Entity Issues

Notice 99-6 - Deals with employment tax status of disregard entities.

Employee/Independent Contractor

	ERISA Definition of Employee - The ERISA definition is circular and meaningless
	Section 530 of Revenue Act of 1978 - Rules for controversies regarding worker classification
	Nationwide Mut. Ins. v. Darden - Supreme Court holds ERISA "employee" is same as "common law employee"
	Professional & Executive Leasing v Commissioner - Frequently cited on standards for determining employee status
	Vizcaino v Microsoft - The infamous Microsoft I decision which allowed employees misclassified as independent contractors to participate in Microsoft's plan.
	Wolf v Coca-Cola - 11th Circuit holds clause excluding all but "regular employees" sufficient to excluded arguably misclassified worker
	Capital Cities/ABC v Ratcliff - 10th Circuit upholds exclusion of misclassified workers. Great exclusion clause and strategy.
	Rev Rul 87-41 - The 20 factor test of employment status
	IRS Audit Guidelines on Employee Independent Contractor - Complete statement of IRS position on independent contractors, statutory employees, and section 530 of TRA 78
	Technical Advice Memo dated 7/29/99 - Allows a plan to exclude workers classified as independent contractors

Leased Employee

	IRC 414(n) - Code rules governing leased employees.
	Professional & Executive Leasing (Tax Court) - Classic leased employee case
	Professional & Executive Leasing v Commissioner - Ninth Circuit upholds Tax Court decision in Professional & Executive Leasing
	Vizcaino v Microsoft II Microsoft Continued. 9th Circuit holds that traditional employment tests are used to determined status of staffing firm workers. Opens door for dual status employees.
	Burrey v PG&E - Holds that recipient's common law employees are not leased employees
	Notice 84-11 - The only authoritative IRS guidance on leased employee issues
	GCM 200017041 - Discusses withholding taxes and staffing firms.  Discounts possibility of dual employer arrangements.
	Rev Proc 2002-21 - Gives relief to potentially disqualified PEO plans which adopt multi-employer plans or terminate.  See also Derrin's detailed analysis.

Controlled Groups, Common Control

	Controlled Group Code Sections -- IRC 414(b) and IRC 1563, fully crosslinked with table of contents
	Controlled Group Regulations -- Regulations for 414(b) and 1563, fully crosslinked with table of contents.
	Common Control Rules -- IRC 414(c) and the 414(c) regulations, fully crosslinked with table of contents.
	Cross-Reference Table -- Hyperlink table gives cross references for major issues covered in controlled group code sections, controlled group regulations, and common control regulations.
	United States v. Vogel Fertilizer -- Key Supreme Court case on controlled group status
	Private Letter Ruling 8851079 -- Complex ruling demonstrating application of the exclusion rules and attribution from a retirement trust to beneficiaries.
	Private Letter Ruling 9541041 -- Ruling demonstrating controlled group entities must exist simultaneously.

Affiliated Service Groups

	IRC 414(m) Comparison - 414(m) has undergone several changes through the years.  One cannot understand the proposed regulations without understanding how the Code has changed.  This page gives section 414(m) as it stands now, but marked to show its changes since it was adopted in 1980.
	Proposed Regulations Under IRC 414(m) - 19 years old and the proposed regs. are still virtually all we have!  This copy is fully indexed so you can find what you're looking for quickly.  It includes Derrin's comments on those elements of the regs that are now obsolete.
	IRC 318 Attribution Rules - These are the Code sections with the attribution rules used for a host of retirement plan issues, including traditional affiliated service groups
	318 Regulations - The regulations on the 318 attribution rules are brief but important

General Retirement Plan Issues

	IRC 413(c) - Code and regulations for multiple employer plans
	Who's the Employer column - Derrin Watson's Internet column answering questions about leased employees, controlled groups, affiliated service groups, attribution rules and related issues
	Pension Information eXchange - Outstanding online pension discussion group
	Benefitslink - The ultimate Internet resource for benefits profession