QUESTION: We’re required to file Kind 5500 for a number of of our firm’s worker profit plans, and we’re not positive that we can file all of them on time. What do we have to do to get an extension?

ANSWER: An extension for submitting Kind 5500 (Annual Return/Report of Worker Profit Plan) is obtained by submitting Kind 5558 (Utility for Extension of Time to File Sure Worker Plan Returns) on or earlier than the common Kind 5500 due date, which is seven months after the tip of the plan 12 months. Submitting Kind 5558 will prolong the due date to 2-1/2 months past the common deadline. For instance, a calendar-year plan’s submitting deadline is July 31; with the extension, it’s October 15.

Though Kind 5500 have to be filed electronically with the DOL (with restricted exceptions for sure retirement plans), Kind 5558 is filed in paper type with the IRS. A separate Kind 5558 must be filed for every Kind 5500 for which an extension is desired. As long as Kind 5558 is filed on or earlier than the Kind 5500’s common due date, the extension is computerized—that’s, it doesn’t require IRS or DOL approval. A duplicate of the finished and filed Kind 5558 have to be retained with the filer’s data; it isn’t included with the Kind 5500 submitting.

Kind 5558 is just not the one mechanism for extending the due date for submitting Kind 5500. As described in our Checkpoint Query of the Week, an computerized extension is granted till the prolonged due date for the employer’s federal revenue tax return if sure circumstances are glad. Kind 5558 can’t be used to additional prolong that computerized extension—the Kind 5558 extension is just measured from the common Kind 5500 due date. Additionally, every so often, the DOL extends the Kind 5500 submitting deadline as a consequence of pure disasters or different occasions that will hinder well timed submitting. Sometimes, the DOL’s announcement specifies the size of the particular extension, identifies eligible filers, and offers directions on easy methods to notice the particular extension on Kind 5500.

For extra data, see EBIA’s ERISA Compliance guide at Part XXII.F.2 (“Kind 5500 Is Usually Due Seven Months After Finish of Plan Yr”); EBIA’s 401(okay) Plans guide at Sections XXXI.B (“Fundamental Kind 5500 Guidelines: Who, When, What, and How”) and XXXI.M.3 (“Kind 5558 (Utility for Extension of Time to File Sure Worker Plan Returns)”); EBIA’s Cafeteria Plans guide at Part XXXIV.B.2 (“When to File Kind 5500”); and EBIA’s Self-Insured Well being Plans guide at Part XXIX.B (“Annual Kind 5500 Reporting”).

Contributing Editors: EBIA Employees.