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Form 5500 defines kinds of filers as different types of plan entities.

A single employer plan is a plan maintained by one employer or one employee organization. A plan of a controlled group of corporations or common control employers is considered a single employer plan for ERISA purposes. This exists when one plan is maintained for a controlled group of corporations, a group of trades or businesses under common control, or an affiliated service group. If a member of any of these groups maintains a plan that does not involve other group members, then a separate Form 5500 is filed as a single employer plan.

A plan is a multiemployer plan if

 more than one employer is required to contribute;

 the plan is maintained pursuant to one or more collective bargaining agreements between one or more employee organizations and more than one employer; and

 an election under IRC Section 414(f)(5) and ERISA Section 3(37)(E) has not been made or has been revoked as permitted by the Pension Protection Act of 2006. The plan sponsor of a multiemployer plan, with whom ultimate administrative responsibility rests, is a joint employer or union board of trustees.

Participating employers do not file individually for these plans.

Multiemployer plans are unique in that assets contributed by one employer may be used to pay benefits of another participating employer. If a participating employer fails to make its required contributions, the unfunded obligation may be borne by the remaining participating employers. In addition, an employer that stops participating in the plan is generally required to pay a withdrawal liability.

Multiple employer plans are plans that are maintained by more than one employer but not treated as a multiemployer plan. Multiple employer plans are generally not collectively bargained and are intended to allow participating employers to pool their assets for investment purposes and to reduce the costs of plan administration. A multiple employer plan maintains separate accounts for each employer so that contributions provide benefits only for employees of that contributing employer.

If a multiple employer plan (other) provides welfare benefits, it is sometimes characterized as a multiple-employer-welfare-arrangement (MEWA). A single Form 5500 can be filed by the MEWA for all the plans in the arrangement.

Multiemployer and multiple employer plans are subject to different accounting requirements that are outside the scope of this course. The AICPA’s Audit & Accounting Guide Employee Benefit Plans provides specific guidance.

There were new developments with respect to multiple employer plans during 2012¹². The elements of this change are too detailed for a basic course. The auditor, however, should be warned that multiple employer plans which filed a single Form 5500 in prior years may be required to file multiple reports for each participating employer under this revised interpretation.