IARD Fees May Rise For $100M+ Advisors

The Securities and Exchange Commission is proposing raising IARD filing fees 12.5% in 2011 for advisors with $100 million or more in assets under management.

The fees cover Investment Adviser Registration Depository (IARD) filings starting January 1. More than 11,000 advisors currently use the IARD system to register with the SEC, filing Form ADV, and make state notice filings electronically through the Internet.

The SEC has either waived the filing fees entirely or adjusted the fees each of the past five years to eradicate what was a $9 million surplus in IARD operations in 2005. The new proposals are designed to further reduce the surplus, which is down to $3 million this year, due to the lower number of advisors expected to register with the SEC next year, according to the SEC. Under the Dodd-Frank reforms adopted this year, the threshold for most advisors to be eligible for SEC registration will go from $25 million to $100 million AUM.

Under the proposal, the annual and initial filing fees for advisors with $100 million or more in assets under management would increase from $200 to $225. The fees would remain the same for other advisors-$40 for advisors with AUM under $25 million and $150 for advisors with AUM of at least $25 million and under $100 million.