The U.S. Department of Labor released the final rule for Form T-1 on September 30, 2008. This final rule requires that a labor organization with total annual receipts of $250,000 or more file a Form T- 1 for each trust of the type defined by section 3(l) of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) and that meets one of two filing triggers: The labor organization, alone or with other labor organizations, either:
The final rule provides five exemptions to the Form T-1 filing requirements:
Employee benefit plans that are exempt from filing Form 5500, including training and apprenticeship plans that have opted not to file Form 5500, must file the new Form T-1.
The Form T-1 includes the reporting of aggregate assets, liabilities, receipts and disbursements as well as other information about the organization. Additionally, the report must include the names of the parties with which the trust engaged in $10,000 or more of commerce, either via individual or aggregated transactions and their address, the nature of the business and the transaction date and purpose.
The report is due within 90 days following the labor organization’s year-end and is filed along with the Form LM-2. The report must be signed by the labor organization President and Treasurer. It is based on the fiscal year of the trust, not the labor organization. Trust fund fiduciaries are permitted to provide the information required by Form T-1 to the labor organization as long as the reasonable costs incurred to produce the information and/or the report itself is reimbursed by the labor organization. The final rule is effective January 1, 2009 so the Form T-1 will be due for the first trust year beginning on or after January 1, 2009.