Labor Department Announces Plan to Correct Non-Standard Form 5500 Returns/Reports

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Washington, DC - The U.S. Department of Labor’s Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration announced today that it is returning plan year 2000 Form 5500 Annual Returns/Reports filed on non-standard forms, which cannot be processed by the department’s new computerized ERISA Filing Acceptance System (EFAST). The department’s plan gives affected filers an additional 60 days to resubmit their forms in an acceptable format.

PWBA has received approximately one million plan year 2000 filings to date. The agency estimates that about 5 percent of the filings received were submitted on non-compliant forms. Beginning this week, these filings will be returned unprocessed to filers. The returned filings will be accompanied by letters that provide guidance to filers on how to make the necessary corrections.

For the 2000 plan year filings only, filers will be granted 60 days to resubmit their returns/reports on either official government printed forms or on forms generated using vendor software that has been approved by the government. The 60-day period commences from the date the non-compliant filings are mailed by the department to the filers. A compliant filing that is resubmitted within the 60-day period will be deemed “filed” on the original date the non-compliant filing was received by the department.

PWBA’s Assistant Secretary Ann L. Combs said, “The new EFAST system enhances our ability to protect the employee benefit plans of working men and women by improving the timeliness and accuracy of the information filed with the department. As part of Secretary Chao’s 21st Century workplace initiative, the new system will assist the federal government, plan administrators, and the workforce. Also, we hope non-compliant filers take advantage of the opportunity to resubmit correct forms.”

PWBA, however, cautioned that filers who do not resubmit their 2000 reports in an acceptable format will be subject to penalties for non-compliance under section 502 (c)(2) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

Official forms may be obtained from the Internal Revenue Service by calling 1.800.TAX-FORM. The list of approved software vendors can be found on the EFAST web site.

Filers may check on PWBA’s receipt of their 2000 plan year filings by calling the PWBA Help Desk at 1.866.463.3278 and by selecting option 3.

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Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.