June 17, 1996
DO-96-031
MEMORANDUM
TO: Designated Agency Ethics Officials
FROM: Stephen D. Potts
Director
SUBJECT: Preparing to Use the New OGE Form 450
SUPPLIES OF OGE FORM 450
By DAEOgram of February 27, 1996, the Office of Government
Ethics (OGE) distributed a camera-ready copy of the new
confidential financial disclosure report, OGE Form 450, to replace
the green standard form, SF 450. As indicated in that memorandum,
supplies of OGE Form 450 are to be produced locally at each agency.
By way of reminder, agencies should be anticipating their
needs and establishing procedures for reproducing this form in time
for the October 1996 annual filing. If you need another camera-
ready copy or would like information on printing blank copies
electronically, please contact your OGE desk officer. You can also
access a copy of the form on OGE's ethics bulletin board (TEBBS).
As discussed in the DAEOgram of February 27, 1996,
confidential filers may continue to use the old green SF 450 until
supplies are depleted. Note, however, that the Government Printing
Office will gradually be closing out its supplies of this form.
Also, filers who use the green SF 450 need to be reminded that they
should disregard its instructions requiring disclosure of deposit
accounts in certain financial institutions, money market funds and
accounts, and U.S. Government obligations and securities. That
change, promulgated in 1993 at 5 C.F.R. § 2634.907(a), is reflected
in the new OGE Form 450. Additionally, filers who use the green
SF 450 should be reminded that they can disregard that form's
instructions requiring identification of certain assets as excepted
investment funds (EIFs). See the discussion below.
WHEN TO DISCLOSE UNDERLYING HOLDINGS ON OGE FORM 450 FOR MUTUAL
FUNDS, PENSIONS, AND SIMILAR INVESTMENTS
The new OGE Form 450 has eliminated the requirement that
confidential filers indicate whether certain assets such as a
mutual fund or employer-sponsored pension are excepted investment
funds (EIFs). Also, it has eliminated the need for confidential
filers to specify whether an employer-sponsored pension is a
defined contribution or defined benefit plan. These designations
had been used on the green SF 450 to help in determining whether
confidential filers were required to disclose underlying holdings.
Instead of asking confidential filers to apply these terms,
instructions accompanying the new OGE Form 450 specify more
directly which assets require disclosure of underlying holdings.
(See also exceptions under the heading "do not report.") Thus, the
instructions advise confidential filers that:
o they must list the holdings in an IRA, a "40l(k)"
retirement account, and a trust;
o they do not need to show the underlying assets held
by a publicly available mutual fund (or limited
partnership), so long as the full name of the specific
fund is disclosed;
o for an employer-sponsored pension plan, they must
list underlying investment holdings only if the filer or
spouse have control over those assets; for all other
employer-sponsored pension plans, the filer just needs to
indicate the name of the employer who sponsors the plan.
Based on this guidance in the instructions to OGE Form 450,
reviewers of confidential disclosure reports do not need to inquire
of confidential filers whether an employer-sponsored pension is a
defined contribution or a defined benefit plan. Instead, the OGE
committee that developed the new OGE Form 450 decided to focus on
control over the underlying assets as the touchstone in determining
whether those assets must be disclosed.
Note that this applies ONLY to confidential disclosure
reports. For public disclosure reports (SF 278s), reviewers must
continue to seek further information from filers about underlying
holdings of an employer-sponsored pension plan, unless it is
described on the SF 278 as a defined benefit plan.