(Benefits Update, No. 3, August 2011)
Many of you who are familiar with the Form 5500 will remember
the Schedule SSA. The Schedule SSA was formerly part of the annual
Form 5500, used to notify the Social Security Administration about
separated plan participants who retain vested benefits in a pension
or retirement plan. Ideally, when a participant retires and applies
for Social Security, the Social Security Administration then alerts
the individual that she or he might still be owed pension or
retirement money from the plan.
When the Department of Labor released the new electronic Form
5500 filing requirements (effective for 2009 and later plan years),
one of the changes included the removal of the Schedule SSA (as we
knew it) from the Form 5500. Instead, we were alerted that going
forward for 2009 and future plan years, information about separated
participants with deferred, vested benefits would be reported on a
new standalone form to be submitted directly to the
