File Form 5500 online
The annual return for an employer's health and welfare plan with 100 or more participants — filed here with a Schedule A for every insurance contract, however many there are.
$199 per filing, every Schedule A included, paid by card when it goes. Preparing and checking it is free. All prices
The essentials
Who files it
A health or welfare plan that covered 100 or more participants at the start of the plan year. Most smaller insured plans are exempt.
When it is due
The last day of the 7th month after the plan year ends — 31 July for a calendar-year plan, or 15 October with a Form 5558.
What goes with it
One Schedule A for each insurance contract: health, dental, vision, life, stop-loss. A fully insured plan needs no audit.
What it asks
Plan and sponsor details, participant counts, the plan's welfare benefit codes, how benefits are funded, and each contract's premiums and commissions.
How filing it here works
- Add every insurance contract as its own Schedule A — the totals DOL checks are worked out from your answers.
- Pick the plan's benefits in words; we write the welfare codes DOL expects.
- If the answers describe a pension plan, or a welfare plan that holds a trust, we stop and name the schedule that is missing rather than file an incomplete return.
- Sign with your own EFAST2 credentials and follow the filing through to its acknowledgement.
Coming next: Schedule H for funded welfare plans, and Schedule C for service-provider fees.
This page explains the form in general terms. It is not tax or legal advice, and the plan administrator remains responsible for what is filed.
Questions
Which health and welfare plans must file Form 5500?
A welfare plan that covered 100 or more participants at the start of the plan year. A plan with fewer than 100 that is unfunded, fully insured, or a combination of the two is generally exempt from filing under 29 CFR 2520.104-20, unless it is subject to the Form M-1 requirements.
Does a fully insured health plan need an audit?
No. An unfunded, fully insured or combination welfare plan with 100 or more participants files an annual return, but 29 CFR 2520.104-44 exempts it from the independent accountant's report and from Schedule H. For that plan the Form 5500 and its Schedules A are the return.
How many Schedule A forms do we need?
One for each insurance contract the plan held during the year: health, dental, vision, life, stop-loss and so on. Here they are a repeating block, so nine contracts take no more effort than three.
Can I file a pension plan's Form 5500 here?
Not yet. A pension plan's Form 5500 also needs Schedule H or I with an accountant's opinion, Schedule R and, for a defined benefit plan, Schedule SB, and we do not file half a return. A small pension plan files Form 5500-SF, which we do. A welfare plan that holds a trust is refused for the same reason.
Can I file a late Form 5500?
Yes. A late return can be filed under the Department of Labor's Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance (DFVC) program, with the box the program requires. The program's payment goes to the Department.
When is Form 5500 due?
The last day of the seventh month after the plan year ends: 31 July for a calendar-year plan, or 15 October with a Form 5558 filed by that date.
Official sources
- DOL: Form 5500 series
- DOL: EFAST2 filing system
- DOL: Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance Program
- DOL: 2025 Form 5500 instructions
Rules change. These are the government pages the answers above come from.
Work out your dates with the due date calculator.