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403(b): The Burning Questions
Presentor: Stephen W. Forbes Recorded Date: 3/17/2010 Duration: 100 Min.

Description

This s a recording of a program presented live on March 17, 2010.

The DOL has just issued its third Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) in the last three years dealing with 403(b) plans. The new FAB addresses two issues of vital interest to 403(b) practitioners: (1) To what extent must a 403(b) plan report pre-2009 contracts on its Form 5500; and (2) When is a deferral-only 403(b) plan subject to ERISA. The resulting Q&As yield several surprising results and answer some long-held practitioner questions.

Our March 17 Web seminar explores both of these issues. We look at when a 403(b) plan is exempt from ERISA. If the plan is subject to ERISA, we examine the issues involved in filing Form 5500. We tell you both what we know and what is still uncertain, and give you plenty of details and examples.

Topics include:

  • ERISA status of 403(b) plans
    • Exemption for government and church plans
    • Statutory exemption for deferral-only plans
    • Regulatory safe harbor
    • Effect of FAB 2007-02 on safe harbor
    • New insights from FAB 2010-01
      • Reasonable choice of vendors and products
      • Single-vendor plans
      • TPA making discretionary decisions
      • Availability of optional features
      • Discontinuing vendors
      • Employer-initiated vendor change
    • Effect of multiple plans
  • Form 5500 filing issues for 403(b) plans
    • Filing requirements
    • Availability of 5500-SF
    • Audit requirements
    • FAB 2009-02 relief for Pre-2009 contracts
    • New insights from FAB 2010-01
      • Participant loans repayments
      • Contract exchanges
      • Auditor involvement
      • Employer knowledge
      • Employer consent to distributions
      • Late contributions Extent of relief
      • Selective reporting
    • Participant count issues
      • Effect of participants who choose not to defer
      • Effect of pre-2009 contracts
      • Availability of 80/120 rule for 2009

Objectives: After the seminar, attendees will be able to:

  • Determine whether a 403(b) plan is subject to ERISA.
  • List the factors which would make a tax-exempt 403(b) plan subject to ERISA.
  • Apply strategies to avoid ERISA status.
  • Determine which contracts are exempt from 5500 reporting requirements.
  • Correctly apply the exemption for pre-2009 contracts.
  • Correctly determine participant counts for purposes of Form 5500 for plans using the pre-2009 contract exemption.

Speaker: Stephen W. Forbes, J.D., LL.M.

Prerequisites: The speaker will assume that attendees are familiar with 403(b) plans and Form 5500 filing requirements in general, but will not assume familiarity with whether 403(b) plans are subject to ERISA. There are no other prerequisites or advance preparation for this program.

Level: Intermediate

Instructional Delivery Method
Recorded playback of live presentation. 

Objectives:
After attending this presentation, the participant will be able to assist a client to correct failures in its nonqualified plan documents, at the lowest possible cost.

System Requirements:

  • Windows 95, 98, NT 4.0 , 2000, XP
  • Internet Explorer 4.01 or later, Netscape 4.08 or later
  • 56K modem connection or better (128K recommended)
  • Pentium 166+ MHz, 128MB RAM or more
  • 800x600 or higher display resolution
  • Soundcard, Speakers

Recorded Event Time Limitation:
This recorded event will be available for 20 days from your date of registration.

Program related requests, questions, or concerns may be e-mailed to: relius.education@sungard.com.