IRS and ESOPs
Kudos to Vineeta Anand's exposure of the unreasonable position of the IRS that, as far as the ESOP community is concerned, is anti-employee in the April 14 Conrail ESOP story on page 2.
The employee ownership community is upfront about the ownership risks in a capitalistic society; but we also promote the idea that responsible ownership can lead to substantial reward.
With this convoluted interpretation of Code Section 415, the IRS has slammed the door on employees reaping the rewards ownership because their stock value appreciated.
There is no reason not to permit ESOP participants, such as those in the Conrail example, to have their money.
Ms. Anand is one of the first journalists to explain this travesty in the press.
Hopefully, her investigative reporting will lead to our officials blowing the whistle on this rather bizarre IRS position.
J. Michael Keeling
President
The ESOP Association
Washingtonm
UAM'S DC SERVICES
UAM Retirement Plan Services Inc. missed your March 31 directory of defined contribution service providers.
UAM serves more than 45,000 participants from 109 sponsors for bundled services (including in-house investment management) as well as investment management only.
It serves 35,000 participants on an exclusive basis for bundled services including in-house investment.
It provides the following services to defined contribution pension plans: plan design; employee meetings; generic and customized employee investment education; generic and customized employee communications; compliance and reporting; and consulting services.
The following services are offered through a 24-hour toll-free, automated phone system: account balances and transfers; operator assistance; foreign language capability; changes to current and future allocations; loan requests and processing; performance data; fund information (e.g., prospectuses); retirement planning assistance; contact with client service representatives; enrollment; contribution rate changes; and loan modeling.
Investment management services, provided through UAM affiliated firms, include daily valuation of accounts, mutual funds, separate accounts and GICs.
The affiliates have $1.2 billion under management for defined contribution plans.
It has record-keeping arrangements with InvestLink Technologies; third-party administration partnership with Kwasha Lipton; and trust/custody arrangements with Chase Manhattan and Fleet.
I am the client contact at (212) 730-8500.
Nicole Deluca
UAM Retirement Plan Services Inc.
New York
Letters to the editor may be sent to Barry B. Burr, editorial page editor, at 740 N. Rush St., Chicago, Ill. 60611; by e-mail, to [email protected]; or by fax, to (312) 649-5228.
