How Long Should Employers Keep their ERISA Documents?
To round out our ERISA 50th anniversary series, this Benefits Boost focuses on ERISA’s recordkeeping requirements. ERISA requires plan sponsors to maintain all records documenting the accuracy of Form 5500 required reporting information as well as records with information that would have been required but for a reporting exemption. Because the Department of Labor (DOL) has not issued guidance on what exactly those records should be, ERISA plans have had to rely on informal remarks, court cases, and advisory opinions to determine which documents to retain. ERISA requires plan sponsors to keep records and make them available for examination for a period of not less than six years after the filing date of the Form 5500 based on those records . Where an exemption or simplified reporting requirement applies (e.g., small, unfunded employers), the records must be kept for six years after the date the Form 5500 would have been filed but for the exemption or simplified reportin...