The American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries has filed a petition with the U.S. Department of Labor on behalf of 797 firms that want the department to change electronic filing procedures.
ASPPA, Arlington, Va., says the department ought to let pension administrators use employer clients' credentials to sign and submit Form 5500 EFAST2 retirement plan filings on behalf of the employer clients.
Today, the practitioners and the clients have to participate in what amounts to an "electronic signing ceremony," and that can cause headaches, especially for smaller employers, ASPPA says.
The Internal Revenue Service and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. already have developed procedures that client employers can use to authorize service providers to sign and transmit Form 5500 filings on their behalf, ASPPA says.
