AXA Equitable offers a range of plan services for both you and your employees.

For You

 AXA Equitable offers many tools and services to help you administer your plan. 

• A plan document and plan document updates,
• Sample information sharing and hold harmless agreements, employee salary reduction agreement, and related employee notices needed for compliance purposes,
• Bulletins, alerts, and personal communications keeping you and your staff up-to-date on 403(b) issues, and
• Transaction-monitoring assistance for all EQUI-VEST^® variable annuity contracts, including:
  • • Tracking contributions and contribution limits; monitoring loans, withdrawals, and required minimum distributions; and maintaining information required by IRS regulations.
    •  Reviewing/approving hardship distributions and monitoring related suspensions of participant contributions.
    • Online access to the data you needed for recordkeeping and compliance. 
  • Our Employer Plan Administration Center lets you and, if applicable, your third party administrator (TPA):
    • View your plan’s cumulative EQUI-VEST^® account balance information
    • Look at participants’ EQUI-VEST^®  account information, including:
      • Year-to-date and total contributions to their accounts by source;
      • Year-to-date inbound/outbound transfers, exchanges, and rollovers in their accounts;
      • Amount and type of distributions taken year-to-date;
      • Current available loan amount; and
      • Outstanding loan balance, date the loan was taken, and (if applicable) loan default amount.
• Upload contribution files with EQUI-VEST^®contribution information.
  Access EQUI-VEST^® participant information needed to evaluate loan and/or hardship withdrawal requests
• View general plan information, including a list of your plan’s approved investment providers, their contact information, and whether they’re approved for contributions, transfers, and/or exchanges.

For Your Employees

AXA Equitable also provides services that help your employees monitor their accounts and make informed decisions about their retirement planning, including:

• Online account access to their EQUI-VEST^® accounts.
• Detailed statements and confirmation notices.
• Communications -- such as retirement savings education materials, enrollment assistance, and individual annual reviews  -- provided by your employees’ personal financial professional. These reviews can help satisfy the annual meaningful notice requirement under 403(b) plan universal availability rules.
• Periodic financial analysis to help employees identify their financial objectives, set a course for financial success, and ensure that their assets are appropriately allocated in each phase of their lives.
• Access to an array of investment options within their contracts.
• An extensive portfolio of financial products.

Annual enrollments are the minimum required by 403(b) regulations. However, more frequent opportunities to enroll or change contributions are beneficial to employees because they let employees respond to their changing financial needs more than just once a year.

Plan Documents

On December 11, 2008, the Internal Revenue Service gave employers a “transitional period”  to comply with certain key provisions of the final 403(b) regulations, including the requirement to adopt a written 403(b) plan document.

The final regulations state that employers sponsoring 403(b) plans for 2009 must adopt a written plan document before January 1, 2009. Since many employers expressed concern about meeting this deadline,  the IRS has given employers until December 31, 2009, to adopt a written 403(b) plan document, provided the plan meets all other requirements under the final regulations.

It is important to emphasize that the IRS has not delayed the effective date of the final 403(b) regulations. The IRS has simply given employers additional time to comply with the regulations with respect to adopting a written plan document.

The IRS will not treat a 403(b) plan as failing to satisfy the final regulations during 2009 provided that:

• A written plan document is adopted before December 31, 2009 with an effective date of January 1, 2009,
• The plan document is written to comply with the requirements under the final 403(b) regulations, and
• Through 2009, the employer operates the plan in compliance with the final regulations. This means that all transactions during 2009 must satisfy the regulations as of January 1, 2009. Before the end of 2009, the employer must make a good faith attempt to correct any mistakes made during the operation of the plan during 2009. These corrective measures must be retroactive to January 1, 2009 and  must comply with the principals of the IRS’ Employee Plan Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS) in Section 6 of Rev. Proc. 2008-50.

A plan document must include:

• A comprehensive list of approved investment providers,
• Terms and conditions of your plan (e.g. whether loans, hardship withdrawals and/or Roth 403(b) contributions are permitted), and 
• Provisions required for compliance with the final IRS 403(b) regulations.  

AXA Equitable has 403(b) plan documents available for employers in public schools and 501(c)(3) organizations. Our plan documents and ongoing support are available at no cost to public schools and non-ERISA 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations where AXA Equitable is named as a provider in their plan. Plan documents are available for ERISA organizations for a small fee.

PenServ Plan Services, Inc., an independent third party administrator (TPA), provides administrative support and regulatory updates for AXA Equitable’s 403(b) plan documents. By selecting AXA Equitable as an investment provider in your plan, you may work with PenServ to obtain a plan document regardless of whether you use PenServ third party administrator (TPA) services for compliance support.

To obtain a plan document, call your financial professional, or call PenServ’s toll-free number dedicated to AXA Equitable clients — (866) 289-6049 — and speak to a PenServ plan consultant.

You will need to complete a questionnaire to obtain an AXA Equitable plan document.

Questionnaire for public school employers

Questionnaire for non-ERISA 501(c)(3) non-profit employers

Questionnaire for ERISA 501(c)(3) employers 

Please be advised that this web content is not intended as legal or tax advice. Accordingly, any tax information provided in this web content is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, by any taxpayer for the purpose of avoiding penalties that may be imposed on the taxpayer. The tax information was written to support the promotion or marketing of the transactions(s) or matter(s) addressed, and you should seek advice based on your particular circumstances from an independent tax advisor.

AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company, NY, NY and AXA Advisors, LLC, member SIPC, are affiliated companies. Securities are offered through AXA Advisors, LLC. AXA Equitable has sole responsibility for its annuity and life insurance obligations.

AXA Equitable and AXA Advisors do not provide legal or tax advice. Please consult your legal or tax advisor as to your specific situation.

GE-44470 (rev 3/09)