5500 Preparer's Manual for 2012 Plan Years
The premier resource in the field of Form 5500 preparation, 5500 Preparer's Manual will help you handle the required annual Form 5500 filings for both pension benefits and welfare benefit plans.
The IRS, PBGC, and Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) have issued supplemental proposed changes to the Form 5500 to conform to the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA; P.L. 109280). The PPA changed the annual reporting and pension funding disclosure requirements for plans in the Form 5500 (Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan). In July 2006, just prior to the enactment of the PPA, the IRS, PBGC, and EBSA (collectively, "Agencies") released proposed changes to the Form 5500 (see CCH Pension Plan Guide ¶23,996S.) The Agencies would like to move quickly to incorporate changes by an internal deadline of February 2007, which is required to meet the goal to revise the Form 5500 for the 2008 plan year, as well as implement an electronic filing and processing system.
Modifications in the supplemental proposal would:
replace Schedule B (Actuarial Information) filed by defined benefit plans with separate actuarial schedules for single employer and multiemployer plans;
add new questions to Schedule R, "Retirement Plan Information," to require the additional information required by the PPA concerning defined benefit pension plans;
include a new Part IV to Schedule R for collecting information on funded percentages for defined benefit pension plans with liabilities arising from mergers or transfers of assets during the plan year;
shift asset allocation questions for large defined benefit plans (those with 1,000 or more participants) from Schedule B in the July 2006 proposal to Part IV of Schedule R;
and use Form 5500-SF Annual Return/Report (Short Form 5500), which was a part of the July 2006 proposed changes, to satisfy the simplified reporting that the PPA requires for plans with fewer than 25 participants.
Schedule B (Actuarial Information) would be replaced with two separate schedules: Schedule SB (Single-employer Defined Benefit Plan Actuarial Information) and Schedule MB (Multiemployer Defined Benefit Plan and Money Purchase Plan Actuarial Information) to reflect the significant changes in funding and annual reporting requirements made by the PPA. All money purchase plans would be required to complete Schedule MB, regardless of whether the plan sponsor was a single employer or multiemployer.
Written comments on the proposed Form 5500 modifications must be received by EBSA on or before January 10, 2007. Commenters are encouraged to post comments electronically at http://www.regulations.gov or e-ORI@dol.gov. Alternatively, comments may be submitted to the Office of Regulations and Interpretations, Employee Benefits Security Administration, Room N-5669, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210, Attn: Supplemental Form 5500 Revision (RIN 1210-AB14).
EBSA plans to make mock ups of Schedules SB, MB, and R available on its website.
For more information on this and related topics, consult the CCH Pension Plan Guide.
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