IRS Form 5330 — Excise Taxes Related to Employee Benefit Plans

Form 5330 reports the excise taxes that fall on employee benefit plans and the people around them. Tell us which tax you owe and we'll ask only about that one — including the schedule it needs.

One section per Form 5330

A single Form 5330 may report the taxes of exactly one section. That is not a limit we invented: each section has its own filing deadline, so a tax from a different section is a different return, due on a different day. If you owe two of the taxes below, you file two Forms 5330 — and pay our fee on each.

Which tax are you reporting?

Section A · Schedules A, B, CProhibited transactions and contribution taxesNondeductible contributions, excess 403(b)(7)(A) custodial-account contributions, prohibited transactions with a disqualified person, disqualified welfare benefits, ESOP dispositions, and prohibited ESOP allocations.Start this →Section B · Schedules D, E, F, LMinimum funding and funding-improvement taxesAn accumulated funding deficiency, a liquidity shortfall, failure to meet an endangered- or critical-status benchmark, and failure to adopt a rehabilitation or funding restoration plan.Start this →Section B1 · Schedule GExcess fringe benefitsThe 30% tax an employer owes when it elects under §4977(a) to keep providing certain fringe benefits that would otherwise be taxable to its employees.Start this →Section C · Schedule HExcess contributions to a 401(k) or similar planThe 10% tax on excess contributions or excess aggregate contributions to a cash-or-deferred arrangement that were not distributed in time.Start this →Section D · Schedule IReversion of qualified plan assets to an employerThe 20% or 50% tax on plan assets that reverted to the employer when a qualified plan terminated.Start this →Section E · Schedule JFailure to give a §204(h) noticeThe $100-a-day tax for each applicable individual who was not told, in time, that a plan amendment would significantly reduce the rate of future benefit accrual.Start this →Section F · Schedule KProhibited tax shelter transactionsThe $20,000 tax an entity manager owes for each approval, or other act, that made a plan entity a party to a prohibited tax shelter transaction.Start this →

When each one is due

Form 5330's deadlines come from the tax being reported, not from a single date on the calendar. These are the instructions' own “When To File” rules:

Section A — Prohibited transactions and contribution taxes
The last day of the 7th month after the end of the tax year of the employer (or other person who must file this return).
Section B — Minimum funding and funding-improvement taxes
The 15th day of the 10th month after the last day of the plan year.
Section B1 — Excess fringe benefits
The last day of the 7th month after the end of the calendar year in which the excess fringe benefits were paid to your employees.
Section C — Excess contributions to a 401(k) or similar plan
The last day of the 15th month after the close of the plan year the excess contributions relate to.
Section D — Reversion of qualified plan assets to an employer
The last day of the month following the month in which the reversion occurred.
Section E — Failure to give a §204(h) notice
The last day of the month following the month in which the failure occurred.
Section F — Prohibited tax shelter transactions
The 15th day of the 5th month following the close of the entity manager's tax year during which the plan became a party to the transaction.

Pricing

Form 5330 filing — manually reviewed

$20 per return

One flat fee per Form 5330, however many schedules the section carries. A person reviews every return before it is e-filed. On the last step you read the IRS e-file authorization (Form 8879-TE) and sign it with a five-digit PIN; then you tell us where to send your confirmation and copy, and any fee is shown before anything is sent. The excise tax itself is paid to the IRS separately — our fee is only for preparing and filing.