Participating Employer Filing 5500 Instead of Trust

[5500Nerd]

I wondered if anyone ran into the following scenario. An employer enrolled in a Trust Benefit Plan and as a result is a participating employer. The trust declined to file the Form 5500 (reasons unknown) and the participating employer is concerned of being out of compliance. Since the Trust's Plan Administrator refused to file the 5500, the participating employer will file a 5500 for just its employees/enrolled participants. The Participating Employer plans to file as a single employer. The question though is - Would this be the correct path? The assumption is that the 5500 could not be listed under a trust since the Participating Employer is not connected directly to the financials and no knowledge of the Plan Assets. Your thoughts? Your help is greatly appreciated (by the way, the DOL has been asked via voicemail; currently there is no response.

[Bob the Swimmer]

 My thoughts are this may be a multiple-employer plan--and as such, they may be creating more problems than it is worth for filing separately. May be best for your company to break off formally and establish their own plan if that is what they want to do---various considerations need to be weighed from a cost-benefit side. But if the main entity does not want to file a 5500 for the whole group, that is pretty serious non-compliance. 

You may be waiting  a while for a DOL answer unless you know someone there. 

[5500Nerd]

Thanks so much. The DOL noted to file as a single employer plan.