DOL Sends Revised 2017 Form 5500 to OMB

The Department of Labor (DOL) has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) the current, 2017 version of the Form 5500 and instructions as a non-material/non-substantive change request. The DOL is not making any program changes to the forms and instructions for 2017.

The DOL has updated the forms and instructions to reflect the reporting year 2017. Revisions include:

• removal of IRS-only questions;

• updates to the Authorized Service Provider Signatures to reflect the ability for service providers to sign electronic filings on the plan sponsor and DFE lines, where applicable, in addition to signing on behalf of plan administrators on the plan administrator line;

• updates to the administrative penalty amounts;

• clarifications regarding plan name changes;

• updates to mortality codes in Schedule MB; and

• a clarification regarding PBGC insurance coverage.

The DOL has updated the hour and cost burden associated with the annual information return/report of employee benefit plan IC to reflect its most recent data on Form 5500 filings and wage rates.

In that data, there were 22,000 additional filings, which led the hour burden to increase from 550,000 hours to 583,000 hours. Increased wage rates led the cost burden to increase from $232,880,000 to $266,073,000.