Benefit plan sponsors should note that the filing deadline for the 2006 Form 5500 for calendar year plans is Tuesday, July 31, 2007.  Filings must be postmarked by such date, or requests for an automatic extension to October 15, 2007, through filing of Form 5558 (found at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f5558.pdf), should be postmarked by such date.

Here are some other reminders regarding Form 5500:

• All tax-qualified retirement plans (401(k), profit sharing, defined benefit, etc.) must file, as well as Code section 403(b) plans.
  • Under recent IRS guidance, such plans are no longer required to file Schedule P (Annual Return of Fiduciary of Employee Benefit Trust) and filing of Form 5500 now starts the statute of limitations period for IRS assessments against a plan (formerly, the period did not begin until the Schedule P was filed).
• Welfare benefit plans (including employer-sponsored health, dental, life insurance and disability plans) must file, but generally only if the plan covered more than 100 participants as of the beginning of 2006.
• Generally, only funded plans with 100 or more participants require an independent audit, but even smaller plans may require an audit (e.g., plan holds large portion of real estate and does not meet bonding requirement audit exception).
• Don’t forget that summary annual reports must be provided within two months after the Form 5500 filing.
• Plans that have terminated or been merged into other plans during 2006 may have different return filing deadlines.
• Late filings can qualify for the Department of Labor’s delinquent filing program, which requires a filing fee, but will generally be much less than a potential DOL or IRS assessment.