Half the compliance calendar does not apply to you.
The hard part is knowing which half. There is no single headcount at which the rules switch on — they start at 20, at 50, at 100 participants, and one of them starts at a single covered employee. Answer four questions and get only the obligations that are actually yours, with your own dates on them.
Four questions.
Dates are calculated from the plan year you enter, not from a generic calendar.
Count part-timers as fractions of a full-time employee. The thresholds that matter sit at 20, 50 and 100.
Covered employees plus COBRA participants and covered retirees. Dependents do not count.
What You Owe
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obligations identified
Federal requirements only. Michigan adds none of its own on these points, but your carrier contract and your plan documents may. General information, not legal advice, and a plan-specific question belongs with ERISA counsel.
Three things this catches that employers miss.
The 5500 Exemption Is Narrower Than It Sounds
Under 100 participants you are exempt from filing the Form 5500. The regulation says plainly that the exemption is from the filing only. Your Summary Plan Description obligation is untouched, and that is the document most employers turn out not to have.
A Benefits Guide Is Not an SPD
Neither is a carrier certificate, a summary of benefits and coverage, or an enrollment booklet. An SPD is a specific ERISA document with required content, and the obligation starts at one covered employee. This is the most common gap we find on a new account.
Creditable Coverage Is Not Your Call
Whether your drug coverage counts as creditable for Part D is determined by the carrier or an actuary. Employers routinely assume last year’s answer still holds. It has moved for some plans as the Part D benefit itself changed. Ask for the determination each year, in writing.
The full calendar, with the rules behind it.
Every Deadline, Not Just Yours
The complete calendar sets out each filing, who owes it and what the rule actually says, with the figures verified at source. See the employee benefits compliance calendar.
If This Turned Up a Gap
Most gaps here are cheap to close and expensive to leave. Compliance is a service on our accounts rather than a disclaimer at the bottom of a proposal. Send us your renewal and we will tell you what is missing.
General information about federal benefits compliance, not legal advice. Plan-specific questions belong with ERISA counsel, and we will bring them in.
What employers ask about benefits compliance deadlines.
The four that decide whether the rest of the calendar applies to you.
What are the employee benefits compliance deadlines for employers?
The recurring federal ones are the Form 5500, due the last day of the seventh month after your plan year ends, so 31 July for a calendar-year plan; the Summary Annual Report, within nine months of the plan year closing, so 30 September; furnishing Forms 1095-C by about 2 March; filing 1094-C and 1095-C by 28 February on paper or 31 March electronically; the Medicare Part D creditable coverage notice before 15 October; and the gag clause attestation by 31 December. Which of them you owe depends on your headcount, your participant count and how you are funded.
When is the Form 5500 deadline?
The last day of the seventh month after your plan year ends. For a calendar-year plan that is 31 July. A Form 5558 extension buys up to two and a half months more, to 15 October, but it has to be filed on or before the original due date, not after you have missed it.
Does a small employer have to file a Form 5500?
Not if you had fewer than 100 participants at the beginning of the plan year and the plan is unfunded, fully insured or a combination. Participants means covered employees plus COBRA participants and covered retirees, and does not include dependents. Read the exemption carefully though: it is an exemption from the filing only. It does not touch your Summary Plan Description obligation, which starts at a single covered employee.
What compliance applies to a company with under 50 employees?
More than most employers expect. COBRA starts at 20 employees. The gag clause attestation has no size exemption at all. The Part D creditable coverage notice applies if you have Medicare-eligible people. And the Summary Plan Description is owed from your first covered employee. What you avoid under 50 is the ACA employer mandate, the 1094-C and 1095-C reporting that goes with it, and FMLA.
The notices you owe employees → · Form 5500 and plan documents →
Send us your renewal.
We’ll tell you whether it looks competitive, where we see opportunity, and the five questions we’d put to your carrier. No cost, and no obligation to move anything.
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.
Laws and rules referenced
26 U.S.C. § 4980B(d)(1) — COBRA small-employer exception for fewer than 20 employees
26 U.S.C. § 4980H — Employer shared responsibility at 50 full-time equivalents
29 CFR 2520.104-20 — Reporting relief for welfare plans with fewer than 100 participants
42 CFR 411.172 — Medicare secondary payer rules and the 20-employee threshold
This tool gives estimates for education, not tax or legal advice. Rules change, so confirm your situation with a qualified advisor.
An independent employee benefits consulting firm. We look at the entire benefits program — cost, plan performance, risk and administration.
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