Purchase of Permissive Prior Service In a Governmental DB Plan

[joel]

May a Traditional IRA be used for the stated purpose?

[Guest armstroj]

some years ago (2001) carol calhoun responded to a similar question (it is stll posted) indicating that an IRA could be used to purchase credit because a distribuiton event must have occurred with respect to the IRA balance. she suggested that the plan to plan transfer rules contained in 415(n) (from a 403(b) or 457(b)) were legislatively required because in some circumstances a purchase of time might be desired before a distribution event (permitting the creation of a rollover).

my question is somewhat different. if an ira is used to purchase permissve credit, how should 415 limits be taken into account? is the ira purchase considered an annual addition or is the increase in benefit just tested against the db dollar limit at the time of distribution?