[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 185 (Friday, September 23, 2016)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 65594-65595]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-22989]



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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

29 CFR Parts 2520 and 2590

RIN 1210-AB63


Proposed Revision of Annual Information Return/Reports; Proposed 
Rule

AGENCY: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Labor.

ACTION: Extension of comment period.

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SUMMARY: The purpose of this Notice is to announce an extension of the 
comment period on the Notice of Proposed Revision of Annual Information 
Return/Reports published in the Federal Register on July 21, 2016, by 
the Department of Labor, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Pension 
Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and the separate but related Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking published in the Federal Register on July 21, 2016, 
by the Department of Labor.

DATES: The comment period for the Notice of Proposed Revision of Annual 
Information Return/Reports and the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is 
extended to December 5, 2016.

ADDRESSES: To facilitate the receipt and processing of written comment 
letters on the proposed regulation, interested persons are encouraged 
to submit their comments electronically. You may submit comments, 
identified by RIN 1210-AB63, by any of the methods described in the 
Notice of Proposed Revision of Annual Information Return/Reports (81 FR 
47534) and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (81 FR 47496). All comments 
received will be made available to the public, posted without change to 
www.regulations.gov and www.dol.gov/ebsa, and made available for public 
inspection at the Public Disclosure Room, N-1513, Employee Benefits 
Security Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution 
Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20210.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mara S. Blumenthal, Employee Benefits 
Security Administration (EBSA), U.S. Department of Labor, (202) 693-
8523 (not a toll-free number).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The U.S. Department of Labor's Employee 
Benefits Security Administration, together with the Internal Revenue 
Service and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (together 
Agencies) published a Notice of Proposed Revision of Annual Information 
Return/Reports in the Federal Register on July 21, 2016 (81 FR 47534). 
The proposed revisions involved the Form 5500 Annual Return/Report of 
Employee Benefit Plan and the Form 5500-SF Short Form Annual Return/
Report of Small Employee Benefit Plan. The Department of Labor 
simultaneously published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which 
contains proposed amendments to the Department's related annual 
reporting regulations (81 FR 47496).
    The Notices have generated substantial interest by stakeholders who 
wish to provide input into the development of the final form revisions 
and regulations. Several stakeholder groups submitted written requests 
for additional time to comment. Comments on the proposal, including 
such requests, are made available electronically at www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa. The commenters generally argued that the original 75-day 
comment period was not enough time given the scope and significance of 
the proposed form revisions and regulatory amendments. Some also noted 
the current deadline for submitting comments (October 4, 2016) is 
shortly before the October 15, 2016 deadline for filing the 2015 Form 
5500 and 2015 Form 5500-SF for calendar year plans relying on an IRS 
Form 5558 extension. The commenters stated that the proximity of the 
two deadlines would make it difficult for personnel involved in the 
evaluation of and preparation of comments regarding the proposed forms 
revision and regulatory amendments to devote adequate time to that work 
because the same personnel are already engaged in preparation and 
filing of 2015 Forms 5500 and Forms 5500-SF. Certain commenters also 
stated that staff responsible for contributing to comments on the forms 
revisions and regulatory proposals will be focused during the same time 
period on compliance activities related to the Department's final rule 
on conflicts of interest--retirement investment advice and related 
prohibited transaction exemptions. The commenters suggested different 
extensions that ranged from 60 days to 105 days.
    The Agencies are interested in facilitating a robust and thoughtful 
public comment process on these important improvements to the Form 5500 
and Form 5500-SF annual return/reports. An important goal for the 
Agencies is to complete the forms revision and regulatory amendments 
aspect of the project in advance of key procurement and system 
development deadlines that are part of the related effort to recompete 
of the contract for the ERISA Filing Acceptance System II (EFAST2)--the 
wholly electronic system operated by a private-sector contractor for 
the processing of Form 5500 and Form 5500-SF annual return/report. The 
Agencies explained in the Federal Register Notices that the forms 
revision and regulatory amendments proposals generally are being 
coordinated with a recompete of the EFAST2 contract. The Agencies also 
explained that the majority of proposed forms revisions are currently 
targeted for implementation in the Plan Year 2019 Form 5500/5500-SF 
annual return/reports. We also noted that development of EFAST2 changes 
pursuant to a new contract could begin in spring 2018, with processing 
under such a new contract starting on January 1, 2020.
    Based on the requests from a range of stakeholder groups, the 
Agencies have decided to extend the public comment period on the 
proposed forms revisions and regulatory amendments from the original 
October 4 deadline to December 5, 2016. This extension will provide 
interested persons with an additional two months to prepare and submit 
comments, while also respecting the need to keep the regulatory aspect 
of the project moving forward to keep pace with procurement and system 
development objectives of the recompete contract acquisition plan. 
Although technically not published in the Federal Register until July 
21, 2016, the Notice of Proposed Forms Revision and the Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking were released to the public and made available 
online on July 11, 2016--10 days prior to the commencement of the 
formal comment period. The extension of the comment period to December 
5, 2016, thus provides a total of 147 days to evaluate the proposal and 
provide written comments.
    The Agencies are not prepared at this time to grant a more extended 
deadline for public comments on the proposed form revisions and 
regulatory amendments because of concern about potential adverse 
effects on the timing and cost of the EFAST2 recompete process. In that 
regard, the Department published a ``Request for Industry Feedback,'' 
RFI: DOL-OPS-16-RFI-0716PML (available at fbo.gov) in connection with 
the EFAST2 recompete process, which also requested comments by October 
4, 2016. The deadline for capable businesses to respond on the Request 
for Industry Feedback is not being extended in this Notice.
    Finally, a number of commenters asked that the Agencies hold a 
public hearing on the proposals following the close of the written 
comment period. One commenter also asked that the effective date of any 
final form changes be delayed until plan years beginning

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on or after January 1, 2020. In the Department's view, both requests 
are premature in the context of a decision whether to extend the public 
comment period on the proposals. It is not clear at this time that a 
public hearing will necessarily contribute to the decision-making 
process by clarifying one or more significant issues affecting the 
proposal, but the Agencies will be in a better position to evaluate 
that issue after receiving the public comments on the proposals. 
Similarly, the issue of the effective date of final form changes is 
better addressed in a final notice of form revisions after the Agencies 
have had the benefit of public input on the proposals and have decided 
upon the final form changes and regulatory amendments that will be 
adopted.
    The Internal Revenue Service and the Pension Benefit Guaranty 
Corporation have agreed to this extension of the comment period for 
purposes of portions of the Notice of Proposed Forms Revision that 
address annual reporting requirements under the Internal Revenue Code 
and Title IV of ERISA.

Phyllis C. Borzi,
Assistant Secretary, Employee Benefits, Security Administration, 
Department of Labor.
[FR Doc. 2016-22989 Filed 9-22-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4510-29-P