DOL Issues FAQ on Individual Account Plan Participant-Level Fee Disclosures

On May 7, 2012, the DOL issued Field Assistance Bulletin 2012-02 (“FAB 2012-02”), to assist plan administrators and service providers in complying with the requirements of the DOL’s final participant-level fee disclosure regulation.  The guidance contains several notable clarifications, including: (1) confirmation that if a plan provides investment and plan-related information in a single document, designated investment alternatives need only be listed once; (2) an explanation that if all of a plan’s administrative expenses are paid from revenue sharing received by the plan from one or more of the plan’s designated investment alternatives that participants’ quarterly statements must nevertheless include a statement that “some of the plan’s administrative expenses for the preceding quarter were paid from the annual operating expenses of one or more of the plan’s designated investment alternatives;” and (3) affirmation that the plan administrator is under no obligation to provide the comparative chart of investment information and expenses more often than annually even if there is a change to the information contained therein.  The guidance also confirms that because plan administrators and service providers may have already furnished or prepared the initial disclosures before the date of publication of FAB 2012-02, the DOL will only take into account whether covered service providers and plan administrators have acted in good faith based on a reasonable interpretation of the regulations for purposes of determining whether initial disclosures comply with the requirements of the final rule.