Agency also publishes changes to annual reporting under ERISA

Last week, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a proposal to modernize and improve the Form 5500 Annual Return / Report filed by private-sector employee benefit plans in order to keep pace with market developments and changes to the legal requirements governing employee benefit plans.

Under Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code, pension and other employee benefit plans are generally required to file annual documentation concerning, among other things, the financial condition and operations of the plan…and the 5500 is the primary source of that information. In addition to serving as an essential compliance and research tool for federal agencies, Congress and the private sector also rely on the 5500 as an important source of information for assessing employee benefits, taxes, economic trends and policies.

Most notably, the revisions appear to require reporting by ALL group health plans covered by Title I of ERISA. This includes eliminating the current exemption from Form 5500 reporting for small insured and self-insured welfare benefit plans.

Implementation of the new forms could begin as early as the 2019 Plan Year.

The Governmental Affairs team continues to review the language of this latest guidance in order to determine if any additional changes have been made, and whether or not TASC will submit public comments by the Oct. 4 deadline. We will communicate further on this topic in the future.