Late M-1 Penalty?

[Catsby]

Hi all, 

Does anyone have recent (i.e., post-2013 M-1 regulations) experience with late filing penalties for the M-1? Assuming there's no fraud involved, and an employer unintentionally created a MEWA, does the DOL actually assess the $1,500/day penalty? There does not appear to be a DFVCP-like program to self-report and mitigate the penalties, and we are struggling to figure out how the DOL handles this in practice. We've tried the DOL number in the M-1 preamble multiple times, with no luck. 

Does anyone have any experience with this, or a contact within the DOL we could reach? Thanks much!

[mdm09]

When I've spoken to the DOL about this in the past, the recommendation was to file the missing Forms (making sure to use the proper year's Form for each filing) and include an attachment explaining the situation.  While the response can take a couple of weeks, if you've called the proper DOL number I would expect a response.  Try the number listed on the M-1 filing site, if it's different than the one in the regulation preamble.