- 401(k)
A plan in which an employee chooses to put a part of the pay into the plan. Plan characteristics code 2J marks the 401(k) feature on line 8a. Form 5500 does not state whether the employer matches the pay that an employee puts in.
The Department of Labor:
A 401(k) Plan is a defined contribution plan that is a cash or deferred arrangement.
Department of Labor, Types of Retirement Plans- 403(b)
A retirement plan of a school, a hospital or another tax-exempt employer. Plan characteristics codes 2L and 2M mark it on line 8a. The site uses the words "403(b) plan" for a plan with one of these codes and no 401(k) code.
The Department of Labor:
Annuity arrangements under Code section 403(b)(1) and custodial accounts established under Code section 403(b)(7) for regulated investment company stock.
Department of Labor, 2025 Instructions for Form 5500, Who Must File, pension benefit plans, item 2- Accountant’s opinion
The report of an independent qualified public accountant on the financial statements of the plan. Schedule H line 3a has four choices. The site shows the choice as filed. It does not rank the choices.
The Department of Labor:
The attached opinion of an independent qualified public accountant for this plan is (see instructions):
Department of Labor, 2025 Schedule H (Form 5500), line 3aThe Department of Labor:
Generally, an unmodified opinion is issued when the IQPA concludes that the plan’s financial statements are presented fairly, in all material respects, in accordance with the applicable financial reporting framework (generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) or another basis such as modified cash or cash basis).
Department of Labor, 2025 Instructions for Form 5500, Schedule H, line 3a(1)The Department of Labor:
Generally, a qualified opinion is issued by an IQPA when (a) the IQPA, having obtained sufficient appropriate audit evidence, concludes that misstatements, individually or in the aggregate, are material but not pervasive to the financial statements or (b) the IQPA is unable to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence on which to base the opinion, but the auditor concludes that the possible effects on the financial statements of undetected misstatements, if any, could be material but not pervasive.
Department of Labor, 2025 Instructions for Form 5500, Schedule H, line 3a(2)The Department of Labor:
A disclaimer of opinion is issued when the IQPA is unable to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence on which to base the opinion, and the IQPA concludes that the possible effects on the financial statements of undetected misstatements, if any, could be both material and pervasive.
Department of Labor, 2025 Instructions for Form 5500, Schedule H, line 3a(3)The Department of Labor:
Generally, an adverse opinion is issued by an IQPA when the IQPA having obtained sufficient appropriate audit evidence, concludes that misstatements, individually or in the aggregate, are both material and pervasive to the financial statements.
Department of Labor, 2025 Instructions for Form 5500, Schedule H, line 3a(4)- Active participant
A person who works for the employer in a job that the plan covers, and who earns or keeps credited service under the plan. The site divides contributions by this count to give an amount for each active participant.
The Department of Labor:
Active participants (i.e., any individuals who are currently in employment covered by the plan and who are earning or retaining credited service under the plan). This includes any individuals who are eligible to elect to have the employer make payments under a Code section 401(k) qualified cash or deferred arrangement.
Department of Labor, 2025 Instructions for Form 5500, Line 6, participants- Administrative expenses
The costs of running the plan that the plan paid or was charged, by type, on Schedule H line 2i. The costs of the funds inside the plan are not part of this line.
The Department of Labor:
Expenses incurred in the general operations of the plan are classified as administrative expenses.
Department of Labor, 2025 Instructions for Form 5500, Schedule H, line 2i- Cash balance plan
A defined benefit plan that states the promised benefit as an account balance. Plan characteristics code 1C marks it on line 8a.
The Department of Labor:
A Cash Balance Plan is a defined benefit plan that defines the benefit in terms that are more characteristic of a defined contribution plan.
Department of Labor, Types of Retirement Plans- Defined benefit plan
A pension plan that promises a monthly benefit. The plan characteristics codes that start with 1 mark it on line 8a. The site never compares a defined benefit plan with a defined contribution plan.
The Department of Labor:
A defined benefit plan promises a specified monthly benefit at retirement.
Department of Labor, Types of Retirement Plans- Defined contribution plan
A plan in which each participant has an account. The plan does not promise an amount at retirement. The site counts every pension plan that is not a defined benefit plan as a defined contribution plan.
