There will be no reprieve for late filings of Form 5500’s for 403(b) plans.  The Department of Labor (DOL) decided not to grant a unilateral extension for Form 5500 and 5500-SF, which was due July 31, 2010. You can, however, file Form 5558 to get a 2 ½ month extension. The DOL believes that the current processes for obtaining an extension meet the needs of plans that need additional time to file. Retaining the deadline also avoids complex and costly system changes.

The American Benefits Council had requested that the deadline be moved to the later of December 31, 2010 or 9 ½ months after the end of the plan year. They were concerned about stress on companies filing a new form or filing for the first time. In addition, the need to file electronically using EFAST2’s Web filing or an EFAST2 vendor was complicated due to the recent completion of software implementation.

The July 31 deadline applies to a calendar year plan.

If you have 100 or more eligible participants at the beginning of the plan year, then you likely need to have your plan audited by a qualified public accountant. For the purpose of the audit requirement, the participants are not simply defined as anyone who has an account balance. Participants also include persons who have met the age and service requirements for participation. However, there is some leeway offered to small plans via the 80/120 rule.

A plan that covers from 80 to 120 participants at the beginning of the year is in the gray area of the audit requirement. Basically, such a plan may choose not to have an audit if it did not need an audit in the previous year. If the plan has more than 120 participants, then it must be audited in the current year and subsequent years as long as it has above 100 eligible participants.

The new Schedule C will help you take a good, hard look at plan fees. The plan sponsor is obligated to ensure plan fees are reasonable. The Department of Labor (DOL) takes this obligation seriously and brought action against NFL player Michael Vick this year for allegedly violating his fiduciary duties as a plan trustee. The DOL alleges that Vick made prohibited transfers (approximately $1.35 million) from a retirement plan to pay for criminal restitution related to his dog fighting conviction.

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Doing your job well means a timely filing of the Form 5500 with minimal disruption to your work schedule. These four things will make your audit smoother, easier and possibly more accurate:

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