EGTRRA Conformance

[Guest Jose Rosario]

EGTRRA Nonconforming States-- does anyone disagree that we're down to eight: Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Kentucky, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Wisconsin.

[Guest MES]

I was on the Kentucky state website last week, and it appears they are now in conformity.

[david rigby]

In North Carolina, our state budget problems are pretty serious. In addition, the legislature is dealing with the issue of redistricing, especially sticky since the state supreme court thru out the first attempt. Difficult to know, but it seems very possible that the legislature will not deal with any EGTRRA conformity when it convenes later this month. In the meantime, this link summarizes the issue, as written by the state department of revenue http://www.dor.state.nc.us/practitioner/eg...ra_pension.html

[Guest Jose Rosario]

Thanks for the responses.

Pax, NC's write-up is extremely informative. That they took the time to develop it indicates that there must be some clamor for conformance in NC.

MES, I've been to the Kentucky home site but I cannot locate any discussion on EGTRRA; any suggestions as to where I might look?

[david rigby]

Additional NC information.

Today, May 14, is the first day of the legislative session. Action on anything will take a back seat to re-districting. On this website, http://www.ncleg.net/ it appears that several previously scheduled committees meetings, on diverse topics, have been canceled. One of those is the Revenue Laws Study Committee.

[david rigby]

Update on NC:

There is proposed legislation to bring the NC tax code in conformity with the US tax code. However, I was informed today by one of the sponsors that passage of that bill does not appear likely.

[Guest Jose Rosario]

Arizona has conformed. By my count, we're down to five nonconforming states:

Arkansas, Hawaii, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Wisconsin.

Does anyone disagree?

[John A]

I don't necessarily disagree, but I do have comments/questions on some states you do not list:

California: While it is currently a conforming state, a California taxpayers association has sued to block implementation of the conforming bills. Does anyone know the current status of that suit?

Maine: Did final EGTRRA conformance include deductions for qualifying educational expenses and credit for state death taxes, or are these still open issues?

New Jersey: Does EGTRRA conformance include or exclude 403(B) and 457 plans?

Alabama and Georgia: Did they both go to full conformity, or is there still some question about state tax deductions for age 50 catch-up contributions (age 50 catch-up would be allowed but would be taxable at the state level)?

[Kirk Maldonado]

Check out:

http://www.americanbenefitscouncil.org/doc...pdate061002.pdf

[John A]

On 5/13/02, Benefits Link showed an excerpt from a Birmingham new source:

Excerpt: "Michael Mason, director of tax policy for the state Department of Revenue, says Alabama law conforms to federal law on the initial contribution increase. He says the problem is the catch-up provision. 'Those people will still be able to contribute the higher amount, but it will be taxable for Alabama purposes,' Mason says.... [L]egislation that would have brought Alabama into compliance with the catch-up provision failed during the recent legislative session."

However, Alabama is not on any list of nonconforming states that I have seen.

Does anyone know if Alabama fully conforms to EGTRRA including the catch-up provision, or does Alabama actually only partially conform, so that Alabama does not conform to age 50 catch-up provisions?

[david rigby]

According to this, Alabama is not at issue.

http://www.americanbenefitscouncil.org/doc...update72602.pdf

[Tom Poje]

In fact, according to the notes only Wisconsin, North Carolina and Arkansas are nonconforming.

And Arkansas doesn't convene until 2003...fun stuff. They would have to retroactively conform to EGTRRA. now that is really screwy.

[JanetM]

Item on 7/26/02 benefitslink said governor signed bill conforming to EGTRRA. So I think we are down to Arkansas and NC.

[John A]

I agree that Arkansas and North Carolina are clearly the only fully nonconforming states. However, is it not still true that there are issues in:

New Jersey for 403(B) and 457 plans?

California due to the suit to block the EGTRRA conformity bills that were passed?

Also, I wish I could find something that said that Michael Mason of Alabama stated that Alabama is fully conforming.

Pax, I believe the list you refer to showed Alabama as a conforming state at the time Mr. Mason made his comments - that is what bothers me. Was Mr. Mason wrong? Or does the list reflect only a partial truth? The same list does not mention New Jersey at all, despite the EGTRRA conformity problem in New Jersey for 403(B) and 457 plans.

Does anyone disagree with any of this post?

[david rigby]

This just posted on BenefitsLink:

http://www.dor.state.nc.us/practitioner/EG...RA_pension.html

To this NC observer, it is quite a surprise due to the impact on revenues, probably not noticed by most legislators.

[mbozek]

NJ only excludes employee contributions to a 401(k) plan.

[Guest Therese]

Apparently NC now complies with EGTRRA too.

http://www.dor.state.nc.us/practitioner/EG...RA_pension.html

[John A]

Has the Arkansas legislature convened, or when will it convene in 2003? How soon might they take action regarding EGTRRA conformity?

[Guest Jose Rosario]

According to the Arkasas Dept. of Finance and Admin, the legislature is currently convened, and EGTRRA is one of the issues being debated, though no vote has yet been taken.

[Guest Jose Rosario]

On February 26, 2003, Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee signed Arkansas Senate Bill 107 into law (Act 218 of 2003). The bill amends the Arkansas tax code to follow the Internal Revenue Code as of January 1, 2002, in conformity with the provisions of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief and Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA).