All ERISA retirement plans (for example, tax-qualified retirement plans) other than SEP IRAs and SIMPLE IRAs are subject to these fee disclosure rules.  Non-ERISA plans (e.g. IRAs, church plans, governmental plans, and unfunded excess benefit plan) are not affected.  However, if the plan is not a defined contribution plan in which participants direct investments, the regulations will only apply if the service provider received indirect compensation from anyone other than the plan, the plan sponsor, a covered service provider or its affiliate.

Code Section 403(b) plans that are covered by ERISA are subject to these disclosure rules, but there is an exception for §403(b) plans that are exempt from the Form 5500 filing requirement.

Plans of a business wholly owned by the owner and spouse, with no common law employees participating, are not ERISA plans, so the disclosure rules don’t apply.  The same would apply to the plan of a partnership with no common law employees participating.

This article was last updated on February 17, 2012