October 15 has passed, and your 401(k) plan’s Form 5500 still hasn’t been filed.
Maybe the audit isn’t finished. Maybe it never started. Perhaps the auditor is waiting on information, a compliance issue is holding things up, or you thought an extension had been filed when it wasn’t.
Whatever the reason, the most important thing now is not to let a missed deadline turn into a longer delay.
A late Form 5500 can expose a plan sponsor to significant Department of Labor and IRS penalties. But depending on the circumstances, penalty relief may be available—and there are clear steps you can take to get the filing back on track.
Here’s where to start.
1. First, Confirm That Your Form 5500 Is Actually Late
Before assuming you missed the deadline, confirm the filing date that applies to your plan.
For a calendar-year 401(k) plan, the normal Form 5500 deadline is July 31. If a valid Form 5558 extension was filed, the deadline for the 2025 plan year generally extends to October 15, 2026.
If you aren’t certain whether an extension was filed, don’t guess. Ask your third-party administrator, recordkeeper or other party responsible for preparing the filing for confirmation. Also remember that not every 401(k) plan follows a calendar year. A fiscal-year or other non-calendar-year plan has a Form 5500 deadline based on its own plan-year end.
The first question is simple: What was our actual filing deadline?
Once you know that, you can determine what needs to happen next.
2. Find Out Exactly Why the Filing Hasn’t Been Completed
There are plenty of reasons a Form 5500 can become delinquent. For plans requiring an independent audit, some of the most common include:
- The 401(k) audit hasn’t been completed.
- An auditor was engaged too late—or hasn’t been engaged at all.
- The auditor is waiting for payroll, census or recordkeeper information.
- Audit testing uncovered an issue that hasn’t been resolved.
- A third-party administrator or service provider hasn’t supplied necessary information.
- Internal turnover caused requests or deadlines to fall through the cracks.
- The sponsor believed someone else was responsible for filing the extension or Form 5500.
The reason matters because it tells you what needs to happen next.
But regardless of the cause, being late is not a reason to stop moving.
Once the deadline has passed, the objective changes from meeting the deadline to completing an accurate filing as quickly as reasonably possible.
3. If Your 401(k) Audit Isn’t Finished, Identify What’s Blocking It
If an audit is required and hasn’t been completed, start by asking your auditor one direct question: What specifically is preventing the audit report from being issued?
The answer will usually fall into one of a few categories.
Missing information needed for testing: The auditor may still need census data, payroll records, contribution information, participant files, recordkeeper reports or other documentation.
Audit exceptions that need answers: Testing may have identified discrepancies involving eligibility, compensation, employer contributions, participant loans, distributions, vesting or other areas.
Compliance issues that require additional work: Issues such as late participant contributions or plan operational errors may require additional documentation or coordination with the plan’s other advisors.
Information being held up by a third party: Sometimes the plan sponsor has provided everything requested, but information is still outstanding from the TPA, payroll company, recordkeeper or another service provider.
Separate the remaining work into categories, assign an owner to each item and establish a deadline for getting it resolved.
At this point, sending more documents isn’t necessarily the answer. Sending the right documents and resolving the issues preventing completion is.
4. What If You Haven’t Even Started the 401(k) Audit?
START NOW!
Missing the Form 5500 filing deadline does not eliminate the audit requirement. If your plan is required to include an independent qualified public accountant’s report with its Form 5500, that audit still needs to be completed.
When contacting an auditor, be upfront that the filing deadline has already passed.
Ask:
- Can you take on a late-start 401(k) audit now?
- What information do you need immediately?
- How quickly can testing begin?
- What will you need from our internal team?
- Who will coordinate with our recordkeeper and TPA?
- Are there known issues that could slow completion?
This is also where experience matters. A CPA firm that performs employee benefit plan audits regularly is more likely to be familiar with the reports generated by major recordkeepers, common audit issues and the documentation needed to keep testing moving.
5. Don’t Assume That Another Week Doesn’t Matter
Once a deadline has been missed, it can be tempting to think: We’re already late. What difference will another week make?
