that does not sound like an address you want to send retirement checks to indefinitely. I would apply the forfeiture at MRD provision in the plan until the participant requests the benefits to prevent the checks from being forged.

As I understand it a qualified plan is a plan has adopted all provisions required for compliance with the rules of IRC 401a . It is not required that the plan receive a favorable determination letter from the IRS although tax advisors routinely submitted individually designed plans to obtain the pro forma determination letter to have if the IRS audited the plan.
So now individually designed plans will no longer be able to obtain a determination letter. Will IRS now audit individually designed plans to see if there is a ding which can result in a revenue gain to the govt?
IRS is eliminating determination process for individual plans to reduce costs because every year congress reduces its budget by 3% as payback for the Lois Lerner fiasco. Attitude of congress is that IRS needs less money each year because more tax returns are filed electronically which requires fewer employees. IRS staff has been reduced by 20% in last 5 years.

Its been a while since I checked but I thought that a grantor trust is considered to be the alter ego of the creator of the trust and for tax purposes all income is taxed to the grantor. There is no separate tax entity in a grantor trust.

All individual taxpayers get an automatic 6 month extension to Oct 15 by filing form 4868. There is an automatic mid june extension for US citizens/resident aliens who live outside the US or PR and whose main place of business or post of duty is outside US or PR or are outside the US/PR on military duty. There is no 60 day extension for investors instead of filing form 4868.
I don't know where this guy gets his information.

Under the IRC a couple is considered married for the entire year if they are married at the end of the year. Under IRS regs a qualified plan can be established on the last day of the plan year and employee compensation earned during the plan year can be included in determining the employer contribution for the year. If the couple is married in Nov 2015 and a 401k plan for calendar year 2015 is adopted on Dec 31, 2015 why isn't the plan eligible to be a solo 401k plan for 2015?

All individual taxpayers get an automatic 6 month extension to Oct 15 by filing form 4868. There is an automatic mid june extension for US citizens/resident aliens who live outside the US or PR and whose main place of business or post of duty is outside US or PR or are outside the US/PR on military duty. There is no 60 day extension for investors instead of filing form 4868.
I don't know where this guy gets his information.

Not all partners are equity partners who receive profits from the firm. Law firms have non equity partners who are paid W-2. There may be self employed persons who receive 1099s from the firm who are not eligible to participate in the plan because they are neither employees or partners.
There are many convoluted definitions and rules of employment status created by firms and accountants which only a few key members of the firm are aware of. The managing partner or firm's accountant may need to be consulted to get a correct answer.

He can transfer the deed to an IRA custodian who is willing to hold RE. However the IRA will need to have other assets/cash to pay all expenses attributable to the RE including insurance, taxes, repairs. He will also need to have periodic appraisals and after 70 1/2 take RMDs. Of course he cannot live in the home. He could not substitute cash which would be rolled over to the IRA instead of the deed to the house because the IRS requires that only the property received from the plan can be rolled over.He can sell the home after it is rolled over without being taxed on the sale or collect rent from a tenant if he continues to own it.

OK, here is what is bothering me. I have never had an actuary tell me "here is what the owner needs to deduct on page 1 of 1040." Are there actuaries out there who can attest to whether or not they provide that information? I think I would have seen it by now.

taking out funds to pay the owner's comp within 90 days before the employer declares bankruptcy is a voidable preference.

Since there is no requirement that a qualified plan must accept rollovers into the plan, the plan has discretion as to whether it will accept rollovers and from which class of persons. A plan is not required to accept a rollover from a former employee who has not taken a distribution of the benefits from the plan or from that employee's beneficiary.

More practical question is why would a plan fiduciary add an annuity product to a 401k plan for active participants because the cost of the annuity benefits can add 1 % or more to fees which simply reduce the account balance that compounds tax free. Don't need a tax deferred wrapper in a tax deferred plan. Its better for participants to invest in low cost funds with long term investment goals and purchase an annuity if it is needed at retirement instead of having a small amount invested in an annuity contract that will pay a minimal monthly benefit.