Failure to File 5+ Years

[sloble@crowleyfleck.com]

An Employer has a couple of small welfare plans for which no 5500s have ever been filed because the number of participants have not been counted correctly. There have been (a little) over 100 eligibe employees for several years. The plans are being updated effective 1/1/05.

I am weighing the pros and cons of recommending correction for prior years vs. relying on the past "good faith" method of counting participants and just file going forward, as of the new 1/1/05 effective date. (The definitions of participant will be changing slightly in the restatement so it seems like a good "clean slate" to start with.) Any thoughts??