The Department of Labor:
A defined contribution plan, on the other hand, does not promise a specific amount of benefits at retirement. In these plans, the employee or the employer (or both) contribute to the employee's individual account under the plan, sometimes at a set rate, such as 5 percent of earnings annually.
Department of Labor, Types of Retirement Plans- Direct compensation and indirect compensation
The two kinds of pay to a service provider on Schedule C. The plan pays direct compensation. A third party pays indirect compensation because of the service to the plan. The site adds the two to give the Schedule C compensation.
The Department of Labor:
Payments made directly by the plan for services rendered to the plan or because of a person’s position with the plan are reportable as direct compensation.
Department of Labor, 2025 Instructions for Form 5500, Schedule C, definitionsThe Department of Labor:
Compensation received from sources other than directly from the plan or plan sponsor is reportable on Schedule C as indirect compensation from the plan if the compensation was received in connection with services rendered to the plan during the plan year or the person’s position with the plan.
Department of Labor, 2025 Instructions for Form 5500, Schedule C, definitions- EIN (employer identification number)
The nine digits that the Internal Revenue Service gives to an employer. The form prints the EIN of the plan sponsor. The site writes it with a hyphen after the second digit, for example 12-3456789.
The Department of Labor:
Enter the nine-digit employer identification number (EIN) assigned to the plan sponsor/employer, for example, 001234567.
Department of Labor, 2025 Instructions for Form 5500, Part I, line 2b- Employer contributions
The cash that the employer paid or owed to the plan in the plan year, on Schedule H line 2a(1)(A). The site does not include noncash contributions in this figure. The site divides the amount by the active participants to give an amount for each active participant. "No employer contributions" means that the line shows zero or no amount. It does not mean that the plan has no match.
The Department of Labor:
Received or receivable in cash from: (A) Employers
Department of Labor, 2025 Schedule H (Form 5500), line 2a(1)(A)- ESOP (employee stock ownership plan)
A defined contribution plan that invests mainly in the stock of the employer. Plan characteristics codes 2O and 2P mark it on line 8a. An ESOP can receive stock as a noncash contribution.
The Department of Labor:
An Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) is a form of defined contribution plan in which the investments are primarily in employer stock.
Department of Labor, Types of Retirement Plans- Failure to transmit participant contributions
Schedule H line 4a asks whether the plan received participant contributions from the employer later than the rule allows. The plan administrator answers yes or no. A "Yes" answer carries an amount. The line does not give a reason, and the site draws no conclusion from it.
The Department of Labor:
Was there a failure to transmit to the plan any participant contributions within the time period described in 29 CFR 2510.3-102? Continue to answer “Yes” for any prior year failures until fully corrected. (See instructions and DOL’s Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program.)
Department of Labor, 2025 Schedule H (Form 5500), line 4aThe Department of Labor:
Amounts paid by a participant or beneficiary to an employer and/or withheld by an employer for contribution to the plan are participant contributions that become plan assets as of the earliest date on which such contributions can reasonably be segregated from the employer’s general assets (see 29 CFR 2510.3-102).
Department of Labor, 2025 Instructions for Form 5500, Schedule H, line 4a- Form 5500
The annual report that a retirement plan files with the Department of Labor. It has a main form and schedules. This site shows the plans that report 100 or more participants.
The Department of Labor:
The Form 5500, Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan, including all required schedules and attachments (Form 5500 return/report), is used to report information concerning employee benefit plans and Direct Filing Entities (DFEs).
Department of Labor, 2025 Instructions for Form 5500, About the Form 5500- Form 5500-SF
The short form that a small plan can file in place of the Form 5500. A plan that files it has fewer than 100 participants and has no page on this site. The site counts these plans in the totals of states and industries.
The Department of Labor:
Pension plans and welfare plans with fewer than 100 participants at the beginning of the plan year that are not exempt from filing an annual return/report may be eligible to file the Form 5500-SF, a simplified report.
Department of Labor, 2025 Instructions for Form 5500, Section 4, What To File- Form year
The year printed in the top right box of the form. The datasets of the Department of Labor are grouped by form year. The form year of a plan page is also the number of the plan year.
The Department of Labor:
Beginning with the 2009 datasets, each dataset represents the form year of the filing (the year printed in the top right box of the form).
