5500SF

[HarleyBabe]

So....after much controversy within my office, what is the opinion of the rest of the community with regards to Schedule SF rather than Schedule EZ, in regards to confidentaility issues and such.

I guess, when is an appropriate time to use an SF?

[12AX7]

I'm of the opinion to not use Form 5500-SF. I prefer not to expose my clients to marketers and that's the beauty of the EZ. It keeps your clients anonymous. Maybe I might consider using an SF for the final plan year? At that point, it would not matter for me if I'm no longer doing work for the client.

[HarleyBabe]

I'm feeling really stupid right now but I understand the SF is public info, but isn't the 5500 and schedules as well so what is the difference? Anyone can go on Free Erisa to view forms so what's the difference.

[rcline46]

We will use the SF only if there is no way to make the EZ work for a client. Wish we had an easy way to get those old 5500s which can now be EZs out of the DOL bad list.

[HarleyBabe]

Okay, so still somewhat perplexed?? Isn't the From 5500 and schedules public info? If so, what is the issue with using the SF for non EZ plans?

Thank You

[goldtpa]

The 5500-EZ is not open to public inspection. The 5500 and 5500-SF is open to public inspection. You can't find a 5500-EZ on Freeerisa. Thus the people on the board and myself prefer to use the 5500-EZ, to protect the client's privacy. Your client does not need his neighbors to find out how much he has or does not have in his retirement account.

[HarleyBabe]

No, I agree, I'm talking about NON EZ plans. It seems you can use the Scheude SF for some plans that we would normally use the reg 5500 and schedules for. Is there a reason, that the community would not use it in that instance? I just want to do what most others are doing and don't want to miss anything that could come back to bite me later.

[chc93]

It appears that your original post asked about SF versus EZ. We have stuck with the EZ for the privacy issue. If you are asking about the "regular" Form 5500 versus SF, we have switched to using SF everywhere we can. It's much easier to complete, and no schedules (A,D,I,R) are required at all. The biggest requirement for using SF, to us, is that 100% of assets must be "eligible plan assets".

[HarleyBabe]

Yes, the original was about the EZ. Okay, thanks for all the great input.