"I have a few clients who provide an unfunded death benefit for their retired employees. It is a relatively small amount ($2,000-3,000), but not small enough to qualify for the remembrance fund exception under ERISA. I am curious how other handle the 5500 filings for these benefits. These are larger employers, so there's a high participant count. Do you typically see these programs having their own filing, or wrapped with other welfare benefits? Does the large participant count create issues? (Since it is difficult to track the number of retirees at any given time and enrollment is not required to be covered.)"

"Anyone else tried playing around with the ChatGPT AI system by asking employee benefits questions? Not perfect, but you can definitely see where this is heading. https: //chat.openai.com/"

"I have became aware of recent bulletins from the insurance regulators in several states that appear to require health insurers to cover treatment (and testing) related to monkeypox without cost-sharing during the public health emergency (PHE) declared by the federal government for monkeypox. I am not aware that the federal PHE declaration for monkeypox requires insurers to cover testing and treatment for monkeypox, so this appears to be an action initiated by state regulators. Unfortunately, some of these bulletins provide no exception for HSA-qualified plans so I'm concerned that both bulletins are problematic for HSA account owners with state-regulated HDHPs. Has anyone else come across these situations? CA All Plan Letter 22-019 - Health Plan Coverage of Monkeypox Testing, Vaccinations, and Therapeutics.pdf NM Bulletin 2022-17 Monkeypox PHE.pdf"

"Does anyone know if there is an established process to request a refund of a Form 5500 penalty from the DOL? Client paid the penalty to stop the bleeding (it was sent to collections) but intends to try and work it out with the DOL. Thanks."

"Can you make is so that employees that were terminated in the year will not receive a QNEC or a QMAC for that year?"

"just wanted confirm my understanding that if a plan does not provide meaningful benefits to enough eligible employees for the plan year, but then adopts an amendment after the year end but before 10/15, that this does not impact the valuation for the year preceding the amendment. For example, 10 eligible ees and only 3 have meaningful benefits for year X. In year X+1, a timely amendment is adopted to correct the (a)(26) error for year X. There is no change to the valuation for year X and the 5500 for year X, yes?"

"(Cross-posting) Does anyone know if there is an established process to request a refund of a Form 5500 penalty from the DOL? Client paid the penalty to stop the bleeding (it was sent to collections) but intends to try and work it out with the DOL. Thanks."

"I have some general knowledge on this - I know property can't be contributed to a DB plan - but can't seem to figure out where to research more deeply. A sole proprietor is asking if he can contribute CDs by transferring them. I think the answer is no but need to be pointed in the right direction. There are certainly issues having to do with potential gains and losses at the point of transfer, but might CDs be considered "cash"?"

"I received a QDRO where the Participant is a US citizen but the AP is not. Since the AP doesn't have a SSN, he would like to provide his ITIN instead. Are there any issues with using an ITIN or with the AP not being a US citizen? It should be noted that the AP is actively seeking citizenship, although that is no guarantee, of course. I can't think of any issues, but I just thought the community here could help me brainstorm if there is something I'm not considering. Thank you!"