DOL: Stop Including PII on Form 5500 Filings

The Labor Department wants you (and your clients) to stop including Personal Identifiable Information (PII) on Form 5500 filings.

Scott C. Albert, QPA, Chief of the DOL’s Division of Reporting Compliance, explains that the agency makes the information in Forms 5500/5500-SF available to the public through the EFAST website, and it is therefore important that these filings be amended to ensure that PII is protected and not be available to the public.

For example, the Form 8955-SSA signature page and schedule may list one or more participant names, full Social Security numbers and other PII.

The DOL has attempted to remove PII from filings, Albert notes, but “only by amending them can we (and you and your clients) be certain that the PII is protected.” 

Remedy Rx

In an effort to efficiently remedy these situations, Albert has been reaching out to filers identified in these filings informally—but an informal email from a Labor Department official regarding a filing amendment might well be viewed as spam or a phishing attempt. But the request, and the need for adherence, is legit.

When you receive an email from the Labor Department about this issue:

• remove the entire Form 8955-SSA, including the signature page;
• check the “amended filing” box in line B; and
• respond to the DOL’s email to inform them that the filings have been corrected.

And make sure not to include any part of the 8955-SSA in future Form 5500/5500-SF filings.

You’ll also want to make sure that Forms 8955-SSA were filed directly with the IRS. For instructions, visit https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8955ssa.pdf.

Albert also comments that the Labor Department would like filers to stop attaching the 8955-SSA signature pages going forward because they set an example for future preparers to file the 5500s with complete 8955s, including participant details. For now, however, the Labor Department strongly recommends—but is not insisting—that these filings be amended.

NOTE:  The filing instructions already provide a caution against the inclusion of PII. See below.