Past filings and future filings: how to fix both for your Form 5500.
Filing this year’s Form 5500 on time does not fix the years that were missed. To stay out of trouble you need the missing years filed and a plan for every year ahead. This page covers both tracks, what late filing can cost, and how to choose help for each. It is general information, not legal or tax advice.
Past years and every year after.
Track One: Past Years
Any year a required Form 5500 was never filed, or was filed incorrectly, is a past filing. Each missing year needs its own return for that plan year, and each one carries its own penalty clock. The sooner they are filed, the less time the penalties have to run.
Track Two: Every Year Ahead
Once the past is cleaned up, the goal is a calendar that never slips. That means knowing the plan year end, the due date seven months later, and who gathers the data before it is due. Predictable filing costs far less than catching up.
Why Both Matter
Filing one year late and fixing nothing else leaves the same gap open next July. A good fix covers the missing years and the process that caused them, so the same problem does not come back.
Check whether your plan needs a Form 5500 at all.
100 Participants Is The Line
Plans with 100 or more participants at the start of the plan year generally file a Form 5500. Participants include covered employees plus COBRA participants and covered retirees. Dependents are not counted.
Small Plans May Be Exempt
A welfare plan with fewer than 100 participants at the start of the plan year that is fully insured, unfunded, or a combination of the two does not have to file. Exempt does not mean no paperwork, as the next card explains.
The Plan Document Is Still Required
The filing exemption covers the filing only. A plan document and a summary plan description are still required, and a carrier booklet or benefits guide is not a substitute for either.
Funding Changes The Answer
A plan paid through a trust is not treated as unfunded. A move to self funding or level funding can change whether a filing is due, so check before the renewal, not after.
Count On The First Day
The participant count is taken at the start of the plan year. A group that grows past 100 during the year generally starts filing the following plan year, so a hiring surge is a good time to check.
Each Benefit Plan Counts
Medical, dental, vision and other welfare benefits can be wrapped into one plan or documented separately. How they are grouped in the plan document decides how many returns you file.
Six steps to catch up the missing years.
List Every Year At Risk
Start with the plan years in which you had 100 or more participants. For each one, confirm whether a return was filed and accepted. A missing proof of acceptance counts as a missing return.
Gather Plan Facts For Each Year
Each late return needs the plan year dates, the participant count at the start of the year, carrier or funding details, and the plan document. Pull these year by year, since they change.
Check For Any Notice First
Before you file anything late, look for a notice from the Department of Labor about the missing filings. A notice changes which options are open, including the voluntary program, so it is the first thing to check.
Use The Voluntary Program
If no notice has arrived, the Department of Labor offers a voluntary program for late filers with fixed, capped penalties. You file each late return electronically, mark the program box, and pay online.
File The Oldest Year First
Work from the oldest missing year forward. Each return should match the plan as it existed in that year, not today’s plan. A steady order keeps the plan facts straight.
Keep The Proof
Save the accepted return, the program receipt, and the penalty payment record for every year. If an agency asks later, this file answers the question in minutes.
Six steps to keep every year on track.
Put The Due Date On A Calendar
The return is due the last day of the seventh month after the plan year ends. For a calendar year plan that is July 31, and the calendar should show it a quarter ahead.
Decide On An Extension Early
Form 5558 adds two and a half months, which moves a calendar year plan to October 15. It has to be filed by the original due date, so it cannot be used to rescue a return that is already late.
Assign One Owner
Name the person who gathers participant counts, carrier information and the plan document each year. Handoffs between HR, finance and the carrier are where most missed filings begin.
Keep The Plan Document Current
The return describes the plan, so the plan document and summary plan description should match what you actually offer. Update them after any plan design change at renewal.
Count Participants Every Year
Check the participant count at the start of every plan year. Crossing 100 starts the filing requirement, and falling below it may remove the requirement.
Ask Us To Help With The Filing
We can help you with the filing, and we help keep you ERISA compliant, so the return, the plan document and the calendar are handled together instead of in pieces.
Two penalty sources and one voluntary program.
Department of Labor Penalties
The Department of Labor can assess up to $2,739 per day for a Form 5500 that is late or missing. The 2026 amount did not change from 2025, and the total is not capped by statute.
IRS Penalties on Retirement Plans
Retirement plan returns can also draw an IRS penalty of $250 per day, up to $150,000 per plan year. Health and welfare plans are mainly exposed to the Department of Labor penalty.
Penalties Run Per Year
Each plan year is its own return with its own penalty clock. Three missing years means three separate penalties, which is why small problems become large ones when they sit.
The Voluntary Program Caps The Cost
Through the Department of Labor program the late filing charge is $10 per day, capped at $750 per filing for small plans and $2,000 per filing for large plans. Across all years, the plan cap is $1,500 for small plans and $4,000 for large plans.
