News Archive

Fillable PDF; Oct. 24, 2025.  MORE >>

Draft as of October 24, 2025; form revision date December 2025.  MORE >>

"Lawyers representing patients in a lawsuit against United Behavioral Health for insufficient mental health and substance abuse treatment coverage may face a tentative $50,000 sanction for disclosing confidential information to the [DOL].... The court ruled that the lawyers violated [a] protective order by engaging in a collective interest agreement, through which it transmitted documents to the DOL." [L.D. v. United Behavioral Health, No. 20-2254 (N.D. Calif. Oct. 7, 2025)]  MORE >>

"Functions related to legal counsel that do not pertain to ongoing litigation or exempt matters will stop, as will planning, training and development initiatives across the agency. Maintenance of information systems that are not associated with data protection or active filing season work will be suspended, along with administrative functions that are not connected to safety, remittance protection or exempt funding."  MORE >>

"The [IRS] has furloughed nearly half its workforce and shut down most day-to-day operations as the government shutdown drags into its second week -- a move that threatens to ... stall compliance actions, and complicate the rollout of sweeping new tax changes approved by Congress earlier this year.... While about 53% of staff remain on the job ... the IRS warned that 'most operations are closed due to the lapse in appropriations.' "  MORE >>

"Most plans with 100 or more eligible participants at the beginning of the plan year must include an accountant's audit report when filing Form 5500. There is a general exception which allows some smaller plans to avoid attaching an audit to their filing.... For sponsors of health and welfare plans, the good news is that ERISA's audit requirement generally only applies if the plan is funded through a trust (for example, a VEBA), or if participant contributions are otherwise segregated from the employer's general assets."  MORE >>

"Currently, all critical requirements for retirement plans, including Form 5500 deadlines, remain unchanged during the shutdown. However, due to limited staffing, processing times may be slower than usual. [The PBGC] remains open and operational ... All regulatory and research activities are on hold, which may delay updates to provisions within SECURE 2.0. Routine [DOL] investigations, audits, and enforcement actions have also ceased and will not resume until the government reopens.... [T]he announcement of Cost-of-Living Adjustments is likely to be delayed."  MORE >>

73 pages. "The Department's primary activities during a lapse in appropriations generally will include work for agencies funded by resources other than the annual appropriations ... EBSA would cease all operations not detailed [on page 10] unless funded via previous years appropriations. Among the specific activities that would cease are our regulatory and research activities, audits, compliance assistance, and IT support not dedicated to excepted activities."  MORE >>

"Section 10301 of the Inflation Reduction Act ... provided supplemental appropriations available through September 30, 2031, for all IRS appropriations accounts. With this funding the IRS will not experience a lapse in appropriations on October 1, 2025, and normal IRS operations will continue.... The IRS Lapse in Appropriations Contingency Plan describes actions and activities for the first five [5] business days following a lapse in appropriations."  MORE >>

"Retroactive filings ... Automatic extension if you miss filing 5558 ... 5500-EZ combined trust asset ... Cash or Accrued basis ... Participant count for [accountant's opinion] ... Don't miss the deadline ... But if you do ... Don't forget the Schedule SB ... If the data to prepare the SB is 'suspect' ...If late and penalized despite your best efforts."  MORE >>

"[A] January 1 merger date causes a logistically inconvenient and impractical one-day plan year for the merged plan.... [T]he correct course of action is to complete a one-day final Form 5500 and audit report.... [T]he DOL's main concern is that the transfer of participant account balances from plan to plan be subject to audit procedures. To EBSA, an independent verification of the transfer is the most important practical consideration "  MORE >>

"[I]ndividuals and businesses in parts of Wisconsin affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, flooding, and mudslides that began on August 9, 2025 ... now have until Feb. 2, 2026, to file various federal individual and business tax returns  ... [I]ndividuals and households residing or having a business in Milwaukee, Washington, and Waukesha counties qualify for tax relief."  MORE >>

"This period includes several important dates related to health and welfare plans, and timely action and accurate documentation are vital to maintaining compliance and avoiding potential penalties.... [This] fourth quarter guide is categorized by federal and state deadlines in chronological order, with additional notice requirements due at open enrollment."  MORE >>

