Retirement Plan for Volunteer Firefighters (moved from old board)

[Guest CVCalhoun]

This message was moved from the old board, since the discussion was still in progress when the board moved:

Welcome to the board--glad you dropped by!

I seem to recall looking at this issue a long time ago, and finding that it was indeed possible to treat volunteer fire fighters as "employees" for plan purposes. However, their lack of compensation obviously creates some problems with the 403(B) exclusion allowance and section 415 limitations. And I haven't looked at this one in a long time, so I'm not sure what the current status is.

[Note: This message was edited by CVCalhoun]

[Guest CVCalhoun]

This message from Mary Ellen Schill was moved from the old board, because the discussion was still in progress when the board moved:

If you want to set something up for volunteer firefighters, look at Code Section 457(e)(11), which allows length of service award plans for those individuals. This addition to the Code was effective for accruals after 12/31/96.

[Guest CVCalhoun]

This message posted by Al Loomer, MST, CFP, was moved from the old board because the discussion was still in progress when the board moved:

Scenario: Volunteer fire department is separate corporation with 501©(3) Det Letter wants to establish 403(B) with both employer and employee salary deferral contributions. They want to have differing levels of ER contributions depending on job class contributed direct by own(Employees paid by town payroll but not included in town benefits programs).

Questions: 1. Can they do this? 2. Will they be exempt from ERISA under ERISA 4(B)(2) as a government plan? 3. What are their options?

Thank You in advance.

[Note: This message was edited by CVCalhoun]

[Guest Ralph Amadio]

California has recently set up a program for Vol. Firefighters, through CalPERS, which you can find on the Net, and is in congruence with existing federal statute.

As to your specific question, I would question their eligibility for 403(B) as a safety organization, although the 501©(3) throws in a twist.

[Guest CVCalhoun]

Thanks, Ralph!

Al, if you are interested in finding out more about the California volunteer firefighters plan, you can click here. As Ralph says, it is part of CalPERS, which is one of the state retirement systems listed in my listing of state retirement system Web sites.