Form 5500 Extensions Filed; Distribute Summary Annual Reports in November

2021 Summary Annual Reports (SARs) for the 401(k) Pension Plan and Group Benefits Program will be posted to the Employee Benefits website in November. Once they are released, give the SARs to participants by mid-December. An article in NRECA Employee Benefits Weekly will provide links to the documents and accompanying distribution instructions when the SARs are available to download.

The 60-day SAR distribution period begins once the Form 5500 returns have been filed. Because NRECA filed extensions for both the 401(k) Plan and the Group Benefits Program, the Form 5500 returns will be filed later than the regular due date.

A SAR is a narrative summary of Form 5500, which is the annual financial report that must be filed every year with the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Labor. The SAR must be distributed annually to plan participants. Note that there is no SAR for the Retirement Security (RS) Plan because it is replaced by the RS Plan’s annual funding notice, which is provided each year in the spring.

If you’ve loaded 2022 compliance reminders into your calendar application (e.g., Microsoft Outlook), disregard the September 30 SAR distribution reminder. A second calendar reminder on November 15 will alert you to watch for and distribute the SARs. The extended distribution deadline will be provided in a November NRECA Employee Benefits Weekly article.

If you have questions, contact the benefits compliance team at 866.673.2299, option 7.