What The Program Does Not Cover
It relieves the Department of Labor annual reporting penalty only. It does not reduce IRS or PBGC penalties, and it is not open once the Department has sent a notice of intent to assess a penalty.
Time Is The Only Variable
Daily penalties grow with delay, and the voluntary program is closed the day a notice arrives. The cheapest day to file a missing return is today.
What late looks like in dollars.
How To Read These
These examples use a made up employer with 150 participants and a calendar year health plan, a large plan under the program. Amounts are program figures and agency maximums, not predictions of what an agency will do.
One Year, 45 Days Late
The July 31 return is filed on September 14. Through the voluntary program, 45 days at $10 is $450. Without it, the Department of Labor could assess up to 45 times $2,739, which is $123,255.
One Year, 200 Days Late
The return is filed 200 days late. Ten dollars a day would be $2,000, which equals the large plan cap per filing, so the program charge is $2,000 however much later it is filed. The Department of Labor maximum for 200 days is $547,800.
Three Missing Years
Plan years 2022, 2023 and 2024 were never filed, and each is well past 200 days late. Each hits the $2,000 cap, but the plan cap holds the total at $4,000 rather than $6,000. On paper, one full year at the daily maximum is $999,735, so three years reach $2,999,205.
A Small Plan With No Filing
An employer with 80 participants and a fully insured plan does not file a Form 5500, so no filing penalty applies. It still needs a plan document and a summary plan description, which is where many small employers are exposed.
A Retirement Plan Contrast
A retirement plan return that is 600 days late can draw an IRS penalty of $250 per day, which reaches the $150,000 cap per plan year at day 600. That IRS penalty applies to retirement plans, not to health and welfare plans.
Three dates that matter for a calendar year plan.
The Standard Due Date
The last day of the seventh month after the plan year ends. For a calendar year plan, plan year 2025 was due July 31, 2026.
October 15 With An Extension
Form 5558 filed by the original due date adds two and a half months, so a calendar year plan gets October 15. For plan year 2025 that date is October 15, 2026.
After The Date Passes
Once both dates pass, the return is late and the voluntary program is the usual route. If an extension was filed but the return still missed it, the penalty clock counts from the original due date.
Match the help to the problem.
Catch Up Specialists
Some providers focus on delinquent returns. They rebuild missing years, use the voluntary program, and then hand the plan back. That is good for cleanup, but they may not file next year’s return.
Ongoing Filing Providers
Others file the current year and every year after it on a calendar. They are the right fit once the past is clean, but many do not take on missing years.
One Plan Covering Both
Ask whether one provider will do both, or whether you need two and how they will hand off. A clean handoff means the plan facts are not collected twice.
Written Scope And Price
Get a written list of the years covered, who pays program penalties, and what happens if the Department sends a notice in the middle of the project.
Where We Help
We can help you with the filing, and we help keep you ERISA compliant, so the plan document, the participant count and the calendar are handled together with the return.
Keep One Record
Whoever files, keep your own copy of every accepted return and receipt. The plan administrator stays responsible, so the record should live with you.
Six questions before you hire help.
Which Years Do You File?
Ask whether the provider handles prior years, the current year, or both.
Will You Use The Voluntary Program?
Ask whether late years will go through the Department of Labor program, and who calculates and pays the penalty.
What Do You Need From Us?
Ask for the exact list of plan documents, participant counts and carrier details, and a date to deliver them.
Do You Also Check The Plan Document?
Ask whether the plan document and summary plan description are reviewed so they match the return.
What If A Notice Arrives?
Ask whether the provider helps respond if the Department sends a notice during the project, and whether that is included.
How Do We Get Proof?
Ask how you receive proof of acceptance for every year, and where it is stored.
Where these figures come from.
Department of Labor: Delinquent Filer Program
Program charge of $10 per day, the caps for small and large plans, who is eligible, and how to file and pay.
Mercer: 2026 Civil Penalties Will Not Increase
The $2,739 per day Form 5500 amount, which carries over unchanged from 2025 into 2026.
29 CFR 2520.104-20: Small Welfare Plan Exemption
The fewer than 100 participants test, the insured and unfunded structures, and the continuing summary plan description duty.
29 CFR 2560.502c-2: Civil Penalties Process
The notice of intent to assess, the 30 day statement of reasonable cause, and when a notice becomes final.
IRS: About Form 5558
Form 5558 is the one time application for an extension of time to file Form 5500.
IRS: 401(k) Plan Fix-It Guide, Form 5500
The IRS late filing rate of $250 per day, capped at $150,000, under Internal Revenue Code section 6652(e).
Send us your renewal.
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The renewal letter
Your current plan summary
Contribution split by tier
Enrolled counts by tier
Four documents — two more if your group is 50 or more. Nothing else; every extra one is a reason to postpone.
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