The Form 5500: What All Employers and Plan Administrators Need to Know and How to Avoid Costly Fines
Plan sponsors are busy people. Running a business involves managing employees, customers, vendors, and finances. In the middle of all that, a 401(k) plan can feel like just one more administrative burden competing for...more
Employer-sponsored group health plans operate at the intersection of multiple federal regulatory frameworks — ERISA, the ACA, COBRA, HIPAA, the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA), and more....more
Most 401(k) problems don’t start in the plan. They start in payroll. Plan sponsors tend to think of payroll as an administrative function and the 401(k) as a separate benefits issue....more
Before employers roll out a new severance program, they should ask one additional question: Are we unintentionally creating an ERISA plan? The more administratively complex a severance program is, the more likely it is to...more
A spate of new lawsuits, all by the same plaintiff’s firm, look to establish a new, niche area of ERISA liability. A prominent plaintiff's firm has recently filed four coordinated lawsuits that could expose an entirely...more
The required amendment adoption date for many of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE 2.0) provisions is December 31, 2026. While plan sponsors may be focused on the significant mandatory changes imposed by SECURE 2.0, such as...more
On December 23, 2025, four large employers and several national benefits consulting firms were sued in connection with their provision of employee-paid “voluntary benefits,” generally marking the first time that the...more
For many years, employers and benefits professionals have treated voluntary benefits such as accident, critical illness, cancer, and hospital indemnity insurance, as a relatively low-risk corner of the benefits landscape....more
One of the most persistent myths in the 401(k) universe is the idea that the third-party administrator (TPA) is the plan administrator. If I had a dollar for every time a plan sponsor insisted this was true, I could probably...more
I n Pirates of the Caribbean, Captain Jack Sparrow said, “Dead men tell no tales.” That’s true for pirates, but not for dead 401(k) plans. When a plan dies, it has a lot to say. It whispers through old payroll files, missing...more
Working with a plan sponsor recently, I was helping sort out a late Form 5500 issue. Pretty routine stuff, until I learned they’d already heard from the IRS about it a year ago. A year! It reminded me of my mother-in-law,...more
Plan sponsors can pay ERISA plan expenses themselves or, under certain circumstances, from plan assets. Understanding what costs can be expensed to the plan — and which expenses should come out of the employer’s piggy bank —...more
When you work as an ERISA attorney for TPAs for nearly a decade, you get a front-row seat to some of the most creative interpretations of the law imaginable. I don’t say that as an insult—I say it as someone who spent ten...more
Mergers are great when you’re talking about chocolate and peanut butter. But when you’re talking about merging 401(k) plan assets, it’s not always a smooth combination. Plan mergers, whether due to acquisitions, company...more
The Form 5500 is the information return that must be filed by most employee benefit plans subject to ERISA (unless an exception applies), and failure to file this annual return for a plan can result in assessment of penalties...more
Does your company's health plan provide prescription drug coverage? If so, you have until October 15, 2025 to send a notice to individuals who are enrolled in Medicare Part A or Part B and are eligible for the company's...more
For calendar-year employee benefit plans, the extended deadline for filing the 2024 Forms 5500 is coming up on October 15, 2025. Accordingly, plan sponsors filing under the extended deadline will be reviewing draft Forms 5500...more
Share on Twitter Share by Email Share Back to top Buyers (including private equity firms and their investors) that acquire the stock of a company wholly or partially owned by an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) face a...more
Let’s be honest: the Solo 401(k) is one of the great marketing wins of the retirement plan industry. It sounds easy. It sounds empowering. It sounds like freedom—no employees, no complex administration, no fuss. But let me...more
By July 31, employers that sponsor self-funded medical plans must report and pay their PCORI fee. By July 31, employers that sponsor calendar-year employee benefit plans that are subject to ERISA must file a Form 5500 (unless...more
There are few things more maddening, more viscerally frustrating, than watching a plan sponsor or service provider steer themselves into the abyss out of sheer pride or ignorance—or worse, some toxic blend of both. But in the...more
Schlichter Bogard, LLC represents participants of the $7 billion Charter Communications, Inc. 401(k) Savings Plan in a class action against Charter Communications, Inc....more
I sound like a broken record, but I won’t stop until 401(k) plan sponsors understand the issue of a late Form 5500 and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Labor (DOL) penalties....more
George Carlin had a joke that to get off a jury, you should just tell the Judge that you can determine a person is guilty by just looking at them....more
“Solo 401(k)” is a marketing term used for a 401(k) plan that is adopted by a sole proprietor or an incorporated business with no employees other than the owner. These plans offer a greater retirement savings opportunity...more