In July 2015 the Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015 included provisions that lengthened the filing extension period for Form 5500, changing the filing extension period from 2 ½ to 3 ½ months. This sparked a lot of concern among industry organizations about how the change would affect plan administration. What happened next?
President Obama signed the The Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act on December 4, 2015. The new law repealed the employee benefit plan Form 5500 extension provision in the July 2015 highway bill, which had provided a 3½-month filing extension until November 15.
As a result, the maximum extension period for filing the Form 5500 and Form 5500-SF did not change. Employee benefit plans are required to file annual reports (Form 5500) and retirement plans are required to file Form 8955-SSA (Annual Registration Statement Identifying Separated Participants with Deferred Vested Benefits) by the end of the seventh month following the end of the plan year, with a 2½ month extension available. That means, for calendar year plans, the initial due date is July 31, and the extended due date is October 15 for those filing for an extension (Form 5558) prior to the initial due date, July 31.
So what does this all mean? The Form 5500 deadline and extension have not changed from the current deadline.
For any questions regarding your 401k plan please contact our Employee Benefit Plan team leader, Maria Arriola at 714.569.1000 or [email protected].
Written by: Karen Kush, Paraprofessional
