DOL Releases Advance Copies Of 2007 Form 5500

Washington – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation today released advance informational copies of the 2007 Form 5500 Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan and related instructions.

Pension and welfare benefit plans required to file an annual return/report regarding their respective financial conditions, investments and operations each year generally satisfy that requirement by filing the Form 5500 and any required attachments.

Modifications to the Form 5500 for plan year 2007 are described under “Changes to Note” in the 2007 instructions. Significant changes include:

• A new simplified reporting option for eligible plans with fewer than 25 participants required by the Pension Protection Act (PPA).
• Revised Schedule B instructions to reflect the updated mortality tables and the list of codes used for valuation purposes, as well as for calculating current liability for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2007.
• Instructions that caution certain filers that, due to form changes required by the PPA that will appear in the 2008 Form 5500, they will have to wait for the 2008 forms rather than using the 2007 forms if they must file a 2008 short plan year report.

This package represents the ordinary annual release of information copies of the forms and instructions for 2007. Revisions of the Form 5500 package for 2009 along with electronic filing and EFAST2 changes are expected to be released soon.

Information copies of the forms, schedules and instructions are available online at www.efast.dol.gov. Filers should monitor the EFAST Web site for information on approved software vendors for completing the 2007 forms and on the availability of the official government-printed forms. Advance copies of the 2007 Form 5500 cannot be used for 2006 plan year filings. For general assistance, contact the EFAST Helpline at 1.866.463.3278.