5500 participant count question

[Belgarath]

Stupid question, but I'm not all that familiar with these plans.

Let's suppose that you have a cafeteria plan, that allows salary deferrals for vision and for dental expenses. Not a "wrap" document.

The plan also provides for automatic withholding of health insurance premiums, UNLESS you elect out of it.

My question is this: for those people who do NOT elect out of the health insurance premium being withheld from their pay via the cafeteria plan, (and don't participate in withholding for the dental or vision) are they counted as "participants" in the cafeteria plan? They are already reported as participants in the health plan 5500, so it would seem to be "double counting" to also count them in the cafeteria plan 5500?

I'm not certain the regs actually support this, but by the same token, it seems reasonable. Any opinions? It's a big deal, because if they don't have to be counted, a lot of cafeteria plans will be below the 100 participant count and won't require filing.

Thanks!!

[Belgarath]

I think I've answered my own question. After looking into this in more depth, it appears clear to me that the cafeteria plan would not count the people in question as "participants" - in fact, the cafeteria plan itself apparently isn't subject to the 5500 filing requirements, but all the underlying "plans" are subject to 5500 filing requirements, absent a valid exception.

Does that sound right?

[Bill Presson]

You are correct that there is no filing requirement for the cafeteria plan. However, we often will file a 5500 for the plan to include all the underlying welfare benefits so we can have a single 5500 rather than multiple 5500's.

[Belgarath]

Thanks Bill. Would I be correct in assuming that you must have a "wrap" plan document to file as one plan?

[Bill Presson]

Thanks Bill. Would I be correct in assuming that you must have a "wrap" plan document to file as one plan?

If all the benefits are part of the cafeteria plan, we consider that the wrap document though I know some others don't agree.