EBSA Proposes Change to MEWA Form 5500 Reporting Requirements

Employers and plan administrators with multiple employer welfare arrangements (MEWAs) that had not been required to file a Form 5500 for their MEWA may have to if  a proposal by the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) is adopted.

EBSA on Dec. 6 published a proposed revision to Section 2520 of the DOL regulations that would alter reporting requirements for some MEWAs. EBSA proposes that:

• a plan MEWA that has to file a Form M-1 would be required to include proof on the Form 5500 that it did so;
• all plan MEWAs would have to file a Form 5500, even if they have fewer than 100 participants;
• plan MEWAs that have to file a Form M-1 would not be able to file a Form 5500-SF.

EBSA also has proposed revisions to the Form 5500 and instructions to the Form 5500-SF to accommodate these proposed reporting requirements.

EBSA believes that the number of MEWAs this proposal would affect would be small; it reports that the 10 percent of MEWAs that file the Form M-1 have fewer than 100 participants. We blogged about EBSA’s justifications for this a few days ago.

Comments Invited

EBSA will accept public comments on the proposal through March 6, 2012.

The proposal for the change to MEWA reporting requirements appears in the Federal Register online.