Form 5300, Application for Determination for Employee Benefit Plan; Instructions for Form 5300 (Rev. June 2022); Form 8717, User Fee for Employee Plan Determination Letter Request (Rev. June 2022)
In connection with the move to all-electronic filing of Form 5300 as of July 1, 2022 (see our Checkpoint article), the IRS has updated related forms and instructions. Form 5300 is no longer available through the IRS forms and publications database; instead, filers are directed to the pay.gov website, where a search for “5300” will lead to a page that includes an option to preview the form. Updates to the Form 5300 instructions include details about electronic filing such as limitations on uploaded attachments; a note that Form 8717 is not needed for submissions through pay.gov; the elimination of mailing and private delivery information; and terminology changes reflecting the 2017 merger of the master and prototype and volume submitter programs (see our Checkpoint article). The updated Form 8717 instructions specify that Form 8717 should no longer be used for Form 5300 (or Form 5310, for which electronic filing has been required since August 1, 2021) unless an additional payment for an insufficient user fee is needed. The IRS’s About Form 5300 page has also been updated to reflect the electronic filing requirement.
EBIA Comment: Electronic filing of Form 5300 is now mandatory for all determination letter applications, as the brief transition period during which paper submissions were still accepted has ended. For more information, see EBIA’s 401(k) Plans manual at Section XXVII.J (“Determination Letter Forms, Fees, and Notice”).
Contributing Editors: EBIA Staff.