Summary Annual Report

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Summary Annual Report (SAR)

These instructions reference the following that you will have completed for the IRS:

• IRS Form 5500 (or Form 5500-EZ, if applicable)

• IRS Schedule I (for plans with 2-99 eligible employeees)

• IRS Schedule H (for plans with 100 or more eligible employees)

The Summary Annual Report (SAR) is a synopsis for your employees of the information submitted to the IRS in your Form 5500 and its accompanying Schedules.

You must distribute a completed Summary Annual Report to plan participants and beneficiaries no later than July 31 (the same date your Form 5500 is due to the IRS; obviously, if you don’t file your 5500 on July 31, whether due to an extension or because your plan operates off a non Janaury-December plan year, your Summary Annual Report is due on the revised date.)

There is no exact format that your Summary Annual Report must follow, but it must contain the categories of information specified herein.

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401k FedForms instructions for your Summary Annual Report differ from other 401k FedForms instructions because there's no IRS Form or Schedule to annotate:

We've created herein a listing of the information your Summary Annual Report must convey.

We've also created sample SARs from which you can copy text or fill out in PDF format.

You can access each by clicking on the appropriate link below.

Your Summary Annual Report must convey the following, which can be extracted from the noted section of your completed IRS Form 5500 or related Schedule:

Plan name (Schedule I line A)

Plan number (Schedule I line B)

Employer identification number (Schedule I line D)

Period/relevant plan year (Schedule I first item)

Basic financial statement (several categories of information from Schedule I Part I; see below)

Rights to receive or review the annual report filed with the IRS (see below)

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Your SAR's basic financial statement should include, at minimum, the plan's beginning of year and end-of-year assets as well as the amount of money that came into and went out of the plan during the year (i.e., the plan's income versus expenses). Mention of the number of participants in your plan as of the close of the plan year is also recommended. Here's where you can find each:

Financial Information Item	Pull From IRS Form/Schedule…
Beginning of year assets	Schedule I page 1 item 1c(a)
End of year assets	Schedule I page 1 item 1c(b)
Money into the plan (plan income) Employer contributions — Schedule I page 1 item 2a(1) Employee contributions — Schedule I page 1 items 2a(2) + 2a(3) Earnings from investments — Schedule I page 1 item 2c	Schedule I page 1 item 2d
Money out of the plan (plan expenses) Benefits paid — Schedule I page 2 item 2e Other expenses — Schedule I page 2 items 2f+g+h	Schedule I page 1 item 2i
End of year number of plan participants	Form 5500 page 3 item 7d

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You must inform recipients of your Summary Annual Report that they have certain rights regarding the plan's annual report (Form 5500 and related Schedules, for instance), namely:

To request and receive a copy of the annual report, either in part or in its entirety, from your company or the Department of Labor for copying costs (provide contact name, address and phone number for your company; list Public Disclosure Room, N-5638, Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C., 20210 for the Department of Labor).

To examine the annual report at your company or the DOL (provide company and DOL address/viewing location).

To request and receive from your Plan Administrator, at no charge, a statement of the plan's assets and liabilities and any accompanying notes, or a statement of the plan's income and expenses and any accompanying notes, or both. (Note to participants/beneficiaries that receiving a full copy of the annual report includes such statements and notes.)

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	Go to… Sample Spreadsheet-style Summary Annual Report (and link to ready-to-complete downloadable PDF) Sample Paragraph-style Summary Annual Report (and link to ready-to-complete downloadable PDF)
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