hardship for medical expenses

[52626]

Plan allows safe harbor hardships.

The participant has medical expenses from 2012 that are not covered by insurance.

When the hardship was submitted to the recordkeeper, they denied the hardshsip stating the IRS requires the invoices be within 3 months or less.

Is that true?? If so, is there a site I can refer to regarding this matter.

[401king]

I'd ask them for their citation. The only time "months" is referred to here is regarding the 6 month deferral suspension: http://www.irs.gov/Retirement-Plans/Retirement-Plans-FAQs-regarding-Hardship-Distributions

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[masteff]

Prior discussion:

http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?/topic/51547-hardship-distribution

http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?/topic/43340-proof-of-hardship-needed/

You'll note in the discussion that no one cite's a "3 month" rule because there isn't one.

The two safe harbor hardship reasons that have a stated or implied time frame are "to prevent eviction or foreclosure" (can't prevent something that isn't reasonably imminent) and "next 12 months of post-secondary education". (Interesting, the reg actually says "next 12 months" but the link 401king gave doesn't.)

[QDROphile]

Principle #2: The record keeper is not the boss unless the record keepr is a fiduciary (ask and watch the backpedaling). The determination of eligiblity is a fiduciary matter and the fiduciary must act in the interests of the participant, which may mean no arbitrary restrictions, but reasonable administrative standards are also permitted. If there are administrative restrictions, they should be described in the SPD. Better to have them in the plan document to take pressure off the fiduciary.