Method of and System for Preparing an Employee Benefits Plan

Abstract

A system for preparing an employee benefits form for, e.g., ERISA includes a server in support of a website, and a processor in communication with the server and a memory. The memory includes a program for automatically preparing a benefits form and/or plan via the interne. The program includes instructions to the processor for retrieving previously filed data from a public database, converting and storing into a database, searching the database for a desired portion of the data, and populating the entries of the form. The website connection also allows a remote user to periodically update the benefit data.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A method of preparing and filing a Form-5500, the method comprising the steps of:
 preparing an initial Form-5500 that contains ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) information for an employee benefit plan sponsor by way of a computer implementing a first employee benefit software program, the first employee benefit software program,
 being provided by a first TPA (third party administrator); 
 generating TPA data that corresponds to the first Form-5500 and is usable by the first employee benefit software program for completing subsequent preparations of the Form-5500; and 
 storing the TPA data on a computer system or storage media that is accessible by at least one of the employee benefit plan sponsor and the first TPA; 
   filing the first Form-5500 with at least one of the DOL (Department of Labor) and the IRS (Internal Revenue Service);   preparing a second Form-5500 by way of a second employee benefit software program by,
 (i) installing the second employee benefit software program on a computer; 
 (ii) retrieving data relating to the first Form-5500 from at least one of the DOL and IRS and transferring the data to the computer having the second employee benefit software program installed thereon without manually entering the data into the computer; 
 (iii) populating multiple entries of the second Form-5500 with the data, such that the multiple entries of the second Form-5500 were populated without utilizing the TPA data from the first employee benefit software program; and 
   filing the second Form-5500 with at least one of the DOL and IRS.   
     
     
         22 . The method as recited in  claim 21 , wherein the second employee benefit software program is provided by a second TPA that differs from the first TPA. 
     
     
         23 . The method as recited in  claim 25 , wherein the data is retrieved in at least one of a flat file format and text file format. 
     
     
         24 . The method as recited in  claim 25 , wherein the data is retrieved in at least one of a flat file format and text file format. 
     
     
         25 . A method comprising the steps of:
 preparing a first Form-5500 that contains ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) information for an employee benefit plan sponsor by,
 obtaining employee benefit plan information of an employment benefit plan from the plan sponsor or an advisor of the plan sponsor, and 
 entering data that corresponds to the employee benefit plan information into a computer by way of a first employee benefit software program installed upon the computer and being configured (i) for preparing Form(s)-5500, and (ii) storing the data that corresponds to the employee benefit plan on a storage medium and in a form that is usable by the first employee benefit software program while being generally unusable by other, different employee benefit software programs that are configured for preparing the Form(s)-5500; 
   filing the first Form-5500 with at least one of the DOL and the IRS;   retrieving data relating to the employee benefit plan sponsor's first Form-5500 from at least one of the DOL (Department of Labor) and IRS (Internal Revenue Service);   preparing a second Form-5500 using the data retrieved from the DOL or IRS and without (i) manually entering the data, and (ii) using the data that is stored by the first employee benefit software program in the form that is usable by the first employee benefit software program while being generally unusable by other, different employee benefit software programs; and   filing the second Form-5500 with at least one of the DOL and IRS.   
     
     
         26 . The method as recited in  claim 25 , wherein the first employee benefit software program is provided by a first TPA (third party administrator) that performs administration of the employment benefit plan for the employment benefit plan sponsor. 
     
     
         27 . The method as recited in  claim 26 , further comprising a step of providing a second employee benefit software program that uses the data retrieved from the DOL or IRS. 
     
     
         28 . The method as recited in  claim 27 , wherein the second employee benefit software program is provided by a second TPA that differs from the first TPA.