Form 5500 Version Selection Tool

This tool determines which form type and form year should be used when filing a Form 5500, 5500-SF, or 5500-EZ return/report.

To find out who must file or to find detailed instructions specific to your plan's filing requirements, review the filing instructions.

All Form 5500, 5500-SF, and 5500-EZ filings must be submitted electronically with the possible exception of the 5500-EZ. If you are required to file the Form 5500-EZ and file fewer than 250 returns of any type with the IRS during the calendar year, then you may file the Form 5500-EZ on paper with the IRS.

If you wish to file a delinquent Form 5500/5500-SF under the Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance Program (DFVCP), use the DFVCP Penalty Calculator to be certain you have calculated the amount due correctly. After calculating the amount due, the calculator give you the option to pay the DFVCP penalty electronically.

Read each question carefully and answer accurately. If you have questions, contact the EFAST2 Help Desk.

If applicable, check the box that represents the type for this filing:

Check this box if filing for a DFE (other than a GIA)

Check this box if amending a filing

Required: Enter the beginning year of the plan year for which you are filing: Beginning plan year is required

Required: Is this a foreign plan? A foreign plan is a pension plan that is maintained outside the United States primarily for nonresident aliens. The employer who maintains the plan is either a domestic employer, or a foreign employer with income derived from sources within the United States (including foreign subsidiaries of domestic employers) if contributions to the plan are deducted on its U.S. income tax return.
Required: Is this a one-participant plan? A one-participant plan is a retirement plan that is a defined benefit pension plan or a defined contribution profit-sharing or money purchase pension plan, other than an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), which covers only you (or you and your spouse) and you (or you and your spouse) own the entire business (which may be incorporated or unincorporated); or covers only one or more partners (or partners and their spouses) in a business partnership (treating 2% shareholder of an S corporation as a partner); and does not provide benefits for anyone except you (or you and your spouse) or one or more partners (or partners and their spouses). Note that you do not have to file Form 5500-EZ for the reporting year for a one-participant plan if the total of the plan's assets and the assets of all other one-participant plans maintained by the employer at the end of the reporting year does not exceed $250,000, unless the reporting plan year is the final plan year of the plan.
Is this a small plan (not a one-participant plan)? The plan (a) covered fewer than 100 participants at the beginning of the plan year being filed, or (b) under 29 CFR 2520.103-1(d) was eligible to and filed as a small plan for the previous plan year filed and did not cover more than 120 participants at the beginning of the plan year being filed (see the Form 5500-SF instructions for line 5 on counting the number of participants).
Is this plan exempt from the requirement that the plan’s books and records be audited by an independent qualified public accountant (IQPA)? The plan is eligible for the waiver of the annual examination and report of an independent qualified public accountant (IQPA) under 29 CFR 2520.104-46 (but not by reason of enhanced bonding), which requirement includes, among others, giving certain disclosures and supporting documents to participants and beneficiaries regarding the plan’s investments (see the Form 5500-SF instructions for line 6b).
Are 100% of this plan’s assets invested in certain secure investments with a readily determinable fair value? At all times during the plan year, the plan was 100% invested in certain secure, easy to value assets that meet the definition of “eligible plan assets” (see the Form 5500-SF instructions for line 6a), such as mutual fund shares, investment contracts with insurance companies and banks valued at least annually, publicly traded securities held by a registered broker dealer, cash and cash equivalents held by a bank, and plan loans to participants that comply with ERISA § 408(b)(1).
Does this plan hold any employer securities? The plan did not hold any employer securities at any time during the plan year.
Is this a multiemployer plan? A plan is a multiemployer plan if: (a) more than one employer is required to contribute; (b) the plan is maintained pursuant to one or more collective bargaining agreements between one or more employee organizations and more than one employer; (c) an election under Code section 414(f)(5) and ERISA section 3(37)(E) has not been made; and (d) the plan meets any other applicable conditions of 29 CFR 2510.3-37. A plan that made a proper election under ERISA section 3(37)(G) and Code section 414(f)(6) on or before Aug. 17, 2007, is also a multiemployer plan.
Was the plan required to file a Form M-1, Report for Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangements (MEWAs) and Certain Entities Claiming Exception (ECEs), during the plan year? In general, MEWAs are arrangements that offer health and other benefits to the employees of two or more different employers. Filers should not complete a Form M-1 if the plan does not include Medical Benefits.

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Form 5500 Version Selection Tool

If applicable, check the box that represents the type for this filing:

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