Electronic filing of the Form 5558, Application for Extension of Time to File Certain Employee Plan Returns, for form year 2023 may not be available starting Jan. 1, 2024 after all. 
It appears that the Department of Labor (DOL) has communicated to third-party software developers that the electronic filing option for Form 5558 should be disabled and that electronic filing of the Form 5558 will not be available starting Jan. 1, 2024, to extend the filing deadline for a 2023 Form 5500, according to Kizzy Gaul, chair of the ASPPA Government Affairs Committee and a Director of Benefits Advisory and Compliance at WTW, in remarks to ASPPA Connect. Certain third-party software developers are approved to program software to interface with the EFAST2 web-based filing system for filing Form 5500.
Neither the DOL, nor the IRS, have yet changed the information on their websites concerning the filing of the Form 5558; however, those updates may be coming.
Backtracking
“DOL had announced earlier that filing the Form 5558 electronically would be an option,” Gaul noted. Indeed, the instructions for the Form 5558 to be used in reporting about 2023 say, “Beginning on January 1, 2024, Form 5558 can be filed electronically through EFAST2 or can be filed with the IRS on paper.”
The IRS, too, provides that information. On Nov. 8, 2023, it updated the information on its website to indicate that beginning Jan. 1, 2024, Form 5558 can be filed electronically through the DOL’s EFAST2 system or on a paper Form 5558 with the IRS.
ARA Supports Electronic Filing
In response to a request for comments from the IRS regarding proposed revisions to the Form 5558 to allow electronic filing, in a Dec. 5, 2022 letter to the IRS, the American Retirement Association (ARA) had expressed strong support for the electronic submission of Form 5558 via the Department of Labor’s EFAST2 system.
ARA Chief Executive Officer Brian Graff and ARA Chief Counsel Allison Wielobob wrote to the IRS, “In an increasingly computerized society, filers recognize the efficiencies and effectiveness of electronic filing.” They continued, “Because the Form 5500 filing process requires certain employers and service providers to electronically file, it is a natural step for the IRS to allow those same filers to electronically file the Form 5558.”
About the Form
The Form 5558 is used to apply for a one-time extension of time to file the following forms:
- Form 8955-SSA, Annual Registration Statement Identifying Separated Participants With Deferred Vested Benefits; and
- The Form 5500 Series:
- Form 5500, Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan;
- Form 5500-SF, Short Form Annual Return/Report of Small Employee Benefit Plan; and
- Form 5500-EZ, Annual Return of One-Participant (Owners and Their Spouses) Retirement Plan).
Form 5558 also had been used to request an extension of time to file the Form 5330, Return of Excise Taxes Related to Employee Benefit Plans, but that is no longer the case. Instead, such a request can be made by using Form 8868, Application for Extension of Time To File an Exempt Organization Return or Excise Taxes Related to Employee Benefit Plans.
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