Compliance November 25, 2024

DOL Releases Informational Copies of 2024 Form 5500s

The instruction updates include how to report on pension-linked emergency savings accounts.

Reported by

The Department of Labor, IRS and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation on Monday released informational copies of the Form 5500 series for 2024.

The instructions on filing highlight changes made for 2024 for Forms 5500 and 5500-SF, the short-form series for small pension and welfare benefit plans. The IRS is set to release paper copies of and online instructions for Form 5500-EZ, which is for one-participant (owner/partner) plans and foreign plans, after January 1, 2025.

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan adviser news.

The informational copies are not for filing the annual forms, the agencies noted; plan administrators should monitor efast.dol.gov to know when official electronic versions are available for filing, either with approved vendor software or the EFAST2 website.

The informational sections released Monday include “Changes to Note” for plan administrators, which included those for both Form 5500 and Form 5500-SF:

  • A new plan characteristics code, 2Y, for pension-linked emergency savings accounts created by the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022; and
  • Updates that reflect an increase in the maximum civil penalty amount assessable under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s Section 502(c)(2)—for those who fail to file required reports of information—as required by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015.

Changes implemented for only Form 5500:

  • Defined contribution group plan arrangements may, without needing to attach a list of participant plans, file for an extension of time to file Form 5500; and
  • Modifications to the process of filing an attached Schedule SB reporting expected benefit payment projections when plans are reporting on benefits to be paid in the form of an annuity.

The agencies also noted that, starting on January 1, 2025, an extension request can be made via Form 5558 either electronically through EFAST2 or filed with the IRS using a paper form.

Form 5500s are submitted to the DOL, IRS and PBGC for employee benefit plans to meet filing obligations as stipulated by ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code. The forms are used by the agencies for compliance, enforcement and research.

Deals & People November 25, 2024

Trump Picks Union Supporter for Secretary of Labor

President-elect Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, an Oregon Republican, to head the Department of Labor.

Reported by

Lori Chavez-DeRemer

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Friday his intent to nominate Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Oregon, as Secretary of Labor, along with his plan to nominate hedge fund manager and billionaire Scott Bessent as Secretary of the Treasury. Both will require Senate confirmation.

As a member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Chavez-DeRemer was one of the few Republicans to sponsor the Protecting the Right to Organize, or PRO, Act, which would make it easier for workers to unionize. Chavez-DeRemer lost her bid for reelection earlier in November to Democrat Janelle Bynum.

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan adviser news.

“I am proud to hereby nominate Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer, from the Great State of Oregon, as United States Secretary of Labor,” Trump wrote on social media. “Lori has worked tirelessly with both Business and Labor to build America’s workforce, and support the hardworking men and women of America. I look forward to working with her to create tremendous opportunity for American Workers, to expand Training and Apprenticeships, to grow wages and improve working conditions, to bring back our Manufacturing jobs.”

In response to the announcement, the National Education Association, the country’s largest professional employee organization, championed Chavez-DeRemer’s selection while also criticizing Trump’s policies.

Chavez-DeRemer’s record “stands in stark contrast to Donald Trump’s anti-worker, anti-union record, and his extreme Project 2025 agenda that would gut workplace protections, make it harder for workers to unionize, and diminish the voice of working people,” wrote NEA President Becky Pringle in a statement.

Scott Bessent, Key Square Capital Management LLC

Pringle added that educators and workers will be watching to see how Chavez-DeRemer moves through the nomination process and whether she will pledge to “continue to stand up for workers and students as her record suggests, not blind loyalty to the Project 2025 agenda.”

Trump and his campaign have stated repeatedly that he is not linked to Project 2025 and not following its agenda.

Retirement industry players, meanwhile, will be watching to see how, if approved for the role, Chavez-DeRemer will address pending DOL issues, including further work on the SECURE Act 2.0 of 2022, the Retirement Security Rule and guidance on environmental, social and governance investing in defined contribution retirement plans.

Trump’s Treasury nominee, Bessent, is founder and CEO of Key Square Group LP, which he founded in 2015. He has been a public proponent of Trump’s tariff and tax-cutting policy agendas.

“Scott has long been a strong advocate of the America First Agenda,” Trump wrote on social media in announcing his intent to nominate Bessent.

«