403 (b) plan

[Guest irothenberg]

I the Non-profit that sets up a 403 b plan for it's employees. what are the responsigilities of of the non profit - sdo they have to approve the individual investments available for employees. Is the level of oversight different from the level required of a 401 K plan trustee.??

[ETA Consulting LLC]

I the Non-profit that sets up a 403 b plan for it's employees. what are the responsigilities of of the non profit - sdo they have to approve the individual investments available for employees. Is the level of oversight different from the level required of a 401 K plan trustee.??

No. You'd typically approve the 'vendor or vendors' that will be allowed to offer their investments to the employees. This is much different than selecting the individual investments. You would also need a written plan, but you're involvement may be limited to merely transferring the employee deferrals to the vendor to deposit into the individual accounts. This is, typically, the minimal level of involvment. If you were to fund "employer contributions" to the plan, then that would constitute another level of involvement. If you do so, you "may" want to structure the contribution in a manner to avoid problems with non-discrimination testing. It's not hard to do, but you'd want to remain fully informed on the impact of your design.

Good Luck!