Filing 5500s in Merger Of Welfare Plans

[Guest Dolores Woody]

Resolution issued effective 1/1/99 to merge all welfare plans into one master plan effective 12/31/98. There are two trusts involved which will not be changed in any way. The financials will just be reported under the new master plan. I have a couple of questions:

1) The dental plan has a different plan year than the other plans involved. It is my understanding that a 5500 will have to be filed for the regular plan year (3/1/98 - 2/28/99) and then another for a short plan year ending 12/31/98 where the plan will be terminated.

2) All assets from the 2 plans with the trusts will be shown as 0 assets on 12/31/98 and the new master plan will show 0 assets at the beginning of the year and all of the other plan assets will be added together and shown under the new plan as of the end of the year. The two trusts have been audited that are involved. Does the new master plan now have to be audited? Are the schedule As for the plans filed with the new master plan.

I would just like to hear your opinions. We have a lot of confusion with the auditors about how this should be handled. I cannot understand why. This is bound to have happened many times since ERISA was enacted.