Arrangements that Need To Be Listed on Pre-Approved 403(b) Restatements

Q. Concerning vendors/investment arrangements that need to be listed on pre-approved 403(b) restatements: When you are listing the vendors that were previously approved for receipt of plan contributions but are not currently approved, how far back should one go? Does one just need to go back to 2010? What if one doesn’t know them all? If one is restating the plan back to 2010, does not listing them all affect the retroactive reliance?

A. A ‘deselected vendor,’ one that had assets in the plan going back to 2009, should have been listed in the plan document that the employer was required to have in 2009. Under the restatement that is effective Jan. 1, 2010, unless any of these vendors no longer have any assets, then they would continue to be a part of the plan in 2010, and again listed as a deselected vendor.

If the plan is an ERISA plan then vendors that have assets and are not receiving ongoing contributions would encompass all vendors regardless how far back they go, except for the Form 5500 filing.

If this is a non-ERISA plan, then the list of vendors — approved and deselected — began in 2009 and are then carried forward. So, for example, if the vendor was deselected in 2008 and did not receive any contributions after Dec. 31, 2008, then that vendor could be disregarded. That deselected vendor would then be responsible for approving distributions from that contract only.