That’s the wrong approach.
The Department of Labor has authority to assess significant penalties for failure to file a complete and accurate Form 5500. Current Form 5500 instructions provide for penalties of up to $2,739 per day for certain failures. IRS penalties for late Form 5500-series filings can also be $250 per day, up to $150,000 per plan year. These are potential statutory penalties, not an indication that every late filer will automatically receive the maximum assessment.
The important point is that delaying further generally doesn’t improve the situation.
Get the audit moving, determine what filing and correction options are available and work with the appropriate advisors to complete the process.
6. Can the DOL’s Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance Program Help?
For some delinquent plans, the answer may be yes. The Department of Labor’s Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance Program, or DFVCP, allows eligible plan administrators to voluntarily correct certain late Form 5500 filings and pay substantially reduced civil penalties.
Under the current program, the basic DFVCP penalty is $10 per day, subject to caps. The cap for a single late filing is generally $750 for a small plan and $2,000 for a large plan. Additional per-plan caps may apply when multiple delinquent filings are being corrected.
But there is an important catch: Timing matters.
Generally, an eligible plan administrator must use the program before receiving written notice from the Department of Labor regarding the failure to file. Receiving a DOL Notice of Intent to Assess a Penalty can eliminate DFVCP eligibility. U.S. Department of Labor
Don’t assume that your plan qualifies—or doesn’t qualify. Work with your ERISA counsel, TPA or other appropriate advisor to determine whether DFVCP applies to your situation.
Learn more about the DOL’s Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance Program
7. Get Organized Before the Auditor Starts
If you’re engaging an auditor after the filing deadline, speed matters—but organization matters too. Having the basic records ready can prevent the engagement from losing another week while everyone searches for documents.
Your auditor will determine exactly what is required, but be prepared to provide items such as:
- Current plan document and amendments
- Prior-year Form 5500 and audit report
- Participant census information
- Payroll data
- Recordkeeper reports
- Employee and employer contribution information
- Participant loan information
- Distribution records
- Eligibility documentation
- Information about known plan errors or corrections
And don’t hide known problems in hopes that they won’t come up during testing. If you already know there were late deposits, payroll discrepancies, eligibility problems or other issues, tell the auditor at the beginning. Discovering them halfway through the audit usually creates more delay.
8. Don’t File an Incomplete Form 5500 Just to Say You Filed
The objective isn’t simply to get something submitted. It’s to complete the required filing correctly.
If your plan requires an independent audit, work with your auditor, TPA and other advisors to determine what must be completed before the Form 5500 can be properly filed.
Submitting an incomplete filing may create another compliance problem rather than solving the first one.
The plan administrator remains responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the Form 5500, even when outside service providers assist with preparing it. IRS
9. Once This Year’s Filing Is Done, Fix What Made It Late
After the filing is finally completed, don’t immediately move on. Spend 30 minutes with the people involved and identify where the process broke down.
Was the auditor engaged too late?
Did nobody confirm the Form 5558 extension?
Did recordkeeper reports take weeks to obtain?
Were audit requests sitting with multiple people internally?
Did an unresolved compliance issue stop the audit?
Then build next year’s calendar backward from the Form 5500 deadline:
Engage auditor → gather data → begin testing → resolve exceptions → issue audit report → file Form 5500
Assign an internal owner to the process and establish checkpoints before the deadline.
The best way to deal with a late filing next year is to prevent one.
Your Form 5500 Deadline Passed, But the Audit Still Needs to Move Forward.
Missing a filing deadline is serious, but letting the filing remain unresolved only makes the situation harder. If your required 401(k) audit hasn’t been completed—or hasn’t even started—the priority is to determine what is outstanding, assemble the right information and get the audit moving.
PriceKubecka performs more than 400 employee benefit plan audits annually, including 401(k), 403(b) and ESOP audits. Our EBP audit team works with plan sponsors throughout the year, including organizations that need help getting a late-start audit back on track. [Talk to a 401(k) Auditor]
Your filing is already late. But that doesn’t mean your audit doesn’t have to stay stuck.
