File Form 5500-EZ online

Generally not. The IRS instructions excuse a one-participant plan whose assets, added to the assets of every other one-participant plan the employer maintains, do not exceed $250,000 at the end of the plan year. The plan's final year is the exception: a final return is due whatever the assets.

Together. The assets of all the employer's one-participant plans are added up, and if the total is over $250,000 a Form 5500-EZ is due for each of those plans, including one that holds less on its own.

Yes. Since 1 January 2021 Form 5500-EZ can be filed through the Department of Labor's EFAST2 system, which is how we file it. For plan years beginning on or after 1 January 2025, a filer required to file at least 10 returns of any type with the IRS in the year must file it electronically; a paper return from that filer counts as not filed.

The IRS instructions say the information is made available to the public, but that a one-participant or foreign plan's return is not published on the internet, whether it is filed electronically or on paper.

Sometimes. If the plan year matches the employer's tax year and the employer has an extension for its income tax return to a later date, the Form 5500-EZ is extended to that date automatically: tick the automatic extension box and keep a copy of the tax extension with the plan's records. Otherwise, file Form 5558 by the normal due date.

Code section 6652(e) sets a penalty of $250 a day, up to $150,000 per plan year. The IRS runs a penalty relief program for late 5500-EZ filers ($500 per late return, at most $1,500 per submission for a plan), but those returns must be filed on paper, so that route is outside what we file. The Department of Labor's DFVC program does not cover Form 5500-EZ.