1 The three federal agencies had requested public comments to a proposed Form 5500 in 1997. See Institute
Memorandum to Pension Committee No. 34-97 and Pension Operations Advisory Committee No. 35-97, dated September
18, 1997. The release of the new Form 5500 also follows the Department’s 1998 announcement that the implementation of
the new Form 5500 was being delayed until the 1999 plan year in order to give plans and service providers more time to
prepare for the new form. See Institute Memorandum to Pension Members No. 16-98 and Pension Operations Advisory
Committee No. 9-98, dated March 2, 1998.
[11611]
February 7, 2000
TO: PENSION MEMBERS No. 11-00
PENSION OPERATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE No. 9-00
RE: REVISED FORM 5500 RELEASED
______________________________________________________________________________
The Department of Labor, the Internal Revenue Service and the Pension Benefit Guaranty
Corporation have released the revised Form 5500 Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plans for
the 1999 reporting year.1 The new Form 5500, which consolidates the Form 5500, Form 5500-C and
Form 5500-R into one form, is intended to streamline the report by requiring basic plan information in
the main form and guiding filers to more detailed schedules through a checklist. Certain schedules also
have been revised (Schedules A, C and G), and other schedules are new for 1999 (Schedules D, H, I, R
and T). Furthermore, the form must be filed with the Department’s Pension and Welfare Benefits
Administration (PWBA), rather than the IRS.
In addition, a new computerized filing system, the ERISA Filing Acceptance System (EFAST), is
available for 1999. To assist filers with EFAST, the Department has established a website
(www.efast.dol.gov) to provide information about filing requirements, electronic filing options, software
availability, upcoming seminars, new publications and frequently asked questions.
Copies of the new Form 5500 and schedules, instructions thereto, and a summary of the major
changes to the form (“In Brief: 1999 Form 5500”) are attached.
Thomas T. Kim
Assistant Counsel
Attachments
Note: Not all recipients receive the attachment. To obtain a copy of the attachment referred to in this Memo, please call the
ICI Library at (202) 326-8304, and ask for attachment number 11611. ICI Members may retrieve this Memo and its
attachment from ICINet (http://members.ici.org).