(b)lines Ask the Experts – No Plan Document
August 24, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR (b)lines) – A 403(b) plan does not yet have a written plan document, what should the plan sponsor do?
Ask the Experts
(b)lines Ask the Experts – Dual Entities
August 17, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR (b)lines) – A hospital is both an instrumentality of a state or a political subdivision of a state within the meaning of Code section 414(d) and a separate corporation recognized...
(b)lines Ask the Experts – Universal Availability and Excluding Compensation
August 3, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR (b)lines) – A reader asks: “Does the Universal Availability requirement mean that the plan document cannot exclude certain items of compensation for purposes of...
(b)lines Ask the Experts – Universal Availability and Immediate Deferral
July 13, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR (b)lines) – A reader says: “I have been told that the new regulation for Universal Availability requires employees be allowed to defer immediately to...
(b)lines Ask the Experts – Church Plans and State Laws
July 6, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR (b)lines) – A reader says: “What is the duty of a nonelecting church 403(b) plan to comply with state law, for example in the...
(b)lines Ask the Experts – Summary Annual Reports
June 29, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR (b)lines) – A reader says: “I had heard that Summary Annual Reports (SARs) were not required for 403(b) plans. Has this changed with the...
(b)lines Ask the Experts – Transfers vs. Rollovers
June 15, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR (b)lines) – A reader says: “Our 403(b) Plan document indicates that transfers from the plan to another 403(b) plan are not permitted. However the Plan document permits direct rollovers to...
(b)lines Ask the Experts – Leased Employees
June 8, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR (b)lines) – A reader asks: “Does 414(n) apply to a 403b? I know a 403(b) plan can only cover common law employees, however after...
(b)lines Ask the Experts – Required Minimum Distributions
May 25, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR (b)lines) – “Several years ago, we amended our 403(b) plan to comply with the changes in the regulations regarding minimum required distributions, so that...
(b)lines Ask the Experts – Correcting for Ineligible Participant
May 18, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR (b)lines) – “A governmental 457(b) plan covers only full-time employees, but a part-time employee has contributed to the plan since 2008. To remedy this...
(b)lines Ask the Experts – Who Counts as a Participant
April 27, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR (b)lines) – “Who should I be counting as a participant for the new requirement that large 403(b) plans obtain an independent accountant's opinion (i.e.,...
(b)lines Ask the Experts – $5,000 Cash Out Rule and Individual Contracts
April 20, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR (b)lines) – A plan provider asks: “When a plan is funded by individual contracts, can a plan document impose the $5,000 small-sum cash out rule?”
(b)lines Ask the Experts – Distribution Restrictions Following Exchanges
April 13, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR (b)lines) – A plan provider says: “A 403(b)(7) plan has employer matching and employer non-elective contributions in addition to elective deferral contributions. The plan...
(b)lines Ask the Experts – Special Tax Rules for Clergy
April 6, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR (b)lines) – A plan provider says: "If a minister who is 59 ½ (and is in a church 403(b) plan that allows distributions at...
(b)lines Ask the Experts – Can Existing 403(b) Balances be Converted to a Roth 403(b)?
March 23, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR (b)lines) – A plan sponsor says: "One of my employees has indicated that recently passed legislation would permit her to convert her existing 403(b)...
(b)lines Ask the Experts – Where's the Fees?
(PLANSPONSOR (b)lines ) - A 403(b) plan sponsor says: "I keep hearing about all of these fees investment providers charge, yet I do not pay any fees direct...
(b)lines Ask the Experts – Managing Vendors Outside a TPA Arrangement
(PLANSPONSOR (b)lines) – A representative to public educators notes that many public school employers eliminated low-cost 403(b)(7) options when choosing their compliance solutions to the new regulations.
(b)lines Ask the Experts – ETFs in a 403(b) Plan
"Are exchange-traded funds (ETFs) permissible investments in a 403(b) plan?"
(b)lines Ask the Experts – Waiver of Participation in a 401(a) Plan
January 26, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR (b)lines) – A county government employee does not want to participate in the county's money purchase plan, in which only employer contributions are made.
(b)lines Ask the Experts – We Want Our 403(b) Back
January 19, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR (b)lines) – A tax-exempt organization terminated its deferral-only 403(b) plan in 2008 and started a new deferral-only 401(k) plan on January 1, 2009.