Pension Design Services, Inc.

PDS was founded in 1984 as a fee-for-service third party pension administrator. Our goal is to make it as simple as possible for you to establish and maintain a qualified plan. We pride ourselves on our availability, depth of service and integrity. Each member of our senior staff has more than 15 years of pension related experience.

While we do not directly handle plan assets, we have close relationships with many investment money managers. These relationships allow us to directly feed your plan asset information into our pension software, simplifying the year-end data collection process.

What We do

Installation/Restatement

There must be a "Plan" in existence prior to the end of your fiscal year. PDS provides you with the necessary documents and forms, and also assists with plan design. You will be provided with a handy Administration Binder that contains pertinent information. The following is a summary of our normal Installation/Restatement services.

Plan Design Assistance
Prototype Adoption Agreement and Plan Documents
Specimen Adopting Resolution/Amendment
Summary Plan Descriptions
SPD Receipts
Beneficiary Designations/Enrollment Forms
Administration Binder
Prompt for Plan Federal ID Number and ERISA Fiduciary Bond

Annual Administration

The 5500 Series tax forms must be filed annually with the IRS. Also, an annual "Valuation" is necessary to determine contribution limits and allocation, investment earnings and forfeiture allocations, termination benefits, vesting, new participants, etc. Below is a summary of our normal annual services.

At the end of each plan year we will ask you for an updated census and other specific Trust Account information necessary to complete the annual services.

Complete Valuation
IRS Filing with Schedules
Individual Benefit Statements
Summary Annual Reports
Top-Heavy Testing
Comment Page
Compliance and Design Review
Mandated Amendments and Restatements as needed
Calculate Maximum/Minimum/Optimum Employer Contribution
New Participant direction and assistance
Terminated Participant distribution direction and assistance
Form 1099-R, as needed
Nine-Month and Final 401(k) ADP/ACP Testing

What's Involved

What does it take to set up and maintain a plan? The following answers some often-asked questions.

Proposal Stage

Employer provides Census and Client Profile, noting Employer objectives
Proposal package prepared with comparisons and suggestions
Proposal package is mailed or delivered, depending upon proximity.

New Plan Installation

Employer or Investment Professional notifies PDS of decision to proceed.
PDS or Investment Professional calls/meets with Employer to finalize plan design.
Installation materials are delivered (Adoption Agreement and Checklist, Adopting Resolution, Fee Schedule and Service Agreement).
Employer signs/executes installation materials and returns to PDS.
Investment Professional leads 401(k) Employee Enrollment Meeting(s).
Employer begins 401(k) Employee deferrals and deposits.
Administration Binder, SPDs and other installation materials are sent to the Employer.

Annual Services

Data Collection packages are sent to Employer two weeks before plan year-end.
Employer completes and returns updated census along with annual investment statements. PDS can automatically retrieve your annual investment statements if you use the following providers: Minnesota Life, Manulife, Hartford and Scudder. E-census is available and PDS can automatically retrieve all census data for clients using Northeast Payroll Service (NPS).
Employer should contact PDS prior to making distributions, loans, etc.
Investment Professional assists with making deposits and withdrawals.
PDS advises regarding excess deferrals after 401(k) ADP testing, as well as other required testing results.
PDS will run two contribution scenarios, if requested, for discretionary plans. Additional scenarios are possible at an additional fee.
5558 Extension form will be prepared one month before the IRS Filing Deadline if the Valuation and 5500 is not yet delivered to the Employer.
Completed Valuation package and 5500 is usually delivered several weeks after we have the last of the data collection materials. PDS advises about new and terminated Employees and many other issues.
Signed 5500s are returned to us and we mail to the government on your behalf.
Employer notifies PDS of participant distributions and PDS prepares 1099-Rs and 945 if they are not automatically provided by the investment.

Additional Services for Traditional 401(k) Plans

Census and deferral information is requested for Traditional 401(k) Plans in the ninth month of the plan year.
Employer completes and returns nine-month census and deferral information.
Preliminary ADP Deferral Testing is done, giving the Employer options before the end of the plan year.

Take Over Plan

The process starts by providing copies of many plan materials:

Current Adoption Agreement and Plan Document
Initial Adopting Resolution and subsequent Amendments
Copy of current Summary Plan Description (not needed if plan is to be restated)
IRS Determination Letter (if applicable)
Copies of last five Annual Valuations and 5500 IRS Filings
Listing of all distributions, transfers, contributions, deposits and loan payments (including premium payments) for each participant in the Plan since the last valuation date.
Copies of all loan amortization schedules, loan agreements, promissory notes for each outstanding loan
Plan documents are usually updated. This is a good time to consider changing some plan features. We take great care not to cut back on certain guaranteed benefits.
Will plan assets transfer to a new investment? If so, the former investment usually provides the breakdown by participant at the point of transfer.
Former service provider must be notified of the date their responsibility ends.