Late5500Missed a Form 5500? Here's how to catch up
Updated 2026-11-15 · Sources linked below · Not tax or legal advice
Short answer: file every missing year now, before the DOL writes to you. Plans that cover employees file each late Form 5500 or 5500-SF on EFAST2 under the DOL's DFVC Program and pay a capped penalty ($750 per filing, $1,500 per plan for most small plans). Solo plans covering only owners file paper Form 5500-EZs under IRS Rev. Proc. 2015-32 for $500 per return, $1,500 max.
1. Confirm which years are late
A Form 5500, 5500-SF or 5500-EZ is due the last day of the 7th month after the plan year ends: July 31 for calendar-year plans, or October 15 if you filed Form 5558 by July 31. A year is late once that date passes with nothing filed. Check what's on file by searching the plan on EFAST2 or the DOL's public Form 5500 data (Late5500 does this from your EIN).
Some years may not need a return at all: a one-participant plan with $250,000 or less in assets at year end (all such plans combined) doesn't file a 5500-EZ, except in its final year, and a welfare plan with fewer than 100 participants that's fully insured or unfunded is exempt.
2. Pick the right program
| Your plan | Program | Form | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Covers employees (401(k), profit sharing, DB, funded welfare) | DOL DFVC Program | 5500-SF or 5500, e-filed on EFAST2 | $10/day; small plan $750 per filing, $1,500 per plan |
| Only owners and spouses, or partners and spouses | IRS Rev. Proc. 2015-32 | Paper 5500-EZ + Form 14704 | $500 per return, $1,500 max per plan |
DFVC closes once the DOL notifies the plan administrator in writing about the missing filing. IRS letters don't close it.
3. Small plan or large plan?
A plan is small if it had fewer than 100 participants at the beginning of the plan year. Since 2023, defined contribution plans count only participants with account balances. Plans with 80 to 120 participants may keep filing the way they did the year before (the 80-120 rule). Small plans with only "eligible" assets (mutual funds, insurance contracts, bank accounts, publicly traded securities, participant loans) and no employer securities can use the short Form 5500-SF with no audit. Large plans file Form 5500 with Schedule H and an independent accountant's audit, and DFVC caps rise to $2,000 per filing and $4,000 per plan.
4. Gather records, prepare, file
- Year-end statements, contributions, distributions, fees and participant counts for each late year (and the year before, so beginning balances match).
- Use each year's own form version. Check the DFVC program box in Part I, or for a 5500-EZ, the IRS Late Filer Penalty Relief box (or the red header on older forms).
- DFVC: e-file each year on EFAST2, then pay all years together through the DOL's online calculator and Pay.gov. Rev. Proc. 2015-32: mail all the returns with Form 14704 and one check to the IRS in Ogden, Utah.
5. Don't forget
- Pay DFVC penalties from company money, never plan assets.
- File any late Form 8955-SSA with the IRS: IRS penalty relief for DFVC filers (Notice 2014-35) depends on it.
- Put next year's July 31 deadline on two calendars.
Check your own plan
Enter your EIN: we find your plan's last filing in the DOL data, list the late years, and compute your program penalty free. $449 for the full Word kit.