Reporting and Disclosure Guide for Employee
Benefit Plans
U.S. Department of Labor
Employee Benefits Security Administration
Revised October 2008
Introduction
This Reporting and Disclosure Guide for Employee Benefit Plans has
been prepared by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits
Security Administration (EBSA) with assistance from the Pension
Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). It is intended to be used as a
quick reference tool for certain basic reporting and disclosure
requirements under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of
1974 (ERISA). Not all ERISA reporting and disclosure requirements are
reflected in this guide. For example, the guide, as a general matter, does
not focus on disclosures required by the Internal Revenue Code or the
provisions of ERISA for which the Treasury Department and Internal
Revenue Service have regulatory and interpretive authority.
The guide contains, on page 19, a list of EBSA and PBGC resources,
including agency Internet sites, where laws, regulations, and other
guidance are available on ERISA’s reporting and disclosure
requirements. Readers should refer to the law, regulations, instructions
for any applicable form, or other official guidance issued by EBSA or the
PBGC for complete information on ERISA’s reporting and disclosure
requirements.
This guide contains three chapters. The first chapter, beginning on page
2, provides an overview of the most common disclosures that
administrators of employee benefit plans are required to furnish to
participants, beneficiaries, and certain other individuals under Title I
of ERISA. The chapter has three sections: Basic Disclosure
Requirements for Pension and Welfare Benefit Plans; Additional
Disclosure Requirements for Welfare Benefit Plans That Are Group
Health Plans; and Additional Disclosure Requirements for Pension
Plans.
The second chapter, beginning on page 10, provides an overview of
reporting and disclosure requirements for defined benefit pension plans
under Title IV of ERISA. The PBGC administers these