Beginning July 1st, MERP requires participating employers to submit a Contribution Report along with MERP contributions. Contribution Reporting templates are available for employers to use, or the Trust may accept employer reports that meet the needed requirements. Groups not providing Contribution Reports received a Final Notice dated June 1, 2024. This notice indicated that the Trust no longer issues monthly “invoices”. It also stated contributions received after July 1, 2024 without Contribution Reporting will not be accepted. Below is an FAQ with additional detail and information.
What is happening?
The IAFF MERP (the Trust) discontinued the monthly billing invoices effective May 1, 2024. Participating Employers are now required to provide the Trust with a Contribution Data Template detailing the contributions that are being submitted for each plan participant. The Trust will refer to these as a “Contribution Data Report” or “Contribution Report”. In order to assist the transition, there was no billing statement issued for the month of June 2024 – only a Final Notice. Contribution Report cadence may vary depending on whether the employer remits contributions to the Trust on a monthly or per pay period basis.
What if I’m already providing a full Contribution Data Report?
Thank you for providing the Contribution Data Report. Please disregard any notices received and continue with your present practice. If there is vital information missing from your current report, the Trust Office will contact you with detail on what specifically is needed.
Why is this happening?
The Trust needs to comply with certain U.S. Department of Labor reporting requirements and these requirements are best satisfied by moving from a monthly billing platform to a self-reported Contribution Report.
How should these reports be submitted to the Trust Office (Vimly)?
The Contribution Report should be submitted to the Trust Office via an Excel (.xls) spreadsheet. As these reports contain sensitive personal data, we recognize the need to keep information secure. Contribution Data Reports may be submitted to the Trust Office securely via secure email system to the Trust Office.
Contribution reports can also be sent to the Trust Office via Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP). If you wish to set up SFTP with the Trust Office, please email the Trust Office.
Vimly also offers employers the option of uploading information onto their secure online platform, SIMON. Please contact the Trust Office to discuss which option will work best for your organization.
Where do I access the Contribution Data Report?
A template of this document is publicly available at www.IAFFMERP.org under Forms and Documents titled “Template for Contribution Reporting”. We understand many employers have payroll systems that can produce similar reports. If you cannot feed information into the Trust template format provided, the Trust Office may be able to accept reports directly from your system. The custom report provided must be approved prior to use.
Please contact the Trust Office (Vimly) at 844-353-7839 (press 1) or email the Trust Office to determine if your custom contribution report can be accepted.
What happens if I don’t begin providing the Contribution Report on/before July 1, 2024?
Contributions received by the Trust Office after July 1, 2024 will not be accepted without an accompanying Contribution Report. The Contribution Report must be received within 5 business days of the contribution payment. After July 1, 2024, the Trust will return funds received without the necessary Contribution Report containing information to allocate funds to the participants in IAFF MERP.
The employer is responsible for sending contributions along with the Contribution Report to the Trust Office. Contributions (along with reporting) may be provided at whatever cadence is stipulated in the contract.
Does anything else need to happen with this change?
We strongly recommend your next MOU or Labor Agreement be updated with language related to contribution reporting requirements to comply with current legal requirements. For a copy of model collective bargaining language related to this, please contact the Trust Consultant, DiMartino Associates.
Who should I contact with questions?
Please contact the Trust Office (Vimly) at 844-353-7839 (press 1) or email the Trust Office. You can also contact the Trust Consultant, DiMartino Associates. We are happy to work with you to make meeting this reporting requirement as seamless as possible.
Vimly will host two informational virtual sessions on Thursday, June 13 & Friday, June 14 so employers can ask questions about the Contribution Report and learn how to submit the report. Please reach out to either of the contacts above via email for meeting links.
