Does a one participant defined benefit plan need a Summary Plan Description?

[RayJJohnsonJr]

Does a one participant defined benefit plan need a Summary Plan Description?

[WDIK]

Who is the "one"?

[RayJJohnsonJr]

The busines owner. It's a corpoation with the owner being the only employee.

[WDIK]

In that instance, a summary plan description is not required.

[RayJJohnsonJr]

I knew that, or I thought I knew that, but I could not find any authority on that fact. Can you point me to any authority confirming the summary plan description is not required iin this instance?

[Lori Friedman]

Can you point me to any authority confirming the summary plan description is not required iin this instance?

You need to wind your way through some Dept. of Labor regulations.

Dept. of Labor Reg. Sec. 2520.104b-2 requires a Summary Plan Description for each participant of an ERISA plan. A plan is subject to ERISA if it has at least one employee participant [Dept. of Labor Reg. Sec. 2510.3-3(b)]. Partners, sole shareholders, and sole proprietors (and their spouses) are not considered to be employees for the purposes of determining whether a plan is an ERISA plan [Dept of Labor Reg. Sec. 2510.3-3©].

The plan you've described has no employees, isn't covered by ERISA, and, therefore, has no SPD requirement.

[RayJJohnsonJr]

Thank you, Lori, your a Godsend!