Signer requirements for 5500 electronic returns

Signer requirements overview

Per Department of Labor (DOL) mandates, the electronic filing signer credentials, which consist of the User Identification Number (User ID) and the Personal Identification Number (PIN), must be kept confidential and not shared with anyone. To accommodate this requirement, Onvio Tax offers three methods for entering the signer credentials.

Notes

  • The designated signer must have a User ID and PIN before signing the return.
  • If the practitioner is not the signer, enter the name of the person who signs the return in the Individual signing for plan administrator field on the Admin screen in the General folder.

Enter signer credentials in person

If the signers are able to enter their signer credentials in person, follow these steps.

  1. Open the client's return.
  2. Address all diagnostic messages in the Review tab.
  3. Open the ELF screen in the Electronic Filing folder.

  4. Have the signers enter the plan administrator, employer / plan sponsor, direct filing entity (DFE), or E-Signature eight-character User IDs and the four-digit PINs in the appropriate User ID and PIN fields in the Direct Signer Designation section on the ELF screen. If you use this option, leave the fields in the Website Signer Designation section blank.

    Note: If you use the Service Provider Designation option, see Entering signer credentials as the practitioner below.

  5. E-file the return. 

To protect the confidentiality of the signers' credentials, after the signers enter the User IDs and the PINs and leave the field, Onvio Tax replaces the data with asterisks. Therefore, it is imperative that the signers review the data entered before leaving each field.

After the signers enter their credentials and the electronic file is created and electronically filed, the return will be processed as usual, and the DOL will issue an acknowledgment after the DOL completes processing.

Enter signer credentials as the practitioner

If the practitioner is authorized to sign Form 5500 or Form 5500-SF, follow these steps.

  1. Open the client's return.
  2. Address all diagnostic messages in the Review tab.
  3. Open the ELF screen in the Electronic Filing folder.
  4. Enter the practitioner User ID and PIN in the E-Signature: User ID and E-Signature: Personal identification number (PIN) fields in the Direct Signer Designation section. Do not mark any option in the Website Signer Designation section.
  5. Mark the box indicating that the practitioner has been authorized to enter the User ID and PIN on the return to electronically submit the return in the Service Provider Designation section.
  6. Click the Properties tab > E-file Attachments, and then click Add.
  7. Select Federal from the Jurisdiction field. 
  8. Select Tax Return from the Return Type field.
  9. Select Manually signed Form 5500 or 5500-SF under e-signature option for service providers from the Title field.
  10. Drag a file or browse for the file you wish to attach to the electronic file.

    Note: If the attachment is not saved as a PDF file, the file will not be listed when you click Browse for file. The attachment must be a PDF file to attach the document to the electronic file; you cannot attach scanned images to the electronic file.

  11. Click Save.

    Note: For more information on attaching PDF files to electronic files, see Attach a Portable Document Format (PDF) file to an e-file.


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