Help, my former company is not rolling over my 401K?

There are very specific time issues that a company has to follow regarding 401(k)'s. go to irs.gov and search on 401k rollover to get specifics.

Send the company a certified letter, return receipt requested and explain everything you have done and provide copies of everything you have already signed and sent to them.

In the letter tell them if this is not resolved you will be contacting the IRS and an attorney.

There is no benefit to the company to not turn over your money so I don't understand their reluctance. The money is yours, not theirs and they cannot even include in their financial reports so I wonder what is up.

Good Luck

All forms should have been provided up front. There are valid reasons that the money can't be distributed yet. Perhaps the annual valuation isn't completed. Would you be willing to take the 12/31/2005 valuation figure as your distributable amount and forgo all of the interest earned over the last year? I think not!

Also, sometimes the document says specifically that distributions will only take place once a year so that people don't quit at bad times just to get access to their 401k.

Lastly, They may only want to pay once a year to avoid having to make residual distributions if the plan is a safe harbor plan where additional contributions have to be made for everyone after the year end.

Check the plan document. It may tell you in there...it also could be simply that they have lost the appropriate documents.

But, if you are truly getting the runaround then contact the Department of Labor. They will initiate the phone call on your behalf. Your employer will jump if the DOL calls them....that's a guarantee!

Who put the money in the 401k account? If it was your money, you should be able to roll over. But for most companies, you are not vested in the employer's contributions to the 401k for a certain period of time. If this is the case with your job and the balance in the 401k represents the employer's contributions, it is likely that you are not yet vested so if you leave th company you won't get that money rolled over anyway.

Outwest,

You have to contact the investment firm directly to roll over your 401(k). The company cannot do this for you.