SPD - Cafeteria Plan

[Guest jgordon]

Is an SPD required for a cafeteria plan if an SPD is provided for each benefit offered through the cafeteria plan? If possible please provide legal cites.

Thanks

[g8r]

It's open to debate. As long as you aren't trying to use the cafeteria plan as a wrap type arrangement (i.e., so that there is just one "welfare" plan of the employer), I don't think an SPD is required. The reason is because an SPD is only required under ERISA. A cafeteria plan is just a tax vehicle under the Code. It doesn't actually provide benefits - it's just a mechanism to pay for benefits. Since the underlying welfare benefits have an SPD, the cafeteria plan wouldn't need one. Of course you still need to communicate the terms of the cafeteria plan to employees and many people use an SPD to accomplish that.