Q&A Session
| Our webinar was packed with information on the 5500 Dashboard. We are pleased to provide to you the questions collected during the presentation and the corresponding answers. If you need further clarification or additional support, please contact Elaine Harvey at eharvey@wrangle5500.com |
| Question | Answer | |
| 1 | If the client chooses from the DocuSign email to print the 5500 & manually sign the 5500, what happens next? | They will still be prompted to sign the 5500 electronically so Wrangle can e-file on their behalf. The printed and signed hard copy is to be maintained in their files, per ERISA requirements. |
| 2 | Can we set up a carrier to receive a Schedule C on this Dashboard? | As Schedule Cs are only required for a plan that holds plan assets in trust, we typically don’t reach out for schedules for self-insured benefits.
In a non-trust plan and 5500, self-insured benefits are only reported through the appropriate benefit code and checking general assets. |
| 3 | The participation counts that is on the plan year, can these be left blank, if we are having Wrangle gathering the Schedule A’s? | Yes, you may leave the 5500 counts blank. We will then use our defaults to populate those fields. For this year’s beginning count, we will use last year’s ending count, and for this year’s ending count we will use the highest EE only count from one of the schedule As. Please see page one for further details. |
| 4 | If a client changes carriers, would you edit the existing policy to reflect the new carrier, or create a new policy? | Either approach will work. But, if just the carrier and policy number are changing, and the benefits remain the same, it might be easier to edit the existing policy details |
| 5 | Are we able to change the Primary Broker name and email address? | The primary broker name and email must be changed by your Wrangle Team. Just send us a quick email and we will be happy to make that update for you. |
| 6 | If a broker gets a new client that the broker wants to use Wrangle to prepare the 5500, can Wrangle automatically pull in the last year’s filing so all data does not need to be input manually? | If there is just a single or a few new clients, then it is quick and easy for the broker to add them into the Dashboard through “Add Plan Sponsor”. It takes maybe 10 minutes to complete. If we are onboarding an entire new office, please reach out to us and we can propose other approaches. In either approach our process will only pull in or check the basic Plan Sponsor details, and then the Plan details associated with that H&W Plan. We do not automatically pull in the policy or benefit details. |
| 7 | When 5500 is sent for signature, is the SAR being provided along with distribution instructions at the same time or is that something I should have on my radar to provide separately? | The DocuSign envelope that goes to the Plan Sponsor includes the Authorization page allowing Wrangle to e-file, the prepared 5500, the carrier schedules, the SAR and the SAR Distribution Guidelines – everything they need in one place! |
| 8 | For this 5500 due for January renewals, are for the 2024 plan year, correct? If they made a carrier change for 2025, would be edit this next year for the 2025 PYÂ information, or should we update the information after the 2024 5500 is populated? | This is correct. If the plan year runs 1/1/24 – 12/31/24, those are due 7/31/2025. If there were changes starting 1/1/25, those will impact next year’s 5500. Feel free to send us those notes and we can assist with updates. |
| 9 | I have contracted with the Wrangle Team to obtain our Schedule A and/or C date on our behalf. At this point, I don’t think I have to do anything. Please Confirm. | You still need to go into our Dashboard to review and submit. We can’t start our process until you hit the submit button. |
| 10 | Is there a way to get taken off of clients that are shown on my dashboard? I have 86 in my 5500 data needed tab that includes other teams clients while my team member has 14 (correct number). | Yes, send that list to your team at Wrangle and we will be happy to update. |
| 11 | Where on the screen do I select that I want Wrangle to send the 5500 draft to the client? I have been looking for this button for 2 years. | Under the first edit button at the top with the Plan Sponsor contact section, the first box to check will give the instruction for the client to receive the 5500 draft at the same time as the broker. |
| 12 | If a DocuSign expires before signature could be captured, how do we re-send the document for signature? | When the signer accesses an expired link for the first time, DocuSign automatically sends a new notification with a fresh link to the email address defined by the envelope’s sender. Subsequent accesses to an expired link will give the signer a button to “Send new link,” which when clicked will send a new notification with a fresh link to the email address defined by the envelope’s sender. If the broker wants to re-send, that request needs to go to your Wrangle Team. |
| 13 | If the client had a different BOR does the old BOR need to be listed on the 5500? | If the old broker is listed to have received commissions on the Schedule A from the carrier, the data is to be relayed in the Form 5500. |
| 14 | Is a Schedule for stop loss required? | The Department of Labor typically considers Stop Loss to be a benefit that protects the employer, not the employee. As a result the Schedule A for stop loss is not to be included in the Form 5500 since this report covers employee benefits (not the employer). However, if the Plan is under a trust, Stop Loss protects the Plan and therefore would have a Schedule A. If there is uncertainty and to help clarify, look at who the beneficiary is of the Stop Loss policy. If the employer is listed then it is most likely not an employee benefit plan.
One other key note to consider. More and more employers have the employees pay a contribution to cover the stop loss benefit premiums. If the employee’s contributions are used within 90 days to cover the premium for the stop loss, then under technical release 92-01 a trust is not required and again, the Schedule A for stop loss would not be required. However, the DOL has an advisory letter covering stop loss that brings into question if more should be considered. The reason is due to the fact that the stop loss may remit funds back to the employer if the claim threshold was exceeded. After reviewing this information, the Plan Sponsor is encouraged to seek the advice of an ERISA attorney if a Schedule A is to be included with the Form 5500. Wrangle’s position is to follow the instructions of the Plan Sponsor. As we do not have access to all plan details, we cannot advise other than to encourage that the Wrap Plan Document and SPD be used for guidance and clearly define the ERISA benefits in a Plan. |
| 15 | Are COBRA counts required or can it be left blank if the participant count is 100 and more? | If the data is available, the COBRA counts would be ideally added. If the Plan Sponsor reported COBRA counts best practice is to include going forward for consistency. |