Monday, June 06, 2005
Tweet[IWS] GAO: Private Pensions: Government Actions Could Improve the Timeliness and Content of Form 5500 Pension Information. GAO-05-491, June 3.
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
Private Pensions: Government Actions Could Improve the Timeliness and Content of Form 5500 Pension Information. GAO-05-491, June 3.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-491
or
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05491.pdf
[full-text, 61 pages]
and
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05491high.pdf
What GAO Found
Detailed information on private pension plans is reported on the Form 5500,
and Labor, IRS, and PBGC use the information for compliance, research, and
public disclosure purposes. Information collected on the form includes basic
plan identifying information as well as detailed information including assets
and liabilities, insurance, and financial transactions. The principal users of
Form 5500 ReportsLabor, IRS, and PBGCuse the reports primarily as a
compliance tool to identify actual and potential violations of the Employee
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the Internal Revenue Code.
Other federal agencies and policy researchers also use Form 5500
information.
Statutory reporting requirements, processing issues, and current Labor
practices affect the timeliness of the release of Form 5500 information,
resulting in a 3 year lag, in some cases, in releasing certain usable
computerized Form 5500 information to the non-principal federal agencies
and others. First, under the current statutory reporting requirements, filers
can have up to 285 days after the end of the plan year to file their Form 5500.
Second, 98 percent of filings are in a paper format. These take more than
three times as long as electronic filings to process and have twice as many
errors. Third, the release of the Form 5500 information in the research file
the Form 5500s most practical formis further delayed because Labor waits
until all filings for that plan year are processed, which can take up to 2 years.
Despite the efforts of Labor, IRS, and PBGC to improve its content, the Form
5500 lacks key information. These agencies have taken certain steps to
improve the content of the Form 5500, such as reviewing the Form 5500
annually to ensure that the form is collecting all the information required by
law. However, the form still lacks key information that could better assist
Labor, IRS, and PBGC in identifying and tracking all plans over time and
monitoring multiemployer plans. Federal and private sector researchers also
told us the form could collect better plan financial information, such as
40l(k) plan fees. In addition, federal agency officials told us certain
information could be reported earlier than the current filing deadline, such
as information on a plans funding status, as well as its assets and liabilities.
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky *
Director, IWS News Bureau *
Institute for Workplace Studies *
Cornell/ILR School *
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor *
New York, NY 10016 *
*
Telephone: (607) 255-2703 *
Fax: (607) 255-9641 *
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu *
****************************************
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor
New York, NY 10016
________________________________________________________________________
Private Pensions: Government Actions Could Improve the Timeliness and Content of Form 5500 Pension Information. GAO-05-491, June 3.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-491
or
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05491.pdf
[full-text, 61 pages]
and
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05491high.pdf
What GAO Found
Detailed information on private pension plans is reported on the Form 5500,
and Labor, IRS, and PBGC use the information for compliance, research, and
public disclosure purposes. Information collected on the form includes basic
plan identifying information as well as detailed information including assets
and liabilities, insurance, and financial transactions. The principal users of
Form 5500 ReportsLabor, IRS, and PBGCuse the reports primarily as a
compliance tool to identify actual and potential violations of the Employee
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the Internal Revenue Code.
Other federal agencies and policy researchers also use Form 5500
information.
Statutory reporting requirements, processing issues, and current Labor
practices affect the timeliness of the release of Form 5500 information,
resulting in a 3 year lag, in some cases, in releasing certain usable
computerized Form 5500 information to the non-principal federal agencies
and others. First, under the current statutory reporting requirements, filers
can have up to 285 days after the end of the plan year to file their Form 5500.
Second, 98 percent of filings are in a paper format. These take more than
three times as long as electronic filings to process and have twice as many
errors. Third, the release of the Form 5500 information in the research file
the Form 5500s most practical formis further delayed because Labor waits
until all filings for that plan year are processed, which can take up to 2 years.
Despite the efforts of Labor, IRS, and PBGC to improve its content, the Form
5500 lacks key information. These agencies have taken certain steps to
improve the content of the Form 5500, such as reviewing the Form 5500
annually to ensure that the form is collecting all the information required by
law. However, the form still lacks key information that could better assist
Labor, IRS, and PBGC in identifying and tracking all plans over time and
monitoring multiemployer plans. Federal and private sector researchers also
told us the form could collect better plan financial information, such as
40l(k) plan fees. In addition, federal agency officials told us certain
information could be reported earlier than the current filing deadline, such
as information on a plans funding status, as well as its assets and liabilities.
_____________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
# posted by SBasefsky : 1:34 PM
