The Federal Department of Labor through Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) will no longer accept those paper filings of the Form 5500 for plan years 2009. The last date of filing paper forms is April 1, 2010, for your information the IRS is still the primary point of contact for late filers.

The new system under EFAST2 (remember what EFAST was? ERISA Filing Acceptance System) will be entirely electronic. The hope is that cleaner filings will occur as the new software generates warnings and error messages before allowing electronic filing.

S&A is on top of these requirements with our new software that includes the electronic signature process. Couple that with our vast 5500 filing knowledge and you have nothing to worry about.

Other changes of note are feature codes 2S for automatic enrollment, 2T for the default investments for participant directed plans. Some codes have been deleted and one, 3D, is now to identify preapproved plan documents.

Here is a good one. Remember having difficulty getting insurance claims or other data from an Insurance company? There is a new whistleblowers section on Schedule A. There are other changes to complex to discuss in this announcement but take comfort in knowing we are able to handle all. Whether for your current filing that has become too cumbersome to handle internally or for bringing your company into compliance with the Delinquent Filers Voluntary Compliance Program (DFVC) we at S&A can help.