Smart Benefits: Form 5500 Deadline Extended for Some Plans Due to COVID-19

Sam Slade, Contributor

Smart Benefits: Form 5500 Deadline Extended for Some Plans Due to COVID-19

Sam Slade
The IRS recently announced that, in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it’s extending the deadline for the filing of Form 5500 for ERISA-covered retirement and welfare plans with a filing deadline on or after April 1 and before July 15, 2020, to July 15. This announcement doesn’t affect the filing deadline for calendar year plans, which are still due July 31, 2020.

Form 5500, which must be filed electronically along with any schedules and attachments, is required for most employee benefit plans with 100 or more participants and small plans that don’t qualify for an exemption. The annual report is intended to ensure plans are operated and managed in accordance with certain standards to protect plan participants and beneficiaries. Typically, it is due the last day of the seventh month after the plan year ends.

The coronavirus-related extension is automatic, so plan sponsors don’t need to file any forms to take advantage of it. Those that need additional time beyond July 15 may request it using the Form 5558 as long as the extension doesn’t go past the original or regulatory extension date.

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Sam Slade is Managing Director, Employee Benefits, at The Hilb Group of New England, where he delivers consultative advice and services. He is an industry veteran with extensive experience in all aspects of employee benefits, including underwriting, plan design, communications, compliance, and analytics, with a particular focus on alternative funding and self-insurance. Most recently, Sam served as Vice President of the Employer Segment at BCBSRI, where he worked to help the company evolve its self-insured capabilities. Previously, he was the Employee Benefits Practice Leader for USI in Rhode Island after selling his own firm, Bluff Head Enterprises, to the company in 2011. Sam’s career started with The Travelers.

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