Unique Tools Help Ease Burden of New Form 5500 Reporting Rules

Many employers who sponsor retirement plans are struggling to comply with new regulations from the Department of Labor (DOL). They are now required to file their annual Form 5500 report electronically and provide more information than ever before.

To help ease the burden, the Principal Financial Group® has developed two online tools that can help streamline the plan sponsor's data collection and investment expense disclosure.

The new Consolidated Disclosure Tool helps large-plan filers (those with 100 or more participants) meet the eligible indirect compensation requirement mandated by the DOL.

"The tool puts the information plan sponsors need at their fingertips. It's intuitively designed to help make the review and reporting of investment expenses faster, easier and more accurate," says Jacque Mohs, vice president-Retirement and Investment Services, The Principal®. "The tools are especially helpful to 403(b) sponsors who are compiling information for auditing requirements and a full Form 5500 for the first time."

The Data Collection Tool has been updated and improved to help plan sponsors comply with the new requirement to file forms electronically through the EFAST2 DOL filing system. Plan sponsors can also now include outside assets electronically instead of adding them manually.

"These new regulations can be overwhelming to plan sponsors, especially those with 403(b) plans who have to fulfill so many new requirements," Mohs continues. "To help lighten their load, we built these tools into our existing data collection process. This gives plan sponsors a simpler, seamless process for Form 5500 filing." About the Principal Financial Group The Principal Financial Group® (The Principal®)1 is a leader in offering businesses, individuals and institutional clients a wide range of financial products and services, including retirement and investment services, life and health insurance, and banking through its diverse family of financial services companies. A member of the Fortune 500, the Principal Financial Group has $284.7 billion in assets under management2 and serves some 18.9 million customers worldwide from offices in Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America and the United States. Principal Financial Group, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol PFG. For more information, visit www.principal.com.

Insurance products and plan administrative services are provided by Principal Life Insurance Company, a member of the Principal Financial Group® (The Principal®), Des Moines, IA 50392. 1 "The Principal Financial Group" and "The Principal" are registered service marks of Principal Financial Services, Inc., a member of the Principal Financial Group. 2 As of December 31, 2009