If, for a variety of reasons, the TPA is just unable to collect all the information necessary to complete the 5500 forms and mail to the client for signature and filing prior to the due date, what is the best course of action, particularly if the missing information is the annual investment reporting? What do you do if you do have the information but you just dont have time or staff to analyse it and complete the forms sufficiently before the due date? Reason for my questions is not to make a new decision but to understand decisions made by a prior TPA.

Now you know why they are the 'prior TPA'. Seems to be client to watch.

Most TPAs that I know will complete the 5500 based and information in hand and send it to the client with a letter stating such. An amended 5500 can be submitted later.

We would do as Rcline suggests plus remind them that they are signing the form as being accurate under penalty of perjury.

Several weeks before the due date, our firm sends a letter to clients for whom information is insufficient to complete the filing. The letter informs the client of the missing information and of our inability to complete the forms on the client's behalf. It also explains the possible penalties imposed for late filing.

We then await the calls of panic, anger, irritation and slander.

[Edited so that the first sentence actually makes sense.]

My post would be identical to WDIK's post. We might also add that we are terminating our service, if this is an on-going problem with that client. (That ties in with Rcline46's post.) We sometimes get new clients that had a "bad" TPA. We also often see where it is a "bad" client. Good luck!

Ah, the joys of being an ERISA practitioner!

We regular ol' administrators get those calls, too!