Hold onto These Retirement Plan Records

What employee retirement plan records must your school retain, and for how long? ERISA requires employers to keep some records for a six-year period, but it may make sense to keep certain records even longer, whether to inform future decision-making or to protect against potential litigation. Best practices for documents that should be kept indefinitely:

• Legal documents such as plan and trust documents, amendments, determination and approval letters, annuity contracts and loan policy
• Records regarding plan benefits and eligibility, such as documents related to plan loans
• Certain employee communications, such as including summary plan description and fee disclosures
• Participant records such as deferred election forms and beneficiary forms

It's okay to store records electronically. But keep paper versions of original signed documents, since today's storage format could be obsolete tomorrow.

Retirement Management Services(02/06/17)