Advisory Opinions

Requests for interpretations and other rulings under Title 1 of ERISA are handled by the Office of Regulations and Interpretations under the provisions established by ERISA Procedure 76-1. The office answers inquiries from individuals and organizations in the form of advisory opinions, which apply the law to a specific set of facts, or information letters, which merely call attention to well established principles or interpretations.

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**1986**
AO/ Date/ Reference	Recipient	Description of Request
1986-07A 02/03/1986	Mr. William Stix Attorney at Law 230 South Bemiston Street Suite 410 St. Louis, Missouri 63105	Whether the St. Louis Police Relief Association's program of benefits is excluded from ERISA title I coverage by ERISA section 4(b)(1) as a governmental plan defined in ERISA section 3(32).
1986-06A 02/03/1986	Mr. J. Paul Jacobson Quarles & Brady 780 North Water Street Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202-3589	Whether a benefit program provided by the Firemen Relief Association of the City of Milwaukee is a governmental plan within the meaning of section 3(32) of title I of ERISA and therefore is exempt from coverage under that title pursuant to section 4(b)(1) of title I of ERISA.
1986-05A 01/21/1986	Mr. Daniel B. Stone Ivins, Phillips & Barker 1700 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20006	Whether a state law relating to state and municipal taxation of "elective deferrals" of income by participants of plans qualified under section 401(K) of the Internal Revenue Code does not "relate to" an employee benefit plan within the meaning of section 514(a) of ERISA and is therefore not preempted by ERISA.
1986-04A 01/21/1986	Mr. John P. Gallagher Schubert, Bellwoar, Mallon & Walheim 1330 Two Penn Center Plaza Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19102-1890	Whether the Retirement Income Plan for the employees of the Sisters of Mt. St. Joseph Convent, Chestnut Hill, is a church plan within the meaning of section 3(33) of title I of ERISA and, accordingly, whether it is excluded from coverage under title I of ERISA by section 4(b)(2) of title I of ERISA.
1986-03A 01/13/1986	Mr. John P. Gallagher Schubert, Bellwoar, Mallon & Walheim 1330 Two Penn Center Plaza Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19102-1890	Whether the Merion Mercy Academy Defined Benefit Plan, which is established for for the benefit of lay employees of Merion Mercy Academy; the Convent of the Sisters of Mercy at Merion, Pennsylvania; McAuley Convent; and Waldron Academy, is a church plan within the meaning of section 3(33) of title I of ERISA and, accordingly, whether it is excluded from coverage under title I of ERISA.
1986-02A 01/09/1986 408(b)(2)	Mr. Peter A. Kennedy Senior Vice President Associate General Counsel Shearson Lehman Brothers Inc. 14 Wall Street New York, NY 10005	Whether Shearson/American Express Inc. Retirement Plan’s five individual trustees may retain American Express Asset Management to manage assets held in trust with respect to Shearson/American Express Inc. Retirement Plan and any plans that Shearson may maintain in the future, and that Asset Management may be paid reasonable compensation by Shearson and its participating subsidiaries for performing such services, without engaging in a prohibited transaction under section 406 of ERISA.
1986-01A 01/02/1986	Identification Number: F-3177A	Whether the retention by the Plan of an undisclosed company to provide services to the Plan as plan administrator and the payment by the Plan of the direct expenses of the undisclosed company allocable to performing such services (which expenses include the reasonable compensation of employees of the undisclosed company) do not constitute prohibited transactions under section 406 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.

**1985**
AO/ Date/ Reference	Recipient	Description of Request
1985-43A 12/17/1985	R. Gregory Barton Vanguard Fiduciary Trust Company Vanguard Financial Center Valley Forge, Pennsylvania 19482	Whether the investment of plans assets in the MAS Trust and the provision of services under that collective investment arrangement by MAS would be prohibited under section 406 of ERISA.
1985-42A 12/16/1985	Mr. Don D. Carlson Dorsey & Whitney 2200 First Bank Place East Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402	Whether the Insurance Plan and Trust of the North Dakota Auto and Implement Dealers (Intrust) constitutes a single "employee welfare benefit plan" within the meaning of section 3(1) of title I of ERISA
1985-41A 12/05/1985	Mr. Gerald V. Dandeneau Suite 4, North 10 One Huntington Quadrangle Melville, NY 11747	Whether fiduciaries of a plan can lawfully rely upon a plan provision to the extent it would purport to establish a trustee's term of appointment as lifetime under section 404(a)(1)(D) of ERISA which requires fiduciaries to act in accordance with the plan documents and instruments, insofar as they are consistent with titles I and IV of ERISA.