ERISA and Form 5500 for employers

Not legal advice; consult benefits counsel. This page is general information for a mid-market employer that sponsors a group health or other welfare benefit plan. Each legal statement is attributed to a federal source we read on 14 October 2026. Nothing here is a determination about any plan, employer or individual.

What this page adds

Related pages cover the surrounding decisions: how funding structures differ in level-funded health plans, continuation-coverage duties in the COBRA employer guide, the 50-employee coverage test in the ACA employer mandate guide, and plan comparison in benefits benchmarking. This page is the ERISA lookup: the documents a plan must have, what must be furnished to participants, and what is filed with the government.

Who the plan administrator is

The reporting and disclosure duties below fall on the “administrator.” 29 U.S.C. 1002(16) (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) defines that as the person specifically designated by the plan instrument; if none is designated, the plan sponsor; and the same section’s sponsor definition names the employer for a plan established or maintained by a single employer. In practice that is why many employers are the administrator by default.

The written plan document

29 U.S.C. 1102(a) (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) states that every employee benefit plan “shall be established and maintained pursuant to a written instrument,” and that the instrument must provide for one or more named fiduciaries with authority to control and manage the operation and administration of the plan. Whether a carrier’s certificate of coverage can serve as that instrument is not addressed by the section; it is a question for counsel, and we did not find a primary page that answers it.

Summary plan description (SPD)

29 U.S.C. 1021(a) (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) directs the administrator of each employee benefit plan to cause the SPD to be furnished to each participant in accordance with section 1024(b). 29 U.S.C. 1022(a) (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) requires the SPD to be written in a manner calculated to be understood by the average plan participant and to be sufficiently accurate and comprehensive to reasonably apprise participants of their rights and obligations. 29 U.S.C. 1024(b)(1) (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) sets the timing: within 90 days after a person becomes a participant or, if later, within 120 days after the plan becomes subject to the statute. 29 CFR 2520.104b-2 (as of 1 Oct 2026, retrieved 14 Oct 2026) repeats those periods and explains when a plan becomes subject, including for plans adopted with a retroactive effective date (the 120 days run from the day after adoption).

Updates: section 1024(b)(1) calls for an updated SPD every fifth year that integrates amendments made in the period, unless no amendments were made. Paragraph (b) of the regulation fixes the due date at no later than 210 days after the end of the plan year in which the fifth year falls, and gives a ten-year rule where there were no amendments (both as read on 14 October 2026; confirm which applies with counsel).

Summary of material modifications (SMM)

29 CFR 2520.104b-3(a) (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) requires a summary of any material modification to the plan, or change in the information required in the SPD, to be furnished to each participant not later than 210 days after the close of the plan year in which the change was adopted, and states that a retroactive effective date does not move that deadline. Paragraph (b) says a separate summary is not needed if the change is described in a timely SPD. Paragraph (d) adds a faster rule for group health plans: a summary of a “material reduction in covered services or benefits” is due no later than 60 days after adoption, with a 90-day alternative where the plan communicates with participants at regular intervals of not more than 90 days. The regulation lists, as examples of a reduction, eliminating or reducing benefits and increasing premiums, deductibles, coinsurance or copayments.

Summary of benefits and coverage (SBC)

29 CFR 2590.715-2715(a) (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) requires a group health plan, and its administrator, and a health insurance issuer to provide an SBC for each benefit package without charge. Timing in paragraph (a)(1) includes: by the first day of coverage if the information changed after application; to special enrollees within 90 days of enrollment; on renewal, with the application materials or, for automatic renewal, no later than 30 days before the new plan year (with a different rule for insured plans where the policy is not yet issued); and within seven business days of a request. Paragraph (a)(2) requires 60 days’ advance notice of a mid-year material modification that affects the SBC and is not reflected in the latest SBC. Under (a)(1)(iii), a required entity satisfies the duty if another party, such as an issuer, provides a timely and complete SBC; if it contracts for this, the regulation conditions that on monitoring performance and correcting known problems.

The annual report on Form 5500

Who files: the IRS Form 5500 Corner (last reviewed 20 Jul 2026, retrieved 14 Oct 2026) states that the employer maintaining the plan or the plan administrator of a pension or welfare benefit plan covered by ERISA files Form 5500, and that it must be filed electronically through EFAST2. 29 CFR 2520.104a-5 (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) places the filing obligation on the plan administrator.

Due date: 29 U.S.C. 1024(a)(1) (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) says the annual report for a plan year is due within 210 days after the close of the year, “or within such time as may be required by regulations.” The regulation at 29 CFR 2520.104a-5(a)(2) states seven months after the close of the plan year, unless extended, and the IRS page states the last day of the seventh month after the plan year ends, July 31 for a calendar-year plan. Extension: the IRS page says to request an extension on Form 5558, and the About Form 5558 page (last reviewed 27 Aug 2026, retrieved 14 Oct 2026) describes it as an application for a one-time extension of time to file Form 5500 and related forms.

