Our merry band of ERISA geeks is ready to assist you with full-service Form 5500 preparation and filing. We know 5500s are a chore, so we hope to make this as easy as possible for you, while still ensuring it's done right.
You'll find our approach to be quite a bit different than other firms, and we hope you'll see the difference it makes. While preparing your Form 5500, we conduct an issue-spotting compliance review and create a customized compliance calendar with proactive email alerts. We also offer recommendations for addressing any identified issues.
All you have to do is provide a few key pieces of information. No extra work on your part; that's why you pay us.
Requesting a Form 5500 Project
The easiest way to engage ERISAfire for your or your client's Form 5500 is to ping us on the in-app messenger (friendly blue guy in the lower right-hand corner) here or on ERISAfire Projects. Click the in-app messenger to send us a chat. Please include:
Legal company name
EIN
ERISA plan year
Company size
Open enrollment guides (both current and prior)
Formal ERISA plan document (aka "wrap doc") or confirmation there is none
Billing contact
I'm in a Hurry to Get Things Done. What Do You Need From Me?
If you'd like to reduce cycle times, we will be asking for the following, which you are welcome to send up front.
Identifying Information: EIN, company headquarters' address and phone number
Employer Coverage Lines: Current and previous plan year coverages and benefits. Why 2 years? You'd be surprised what year-over-year trends can tell us.
Open Enrollment Guides: Current and previous plan year open enrollment guides
Plan Documentation: Does the company have a formal ERISA plan document (aka wrap doc)? If so, please share it with us. If not, please confirm there is not one.
Carrier Contact Information: We'll fetch the Schedules A for you. Just provide the carrier contact information.
Schedules A: If you have received any Schedules A for the most recently completed plan year, please pass them along to us.
Basic Life Participants: What was the basic life count on the first day of the most recently completed plan year? We can use basic life as a proxy because it appears to be provided to all benefits-eligible employees. (We'll verify this with the additional information we receive). If you have an enrollment report or another easily produced report available, we can extract the information from that.
COBRA Participants: How many former employees had COBRA coverage on the first and last days of the most recently completed plan year? Please count each former employee once no matter what type or how many elections. If you have an enrollment report or other easily produced documentation, we are happy to take that and figure out the COBRA counts.
Retiree Coverage: Does the company provide benefits coverage for retirees? If so, how many retirees had benefits coverage on the first and last days of the most recently completed plan year?
Billing Information: Billing contact name, email and phone number. Don't worry, we bill at the end of the project, not the beginning.
Questions?
If you have any questions, feel free to reach out via the in-app messenger (friendly blue guy in the lower right-hand corner) here or on ERISAfire Projects.