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Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance (DFVC) Program Penalties Eased
On March 22, the Department of Labor announced that it has revised the DFVC Program, including substantially reduced penalties for ERISA plans voluntarily filing late reports (their Form 5500 with Schedule A or Schedule C).
For instance, the per-day late filing penalty was reduced from $50 to $10, and the maximum penalty for a single late annual report was reduced from $2,000 to $750 for a small plan (fewer than 100 participants at the beginning of the plan year).
The DFVC Program also now has a "per plan" cap that limits the penalty to $1,500 for a small plan and $4,000 for a large plan, regardless of the number of late annual reports filed for the plan at the same time.
The new policy came after members of the benefits community said the penalties, especially for small employers, for voluntarily filing late were so high that they were barriers to the plans ever being filed.
Effects On Our Clients
The BenefitPort Compliance Department makes sure that our employers with ERISA health plans complete their Forms 5500 on time.
The DOL press release can be viewed at http://www.dol.gov/dol/pwba/public/pubs/0302fact_sheet.html, and the DOL ruling is available on the Federal Register at http://www.benefitslink.com/DOL/delinqfilertext.pdf.
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