Form 5330 Lost Earnings

Due to clerical error we had several late deposits for an employee in 2022 and 2023. I'm trying to fill out the form 5330 but i'm extremely confused on how to handle Schedule C Line 2. If there were multiple late deposits do I do one line per late deposit/missed earning amount or can I do a total? For the deposits from 2022 that weren't paid until 2023 do I need to put those on the form twice, or do I need fill out the form and submit it twice with those numbers? 

I'm the one who made the errors and am trying to avoid the $1200 fee associated with our ERISA people filling out the form on our behalf. I appreciate any help I can get as our accountant nor our plan consultant has been any help. For what it's worth the excise tax amount on the missed earnings is $17.66.

While the fee quoted by your consultants may seem steep in relation to the actual excise tax due, consider it relative to the cost of responding to an IRS inquiry if the form is not completed correctly. The fee may be worth your peace of mind.

Completion of Form 5330 for late deposits can be a real pain.  I suggest that you have a competent professional complete this for you as the potential for error is very high.  Your question indicates that you are better off not trying to do this yourself.  With that in mind, the following should not be seen as professional advice, just clarification so that you can reevaluate what you are trying to do.  Advice is only worth what you paid for it.  With this in mind....

Under Schedule C.2. each payroll date that is late must be listed separately.  You must detail dates and amounts in the table under C.2.  Then, the amount involved is the related interest lost for that specific late deposit; which is used to compute the tax.  I note that this amount is computed for the reporting year period, not to the actual date of correction if that is beyond the year end.  Then, since you did not make the correction within the year, next year's filing will include this listing and a listing for interest on that interest, and another entry for interest from the start of that year up through the date of correction.  Just in case you think you are done, read the instructions for C.4. and the table of corrections under C.5.  As I said above, Form 5330 for late contributions is a real pain.  Yes, the fee seems high compared to the tax, but did you consider what work needs to be done for the filing?  Alternatively, you could go through a VFCP Filing and pay lots of money.

I am curious on how you determined the excise tax to be $17.66.  While this may be correct, you will need to consider exactly how you determined the lost interest upon which this value is based.  Also, given the explanation for C.2. the amount for next year will be more.  Lastly, be sure to have lost interest applied to member accounts as applicable.

Please do not misunderstand the tone of this post.  Hopefully, I am conveying that this task is not as simple as you might think.  In all events, I suggest that in the future you avoid being late with deposits.  Consider that a DOL Audit almost always puts this issue as a number one topic of audit.  Good luck!