The 100-participant line and small-plan exceptions

The count date is the beginning of the plan year. 29 CFR 2520.103-1 (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) distinguishes plans covering 100 or more participants at the beginning of the plan year (paragraph (b)) from plans covering fewer than 100 (paragraph (c)); a plan in the smaller group files Form 5500 with the listed schedules or, if its conditions are met, may use Form 5500-SF as an alternative.

Small unfunded or insured welfare plans: 29 CFR 2520.104-20 (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) exempts the administrator of a welfare plan from filing an annual report if the plan covers fewer than 100 participants at the beginning of the plan year; benefits are paid solely from the employer’s general assets, or exclusively through insurance contracts with premiums paid from the employer’s general assets or partly from employee contributions that are forwarded within three months of receipt (or both); refund rules are met for insured plans; and the plan is not subject to the Form M-1 requirements of 29 CFR 2520.101-2. The regulation’s own example holds that a plan with 75 participants at the start of the year and 105 at the end still qualified, because the test is the start of the year.

Limits of that exemption: paragraph (c) says it does not exempt the plan from other title I requirements, expressly including furnishing the SPD and furnishing documents to the Secretary of Labor on request. For a similar unfunded or insured plan that has 100 or more participants, 29 CFR 2520.104-44 (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) says it is not exempt from filing, but need not engage an independent qualified public accountant or complete certain financial items, and its example says such a plan should file Form 5500 including Schedule A.

Penalties as stated in the sources

29 U.S.C. 1132(c)(2) (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) states that the Secretary may assess a civil penalty against a plan administrator of up to $1,000 a day from the date of the failure or refusal to file the annual report, and that a report rejected for failure to provide material information is not treated as filed. 29 CFR 2560.502c-2(b) (as of 1 Oct 2026) repeats the $1,000-a-day ceiling and says it is adjusted for inflation; we did not find a primary page that stated the current adjusted figure. Separately, the IRS Form 5500 Corner states that for returns required after 31 December 2019 the penalty for failure to file Form 5500 series returns required by IRC 6058 is $250 per day, not to exceed $150,000. That page attaches the figure to IRC 6058; we did not confirm whether it reaches a welfare-only plan.

Fiduciary basics, at a high level

29 U.S.C. 1002(21)(A) (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) makes a person a fiduciary to the extent they exercise discretionary authority or control over plan management, exercise authority or control over plan assets, give investment advice for a fee, or have discretionary authority or responsibility in plan administration. 29 U.S.C. 1104(a)(1) (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) requires a fiduciary to act solely in the interest of participants and beneficiaries, for the exclusive purpose of providing benefits and defraying reasonable administrative expenses, with the care, skill, prudence and diligence of a prudent person in a like capacity, and in accordance with the plan documents to the extent consistent with the statute. Whether a given committee, officer or vendor is a fiduciary is a facts-and-circumstances question for counsel.

How a PEO, MEWA or ASO arrangement changes who files

Only what the pages we read say: 29 U.S.C. 1002(40) (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) defines a multiple employer welfare arrangement as a plan or other arrangement established or maintained to provide welfare benefits to the employees of two or more employers, with listed exclusions. 29 CFR 2520.101-2 (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) requires MEWAs that provide medical care and are not group health plans, and certain entities claiming an exception, to register and report on Form M-1; and 2520.104-20(b)(4) makes the small-plan filing exemption unavailable to a plan subject to that requirement. We did not find a primary page we could read that states who files the Form 5500 for an employer’s benefits under a PEO, or under an administrative-services-only arrangement with a self-funded plan, so we do not state it here. What the exemptions above key on is the plan’s funding and participant count, not the label on the vendor relationship.

Where this sits: a cafeteria plan is itself a written plan with its own nondiscrimination testing, and HSAs and health FSAs sit inside or alongside it; those pre-tax rules are in the Section 125, HSA and FSA guide.

Where this sits: a 401(k) is a pension benefit plan with its own testing, fiduciary and deposit-timing rules, covered in the 401(k) employer requirements guide.

What we could not confirm

Every U.S. Department of Labor EBSA page we tried (Form 5500 reporting, the ERISA law page and the filing overview) returned HTTP 403 to curl, so no DOL web page text is quoted. We did not read the Form 5500 instructions, the summary annual report rule (29 CFR 2520.104b-10), the length of the Form 5558 extension, the definition of “participant” for counting, any DFVC late-filing program, or any page on how a PEO or ASO arrangement allocates the filing. The current inflation-adjusted DOL penalty figure was not found on a page we read. State law and plan-specific facts were not reviewed.