When counting participants for purposes of applying the small welfare plan filing exception, does 29 CFR 2510.3-3(d) allow you to exclude eligible employees who are not "COVERED" meaning those who: (1) have not met the plan definition of "participant," and (2) are not subject to the occurrence of the contingency for which the benefit is provided--I'm not sure what this means--I assume it means the employee applying for the benefit/requesting reimbursement, etc.; and (3) never make a plan contribution.

Short answer to your question: To qualify as a small plan for the 5500 filing, there must be less than 100 employees eligible to participate at the beginning of the plan year. It doesn't matter if they actually participate in the plan or not.

QKAcked up: Thanks for wading through my original post. I've done some more research and have significantly streamlined my question now! (See edited text above) Are you sure that participant = eligible employee? It seems like 2510.3-3(d) limits those counted to "covered" participants. Why would they have this apparent limitation if all they are talking about is eligible employees?