If you’re working in prevailing wage and doing Davis-Bacon construction, hopefully you have a bona-fide pension plan in place as part of your prevailing wage benefits strategy (if you don’t, then we definitely need to talk!) Assuming this is the case and you do have a bona fide prevailing wage pension plan, there have been a few changes in the requirements regarding the Form 5500 filing that you need to know about!

What is the Form 5500? According to the DOL website, the Form 5500 “is an important compliance, research, and disclosure tool for the Department of Labor.”  The Form 5500 is one piece of ERISA’s mandatory reporting requirements which governs all pension plans; and, of course, because ERISA is involved, that means that all Davis-Bacon contractors are affected. And, while it would be easiest if you could just download it from somewhere, because plan information is specific to the prevailing wage pension plan itself, your administrator will need to create an individual Form 5500 unique to your plan.

So, what’s changed? Earlier this year, the IRS changed the regulations regarding the Form 5500 filing.  Whereas the IRS used to accept paper returns, all returns must now be filed electronically for plan years 2009 and later.  These forms must be filed using the EFAST2, the ERISA Filing Acceptance System 2, no later than October 15th.  The maximum fine the IRS can impose for late filing of the Form 5500 is $15,000 but DOL penalties can be even higher.  Did we mention that the filing deadline is October 15th?

If you have not filed your 2009 Form 5500 yet you should definitely contact your prevailing wage pension plan administrator to avoid any penalties or fees.

Sources:

DOL Website: Form 5500