What do DB benefit plans, DC plans and 403(b) annuity arrangements have in common? Yes, there’s the obvious. But also, they all are retirement plans that must file the dreaded and onerous Form 5500. And for most of them, the clock has begun to tick on filing the form that reports on 2013.
Advisors and others should remind their plan sponsor clients that they must file the form by the end of the seventh month after the end of a plan year. Since most plans set their plan years to the calendar year, most plans have to file by July 31. So calendar-year plans must file the Form 5500 that reports about their employee benefit plans for 2013 by July 31, 2014. However, plans that use the federal fiscal year — Oct. 1-Sept. 30 — have to file by April 30.
Those dates may seem like they are a long way off. But filers that let the calendar lull them into a false sense of security do so at their peril. The form is long and complicated, and gathering the information needed to fill it out and file it can take time.
So who has to file? With regard to retirement plans, DB and DC plans covered by ERISA must file the Form 5500. They must do so electronically, using the DOL’s EFAST-2 system.
The DOL made one change for 2013 filing that is relevant to retirement plans. It added a new element 5c to Line 5 of Schedules H and I that asks DB plan filers whether the plan is covered under the PBGC insurance program. And the DOL removed Plan Characteristic Code 1G, previously used on line 8a of the Form 5500 to identify plans covered by the PBGC insurance program.
John Iekel is Senior Writer at ASPPA, as well as Editor of the ASPPA Net and NTSA Net web portals.
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