Human resource managers call us up a lot at FreeERISA. One of the more common things we hear is, "Our last HR manager just won the lottery and moved to Mexico. I'm trying to sort through all of the old paperwork, and I can't figure out if we filed our 5500! Can you help?"
The short answer is that we usually can help you track down any old filings your predecessor may have submitted prior to moving to Mexico (or Boca Raton, or Antarctica, or Mars), but if the answer ends up being that he/she was less than diligent, then you have no choice but to submit one or more late filings. With the DOL's upgrade to electronic filing in 2009, you can't just dig up an old 5500 from 10 years ago and assume that it will go through.
Luckily, the DOL has created a tool that will help you figure out how to file your potentially very delinquent filing with a "Form 5500 Version Selection Tool." All you need to fill in is the beginning date of the plan year for which you're filing and some supplemental information and voila, it tells you what form you need to file.
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This isn't an isolated problem. Nearly 10 percent of all 5500s submitted on 2010 forms were actually for years other than 2010. And while most of those were for delinquent filings from the past five years, there were almost a hundred that came in from the 1980s. Can you imagine having to sift through decades old benefits paperwork?
There were also two filings from the 11th Century. The years 1008 and 1010 to be exact. While I'm going to assume that those are simply typos, I can't help but imagine what a 5500 would look like written a millennium ago by Edward the Confessor's feudal HR manager. I bet their actuarial calligraphy was understated but beautiful.
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