The Shore Tompkins Blog

401(k) Plans

An Update about In-Plan Conversions to Roth

The Joint Committee on Taxation recently clarified provisions relating to the expanded in-plan Roth conversions. As discussed in our March 11 post, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 expanded in-plan Roth conversions to include all pre-tax accounts, whether or...

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What to Know If You’re a Highly Compensated Employee

If you're an owner or top earner at your company you might think that being an HCE is simply a matter of whether your salary exceeds a certain limit. In fact there's more to it than that. Knowing the details can help owners and other HCEs avoid unwanted surprises.The...

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Converting Pre-Tax Contributions to After-Tax Roth

As part of the American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA) signed by President Obama in early January, all 401k, 403b, and 457b retirement savings plans now have the option to allow participants to convert some or all of their pre-tax contributions (namely, pre-tax 401k...

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Deciding Whether to Make Roth 401k Contributions

In our previous post we looked at the concept of the Roth 401k, which is simply the option to contribute dollars on an after-tax basis to a traditional 401k plan (assuming that the plan sponsor has amended the plan document to allow such contributions, as required by...

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QDIA Safe Harbor Upheld in Appeals Court

As noted in our last blog post, for many years retirement plan sponsors have faced a dilemma: How should they invest contributions from employees who won't affirmatively choose at least one investment vehicle for their contributions? More to the point: how to do it...

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The Roth 401k: An Option for Higher Earners

When thinking of retirement, most workers (and their employers) probably associate the name "Roth" with the letters "IRA."  After all, the Roth IRA has been around since the 1998 tax year and has been widely embraced by many individuals seeking to maximize their...

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Cash Balance Plans

Other Retirement Plans

Benefits of Selling Cash Balance Plans (#4 of 4)

As explained in our previous post (#3 in this series), cash balance plans are often easier for business owners (your clients) to understand and offer more flexibility than many other types of retirement plans. And in our second post we clarified how cash balance plans...

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