"When is a Supplemental Schedule of Assets Acquired and Disposed of Within a Year (line 4i) required to be included with an employee benefit plan's financial statements? How are such transactions identified? [This article provides] a general overview to help navigate this requirement."  MORE >>

10 pages. "What's New: P.L. 119-21, July 4, 2025, amended Code section 223 to provide that: [1] An HSA eligible individual may have disregarded coverage (besides the HDHP) for telehealth and other remote care. [2] A plan will not fail to be treated as a HDHP by reason of failing to have a deductible for telehealth and other remote care services. The amendments apply to plan years beginning after 2024."  MORE >>

"Each online filing currently accepts a maximum of 999,999 securities per submission. Very large founder grants and early-exercise option exercises can exceed this.... The online form only allows two decimal places for the fair market value per security and the amount paid per security. This could be a problem for many typical startup early common stock prices (e.g., US$0.0001 per share) and a source of rounding noise in the form's auto-calculated totals."  MORE >>

"Form 5330 is used to report and pay excise taxes related to employee benefit plans, particularly for prohibited transactions under ERISA. [... [1] When to pay ... [2] Penalty for late filing of Form 5330 ... [3] Filing the form ... [4] Excise tax revenue."  MORE >>

"The new rules are effective for qualified disaster declarations made after the date of enactment, July 24, 2025. The longer 120-day window and postponement authority for state-level disaster declarations apply prospectively to new disaster declarations -- previous disasters remain subject to the 60-day rule unless the IRS issues separate guidance."  MORE >>

"[I]ndividuals and businesses in parts of West Virginia affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, flooding, landslides, and mudslides that began on June 14, 2025 ... now have until Feb. 2, 2026, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.... [I]ndividuals and households residing or having a business in Marion and Ohio counties qualify for tax relief."  MORE >>

"Choosing the right Independent Qualified Public Accountant (IQPA) to complete the financial statements for your Form 5500 audit is a fiduciary responsibility.... [F]iduciaries should weigh the cost of the service with multiple other factors when selecting an auditor.... It is essential to ask the auditing firm if any of their reports issued have been deemed deficient.... [P]lan sponsors should carefully review the type of opinion and the supporting schedules to confirm that everything is correct before submitting it as an attachment to the Form 5500."  MORE >>

"[T]he Plan Administrator only needs to enter the Plan Sponsor's taxpayer EIN and the Plan Number.... [T]he program will pull up ALL potentially late filings for the Plan (and the potential penalty), and the Plan Administrator can indicate which are being filed under DFVCP.... [The tool] also reports all filings that were previously corrected through DFVCP.... The bad part of this new enhancement is that the DFVCP payment screen will reflect filings as 'late' that were actually filed on time."  MORE >>

"[The Filing Relief for Natural Disasters Act] allows the Treasury Department ... to postpone filing deadlines for affected individuals and businesses in a state-declared disaster area that has not yet received a federal disaster designation.... The Act also increases the current automatic extension following a federally declared disaster declaration from 60 days to 120 days."  MORE >>

"According to IRS records, 25,386 employees separated, took a DRP offer, or used some other incentive to leave. Another 294 employees were sent termination notices due to RIF actions. These departures represent 25 percent of the IRS's [total] workforce ... [A]pproximately 27 percent of tax examiners separated, while 26 percent of revenue agents separated.... Business Units affected by the separations [include]: 569 employees, or 25%, of the Tax Exempt & Government Entities (TE/GE) unit."  MORE >>

"[I]ndividuals and businesses in parts of New Mexico affected by severe storms, flooding, and landslides that began on June 23, 2025 ... now have until Feb. 2, 2026, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.... [I]ndividuals and households residing or having a business in Chaves, Lincoln, Otero, and Valencia counties qualify for tax relief."  MORE >>

"[I]ndividuals and businesses in parts of Texas affected by severe storms, straight-line winds. and flooding that began on July 2, 2025 ... now have until Feb. 2, 2026, to file various federal individual and business tax returns and make tax payments.... [I]ndividuals and households residing or having a business in Kerr County qualify for tax relief."  MORE >>