Consultant Not an ERISA Fiduciary

Solo 401k

The Tenth Circuit dismissed the complaint because the petitioner failed to sufficiently allege that the consultant had fiduciary status.  

The Court explained that “fiduciary status requires authority or responsibility that is discretionary, which entails ‘the freedom to decide what should be done in a particular situation’” and that conducting a routine computation, as required by one’s job, does not require discretion.  The Court also relied on the Department of Labor’s regulations, 29 C.F.R. §§ 2509.75-8 and 2509.75-5, which explain that “a person who performs administrative functions, such as calculating benefits, does not automatically have discretionary authority.”  Because the Court concluded that the consultant was not a plan fiduciary, it determined that it need not decide whether the fiduciary status could support liability of the other defendants.

The case is Lebahn v. Nat’l Farmers Union Unif. Pension Plan, et al., No. 15-3201, 2016 BL 221313 (10th Cir. July 11, 2016).

Solo 401k Plan: Your Opportunity for Checkbook Control of Your Future

New Changes for Small Plan Filers Not Using the Form 5500-SF

Solo 401k

The Proposed 5500 Revisions also make significant changes for small plans that are not eligible to file a Form 5500-SF. For
these plans, the Proposed Revisions –

1. Eliminate the Schedule I, the schedule currently used by small plans to report financial information;
2. Require that the Schedule H be completed, including the schedules of assets, though small plans that arecurrently exempt from the audit requirement will continue to be exempt under the Proposed Revisions;
3.  Revise the Form 5500 to add a new question asking defined contribution pension plans to report the number of participants with account balances at the beginning of the plan year; and
4.  Revise the audit exemption to be based on the number of participants with account balances as of the beginning of the plan year, rather than on the total number of participants at the beginning of the plan year.

Solo 401k Plan: Your Opportunity for Checkbook Control of Your Future