5500 to 5500-EZ?

[Dougsbpc]

A small plan sponsor had employees for the first 10 years of his business. He no longer has employees and will not again. However, he does want to keep the plan another 5 years or so. Must they continue to file the full 5500 or could they switch to a 5500-EZ. Also, the plan has non-publicly traded investments of about $300,000 and they would rather not maintain a fidelity bond since there is now only one participant (the company owner).

Thanks

[mming]

An EZ can be used if the owner is the only one who has a benefit in the plan, as long as the sponsor is not a member of a controlled group or affiliated service group. The 2nd page of the EZ instructions has the complete list of conditions.

[Pam S.]

To piggy back onto this question, what if the plan's assets were below $250,000? Would the client be responsible for filing a 5500 Form since they filed one to begin with (when under normal circumstances they'd be exempt from filing a 5500 EZ due to the asset thresshold)?

[mming]

I don't believe so, as the instructions don't state that the exemption is conditional on how or if prior filings were made.