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The report presents findings on plan filings of Form 5500 using data from 2000 to 2016. The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) administers and enforces the reporting, disclosure, and fiduciary requirements of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. Each year, employee benefit plans are required to submit Form 5500 to EBSA to report information about the plan. Form 5500 captures important employee benefit plan information on plan type, plan administration, and plan benefits. Timely filing of Form 5500 protects plan participants’ rights and benefits while satisfying annual reporting requirements. In addition, these data directly enhance assessments of tax and employee benefit-related economic trends and policies.

The report includes two filing pattern-related analyses. First, the study explored the Form 5500 population and sought to identify whether plans with the same filing pattern have similar characteristics. Second, the study examined the effect of EBSA’s Stop-Filer Initiative on filing compliance and aimed to determine whether the initiative has helped EBSA more quickly and effectively achieve its goal of improving Form 5500 reporting compliance.

Key Takeaways

• Filing Pattern Analysis
  • Based on filing behavior between Plan Years 2000 and 2016, plans can be categorized into the five filing patterns: “complete,” “consecutive,” “stop,” “skip,” and “terminated.” “Complete” filers are generally larger plans and are always more mature firms (originated 2000 or earlier), while “consecutive” plans are younger (originated after 2000). “Stop” filers are more common than other filing patterns in the population of ERISA violators.
• The “Stop” Filer Enforcement and Voluntary Compliance Programs Analysis
  • Researchers examined the impact of 2015 Stop-Filer Initiative to improve filing compliance and found evidence of positive effects. The researchers compared filing behavior among plans that received enforcement correspondence as part of this initiative to similar “stop” filer plans in a control group (plans that were noncompliant but did not receive such letters). For the two years of the initiative, the study observed filing compliance around 56–69% among “stop” filer plans that received the filing inquiry, compared to 11–35% among “stop” filer plans that did not. Researchers also found that plans that received the letter filed more quickly than plans that did not (median 53–74 days among those that received the filing inquiry compared with 107–171 days in the control group).

Citation

Brotsos, H., Hoesly, L., Meier, C., Urdapilleta, O., Wong, B. (2018). Summit Consulting. Analysis of Form 5500 Filing Patterns: Final Version. Chief Evaluation Office, U.S. Department of Labor.

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The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) sponsors independent evaluations and research, primarily conducted by external, third-party contractors in accordance with the Department of Labor Evaluation Policy and CEO’s research development process.