Under ERISA, a welfare plan is any plan, program, or fund that an employer maintains to provide:

• medical, surgical, or hospital care
• benefits for sickness, accident, disability, or death
• unemployment benefits
• vacation benefits
• apprenticeship and training programs
• day care centers
• scholarship funds
• prepaid legal services
• holiday or severance pay
• retirement plans

If you are self-employed or if you have a partnership and only you and your partner are covered under the plan, you would not be subject to ERISA because no employees would be covered under the plan. However, even though your plan does not cover any employees, it must still satisfy all the applicable requirements of the Internal Revenue Code in order to qualify for employee benefit tax breaks.