IRS Form 5500 Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan (text only)

back	I. On-line "Point-and-Click" Fedform Instructions - Form 5500, (for finding information within your 401(k) software II. Printable Fedform Instructions - Form 5500 III. Printable IRS Instructions - Form 5500 (PDF for download from the IRS website)

Form 5500
Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan

Enter the appropriate plan year (as listed in your Adoption Agreement on page 2, item B3).

item A: Check the appropriate box — most likely box (2).

item B: Check the appropriate box — most likely box (1).

item C: Check if appropriate — most likely it's not.

item D: Check if appropriate.

item 1a: See Adoption Agreement page 1, item A1.

item 1b: See Adoption Agreement page 3, item C4.

item 1c: See Adoption Agreement page 2, item C1 — or 5500 Summary Worksheet.

Sign and date.

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item 2a 1-8: Complete as directed (employer is plan sponsor).

item 2b: Same as Employer ID Number on your Adoption Agreement page 1, item A4.

item 2c: Complete as directed (employer is plan sponsor).

item 2d: Choose the appropriate business code from the Form 5500 IRS instructions.

item 3a: Enter “same” (see Adoption Agreement page 4, item B7).

item 3b: Leave blank, unless applicable (regarding a takeover plan, for instance).

item 3c: Leave blank, unless applicable (regarding a takeover plan, for instance).

item 4: Complete if appropriate.

— end of page 2 of 4 —

item 5: Complete as appropriate.

item 6: Enter the number of eligible employees as of the beginning of the plan year. For new plans, enter “0”; for other plans, enter the number from item 7d on your previous year's Form 5500.

item 7a: Enter the number of eligible employees as of the close of the plan year; see your 5500 Summary Worksheet.

items 7b, 7e: Your 401k plan administration software keeps track of all plan participants who quit the plan. Go to Reports, Administrative Reports, Employee Census and choose Terminated. Note any employees terminated during the relevant year, then go to the person's Employee Information and click on “Alloc.” for a listing of which investments, if any, the person allocated money to. A quick look at the Ending Value (last column) of your Year End Auditor's Worksheet for the relevant person and investment(s) will tell you if the ex-employee has any end-of-year balance in any of the relevant investment account(s). Finally, if you do not know offhand which of the terminated employees who have end-of-year account balances are deceased and which are simply no longer participants in the plan, ask your payroll department. Enter the number of terminated employees who are NOT deceased on item 7b and the number who ARE deceased on item 7e.

item 7c: Enter “0”.

item 7d: Add as directed.

item 7e: Number of deceased employees who still have money in the plan. See above instructions for item 7b.

item 7f: Total as directed.

item 7g: Go to Reports, Administrative Reports, Yearly Participants and select the relevant year for a list of people who participated in your plan during the relevant year. Then, as directed for item 7b, check each person’s Employee Information, Profile, for a list of relevant investments and then check the Ending Value (last column) of your Year End Auditor’s Worksheet for the participant’s entry for each relevant investment to see if the participant had an end-of-year balance in any account. (Remember, as soon as you find one investment in which the participant has money you can move on to the next participant because you’re not interested in the amount in any investment, just if the participant has money anywhere within the plan.) You can alternatively consult the investment statements issued by the investment company(ies) to determine the number of participants who had end-of-year account balances in the 401k.

item 7h: See your 5500 Summary Worksheet: “# of Terminated Employees < 100% Vested.”

item 7i: Enter “0”.

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item 8a: Check box and enter “2E 2G 2J 3E” as the applicable pension feature codes. If your plan uses participant-directed brokerage accounts, also put "2R".

item 8b: Do not check or enter any codes.

item 8c: Do not check.

item 9a: Check “Trust”.

item 9b: Check “Trust”.

item 10a: Check box for Schedule T and enter number of Schedule Ts attached.

item 10b: Check off the following financial schedules, as appropriate: H (for plans with 100 or more employees), I (for plans with 2-99 employees), and P.

Now you’re ready to complete the necessary accompanying Schedules.

— end of page 4 of 4 —

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401k Fedforms for 100Participant: 1096, 1099-R, 945, 5500, Schedule H, Schedule P, Schedule T,
401k Fedform Worksheet, End of Year Plan Assets Worksheet, Summary Annual Report