"Is electing the source of an in-service distribution a protected benefit? Potentially an optional form of benefit? Or maybe not protected as an 'administrative procedure for distributing benefits'? I'm not asking about removing in-service distributions entirely. This is a scenario were currently participants are able to elect which account (e.g. pre-tax, after-tax, rollovers) the distribution comes from. Would it be impermissible to eliminate this election and instead institute a policy whereby any in-service distribution is taken from all accounts on a pro-rata basis?"

[Sponsored]

Don’t miss presentations by ASC’s Principal Attorney, John Griffin, J.D., LL.M. & Chief Actuary, Valerie Lopez, FSA, EA, MSEA, MAAA. And visit us at Booth 205 to learn why ASC is an industry leader in retirement plan software and ERISA Education.

"A social service agency we just inherited sponsors a 401(a) Thrift Plan. The only contributions allowed to the plan are discretionary employer 'Profit Sharing' contributions; no employee contributions are permitted. The Plan has been filing the Form 5500 series, and, since it has greater than 100 participants, has been audited by an independent accounting firm; however, the last audit performed for the plan was for PYE 6-30-2019. For 6-30-2020, the prior accounting firm attached the company financial statement to the 5500 filing, and for 6-30-2021, the accountant's opinion section was left completely blank. I have not personally dealt with a 401(a) plan for a long time, and I seem to remember that 401(a) plans are not subject to ERISA, and therefore, not subject to Form 5500 filing requirements. Therefore, should this thrift plan even be filing a 5500? The though of having to go and do a 6-30-20, 6-30-21 and 6-30-22 audit is making our assurance department head very sickly….."

"Client wants to retroactively change plan year to calendar year for the 2023 Year. Previously plan used a 7/1 to 6/30 year, so we would need to amend plan to have a short year of 7/1/2022 to 12/31/2022, making the plan year be the calendar year for 2023. I am recommending that the plan year be changed for 7/1/2023 to end 12/31/2023 but investment advisor is pushing to do the change retroactive as noted above for 2022. Any comments will be appreciated."

"For term vested pension plan participants who receive a copy of their benefit statement at or about termination, is there some kind of minimum that the Plan Sponsor is supposed to provide them with benefit statements when asked, like say once per year or 3 years? Is it fair for their prior employer to charge them for multiple requests?"

"Participant taking RMD's died. Spouse was taking Participant's RMD's, by subtracting 1 each year from the life expectancy in year of death of Participant. As Spouse there was no 10 year distribution requirement. Spouse has now died, so grown children will now be receiving the RMD's. I believe the factor continues to be subtracted by 1 each year, and then fully paid out within 10 years of Spouse's death. Question is -- the factor is pretty small due to older age at death, so, after taking the current year RMD, can the remaining balance be fully rolled over to an IRA to avoid such large RMD's?"

"We don't have any plans for 'Foster Care Providers' where this would be an issue, so this is simple curiosity on my part. Anyone dealt with this issue on a real plan or plans? Do you specifically question this when gathering annual census data, since it isn't taxable income?"