Advance Copies of 2020 Form 5500 Released

The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), the IRS and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation have released advance copies of the 2020 Form 5500 and the Form 5500-SF, as well as their schedules. They will be used for reporting information pertaining to the 2020 plan year. 

The advance copies are informational only—they are not to be used for reporting and filing. Copies that can be used for actual filing will be released later.

What’s New for 2020 Reporting

The agencies have made the following changes to the form and schedules for 2020 reporting: 

• Use of Form 5500-SF. The Form 5500 and Form 5500-SF instructions have been revised to reflect that the Form 5500-SF can no longer be used by a one-participant plan or a foreign plan in place of filing the Form 5500-EZ with the IRS. Effective for plan years beginning after 2019, one-participant plans and foreign plans can file the Form 5500-EZ electronically using the EFAST2 filing system.
• Administrative Penalties. The instructions have been updated to reflect an increase to $2,233 per day in the maximum civil penalty amount assessable under ERISA Section 502(c)(2), as required by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015. The increased penalty under Section 502(c)(2) is applicable for civil penalties assessed after Jan. 15, 2020, whose associated violation(s) occurred after Nov. 2, 2015. 
• Schedule H Part III – Accountant’s Opinion. To conform to the new Statement on Auditing Standards 136, “Forming an Opinion and Reporting on Financial Statements of Employee Benefit Plans Subject to ERISA,” the instructions for the questions on line 3a regarding the accountant's opinion have been revised. Line 3b and its instructions have been updated to permit filers to indicate more accurately whether there have been any permissible limitations on the scope of the audit under DOL regulations.
• Schedules H and I, Line 4l and Form 5500-SF, Line 10f. The instructions have been revised to increase the required minimum distribution age from 70½ to 72 to conform to the relevant amendment to the Internal Revenue Code in the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act of 2019.
• Schedules H and I, Line 5c. The line has been revised to make clear that if the plan was covered by the PBGC at any time during the plan year, filers should check the “Yes” box.
• Schedule R: Line 14. This line has been revised (1) to provide multiemployer plans with a choice of three counting methods to count inactive participants and (2) to require that an attachment be provided depending on the counting method chosen.

A plan that reports a number on lines 14b or 14c that differs from the corresponding number it reported for the plan year immediately preceding the current plan year also must attach an explanation of the reason for the difference. Plans may no longer leave lines 14a, 14b and 14c blank.

Additional information, as well as copies of the forms, schedules and instructions are available here.