Voglio sapere a riguardo di…

khammond on DSKJM1Z7X2PROD with RULES

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 247 / Wednesday, December 29, 2021 / Rules and Regulations internet search. A few commenters also argued that pooled employer plans should not be subject to special reporting standard and that subjecting pooled employer plans to heightened scrutiny, when other plans treated as single plans are not, is arbitrary and unsupported by statute. A commenter further argued that the question regarding whether the pooled plan provider is currently in compliance with the Form PR Pooled Plan Provider Registration Statement requirements is ambiguous and unclear, given the lack of guidance and pending agency rulemakings e.g., IRS one bad apple guidance.
The Department disagrees with the commenters opposing the collection of information regarding the Form PR. In the preamble to the final regulation establishing the Form PR, the DOL
specifically noted that it would add new questions on the Form 5500 that would ask whether a pooled plan provider filed its registration statement with the Secretary, including any required updates, and to report the electronic confirmation number provided to the pooled plan provider at the time that the registration was received. Further, as explained in the preamble to the proposal to add this information collection item for pooled employer plans, the questions related to the Form PR are intended to provide the Department, the Treasury Department, the IRS, participating employers, and other stakeholders with information that would allow them to connect the Form PR registration with the Form 5500 for all pooled employer plans operated by the registrant. 85 FR 72934, 72946 Nov.
16, 2020. In fact, one commenter representing retirees and plan participants specifically indicated its support for requesting the AckID to help workers and retirees keep track of their assets and the plan, especially with the anticipated limited involvement of their employer in the design of pooled employer plans. Also, as discussed above, SECURE Act section 101d specifically requires the annual report of pooled employer plans to include identifying information for the person designated under the terms of the plan as the pooled plan provider.
Thus, the requirement is neither arbitrary nor unsupported by the statute.
The AckID requirement is also similar to the questions currently on the Form 5500 that require multiple employer group health plans to report about their compliance with registration and reporting requirements on the Form M
1 Report for Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangements MEWAs and Certain
VerDate Sep<11>2014

16:59 Dec 28, 2021

Jkt 256001

Entities Claiming Exception ECEs.
The Department also does not agree that the filing requirements are ambiguous, that there is a lack of guidance regarding the filing requirement, or that it is unfair to require pooled employer plans to report on the registration status of their pooled plan providers. Unlike other ERISA-covered multiple employer plans, the SECURE Act expressly sets forth roles and responsibilities for pooled plan providers. One of those clear requirements is that the pooled plan provider must register with the Department and with the IRS. The Form PR was adopted after public notice and comment to implement a specific registration requirement added to ERISA
by the SECURE Act. The Form PR also includes instructions for completing the form, which also were developed as part of the notice and comment rulemaking process. The Form 5500 is signed by the plan administrator stating that the administrator has reviewed the filing and that to the best of my knowledge and belief, it is true, correct, and complete. In the case of a pooled employer plan, the pooled plan provider is the administrator. Pooled plan providers should be able to say whether they believe the Form PR filing requirements have been met. In the Departments view, it does not impose any meaningful burden on the pooled plan provider acting as the plan administrator to acknowledge on the plans Form 5500 annual report that it believes to the best of the pooled plan providers knowledge and belief that it has fulfilled its statutory registration obligation. Further, the DOL continues to believe that linking the Form PR filed by a pooled plan provider to the Forms 5500 is a reasonable method to help make sure that workers, retirees, and the agencies charged with oversight have the information they need to be sure that the Form PR information is consistent and up to date. For example, having the AckID number on the plans Form 5500 will assist plan participants and participating employers in finding the relevant Form PR on the Departments website. The requirement to report Form PR compliance information on the Form 5500 will also help the Department ensure compliance with those registration requirements.
While there is no explicit civil penalty for failing to file a Form PR, there is a civil penalty for failing to file a complete and accurate Form 5500. See ERISA section 502c2; 29 CFR
2560.502c2 and the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990.

PO 00000

Frm 00033

Fmt 4700

Sfmt 4700

73979

Finally, with respect to the requirement that multiple employer welfare plans file the participating employer information as a non-standard attachment to the 2021 Form 5500
Annual Return/Report, one commenter representing retirees and plan participants specifically indicated its support for continuing to require multiple employer welfare plans to provide participating employer information. Two commenters argued to the contrary that the DOL could no longer ask multiple employer welfare plans to report any participating employer information because Congress, by amending ERISA section 103g to add a reference to plans subject to ERISA section 210a, was explicitly saying that welfare plans should no longer report such information. One of the commenters noted that DOL had cited ERISA section 103c2 as separate authority for DOL to require welfare plans to report such information, but argued that section 103c2 was not applicable because the DOL is not establishing this reporting requirement to obtain the name and address of each fiduciary but rather to reinstate a reporting requirement that was repealed by the SECURE Act.
Although the DOL agrees that ERISA
section 103g technically is not applicable to welfare plans as a result of the SECURE Act amendment, the DOL
does not agree the SECURE Act amendment precludes its continued collection of participating employer information on the Form 5500 from multiple employer welfare plans.11
Rather, DOL continues to believes that the addition of the reference to ERISA
section 210a was meant to emphasize that defined contribution MEPs, including association retirement plans, professional employer organization plans PEOs, and the newly created pooled employer plan, are required to comply with the participating employer reporting requirements. The DOL does not believe that the amendment was intended to preclude the Department from relying on other annual reporting authorities to collect participating employer information about multiple employer welfare arrangements MEWAs. In the DOLs view, receiving participating employer information from MEWAs, including multiple employer welfare plans, is important for oversight 11 This final rule does not address comments on the proposal in the NPFR to move the participating employer questions to the Form M1 for MEWA
plans and arrangements that provide medical benefits. As noted above, the proposals relating to changes for the 2022 reporting year will be addressed in a later, separate Federal Register notice.

E:FRFM29DER1.SGM

29DER1