5500 E-file: Forms Accepted by EFAST2

ERISA filings consist of multiple filing components that are comprised of individual forms, schedules, and attachments.

Form 5500/5500-SF/5500-EZ
Schedules
Attachments

Forms and Schedules

With the exception of Schedule A, all forms and schedules can have only one occurrence within the filing. A maximum of 9,999 Schedules A may be included in a single filing.

The size of the filing may also limit the number of Schedule As a filing may contain (maximum size of a filing is 100MB).

Some forms and schedules have repeating blocks of information. There is no limit to the number of instances of each block within the form or schedule other than the filing size limit.

Only one report of the Independent Qualified Public Accountant (IQPA Report) can be attached.

Form 5500 filings may contain any form, schedule, or attachment type other than Form 5500-SF or Form-EZ.

Form 5500-SF filings may contain only Form 5500-SF, Schedule MB or SB, and attachments. All other forms and schedules are invalid for Form 5500-SF.

Never attach Form 8955-SSA to the e-filed return. Form 8955-SSA is filed with the IRS instead.

If you include a Social Security number on your annual return/report, your filing may be rejected. Because your filing, including any attachments, will be posted on the Internet, it should not contain sensitive information such as Social Security numbers.

Form 8955-SSA can be e-filed through our software for IRS FIRE (Filing Information Returns Electronically) System. Please go to Chapter 3 of this guide for more information.

To paper file Form 8955-SSA to the IRS, please go to http://www.irs.gov/.

Attachments

Any information that cannot be contained on the 5500 series forms and schedules may be submitted as an unstructured attachment on EFAST2. Acceptable formats vary by attachment type:

Accountant’s Opinion and Signed MB or SB The report of the Independent Qualified Public Accountant (IQPA) and image of the signed Schedule MB or SB must be attached as a PDF file.

Other Attachments Other attachments may be either a PDF file or an ASCII Text file. No other file formats are accepted. We have predefined the most common attachments in our software. For a complete list of possible attachments that can be included in EFAST2 filings, see the EFAST2 IFILE Users Guide at https://www.efast.dol.gov/.

E-file/5500_ef_efast2_forms.htm/TY2020

Last Modified: 12/16/2020

Last System Build: 09/13/2021