Department of Labor, EBSA, Form 5500 Datasets- Match formula
The rule that says how much the employer adds for each dollar that an employee puts in. Form 5500 does not state it. The form gives only the total of the employer contributions for the plan year.
The Department of Labor has no wording for this term. The gloss above is by this site.
- Net assets
What the plan owns less what it owes, at the end of the plan year, on Schedule H line 1l. Net assets can be below zero. The amount for each participant is an average of the plan. It is not the balance of a person.
The Department of Labor:
Enter the net assets as of the beginning and end of the plan year (Subtract line 1k from line 1f.)
Department of Labor, 2025 Instructions for Form 5500, Schedule H, line 1l- Noncash contributions
Contributions of securities or other property in place of cash, on Schedule H line 2a(2). The site finds the amount as the total contributions less the cash lines.
The Department of Labor:
Use the current value, at date contributed, of securities or other noncash property.
Department of Labor, 2025 Instructions for Form 5500, Schedule H, line 2a(2)- Participant
A person who is in a plan in one of four ways. The first group is active participants. Two groups are retired or separated people: some receive benefits now, and some will receive benefits later. The fourth group is deceased people whose beneficiaries receive or will receive benefits. A person in two plans counts in each plan.
The Department of Labor:
For pension benefit plans, “participant” for this line means any individual who is included in one of the categories below:
Department of Labor, 2025 Instructions for Form 5500, Part II, line 6- Participant contributions
The money that participants put into the plan in the plan year, on Schedule H line 2a(1)(B). It includes the pay that an employee chooses to defer. The site divides the amount by the active participants.
The Department of Labor:
For pension benefit plans, participant contributions, for purposes of this item, also include elective contributions under a qualified cash or deferred arrangement (Code section 401(k)).
Department of Labor, 2025 Instructions for Form 5500, Schedule H, line 2a(1)(B)- Percentile
The share of the plans in a group that have the same figure or a lower one. The 50th percentile is the median. The site compares a plan with plans of the same type and size. A percentile gives a position. It does not grade a plan.
The Department of Labor has no wording for this term. The gloss above is by this site.
- Plan number
The three digits that the employer gives to a plan. Plans start at 001. The EIN and the plan number together identify one plan. The site writes them in the address of each plan page.
The Department of Labor:
Enter the three-digit plan or entity number (PN) the employer or plan administrator assigned to the plan or DFE. This three-digit number, in conjunction with the employer identification number (EIN) entered on line 2b, is used by the IRS, DOL, and PBGC as a unique 12-digit number to identify the plan or DFE.
Department of Labor, 2025 Instructions for Form 5500, Part I, line 1b- Plan year
The period that a filing covers, usually 12 months. It can be the calendar year or a different 12 months. The site numbers a plan year by the year in which it began, and it also gives the date on which the plan year ended.
The Department of Labor:
File 2025 returns/reports for plan, DCG and GIA years that began in 2025.
Department of Labor, 2025 Instructions for Form 5500, Section 2, When To File- Profit sharing plan
A defined contribution plan in which the employer decides each year how much to contribute. Plan characteristics code 2E marks it on line 8a. Many 401(k) plans also carry this code.
The Department of Labor:
A Profit Sharing Plan or Stock Bonus Plan is a defined contribution plan under which the plan may provide, or the employer may determine, annually, how much will be contributed to the plan (out of profits or otherwise).
Department of Labor, Types of Retirement Plans- Schedule C
The schedule that lists the service providers that a large plan paid $5,000 or more. It gives the services and the pay of each one. Part I line 2 is the source of the provider tables on this site.
The Department of Labor:
You must enter the information required for each person who rendered services to or had transactions with the plan and who received $5,000 or more in total direct or indirect compensation in connection with services rendered to the plan or the person’s position with the plan during the plan year.
Department of Labor, 2025 Instructions for Form 5500, Schedule C, specific instructions- Schedule H
The financial statement of a plan with 100 or more participants. It holds assets, income, expenses, contributions, the opinion of the accountant and yes or no questions. A filing without it has no contribution, fee or asset figures on this site.
The Department of Labor:
Employee benefit plans, 103-12 IEs, and GIAs filing the Schedule H are generally required to engage an independent qualified public accountant (IQPA) and attach a report of the IQPA under ERISA section 103(a)(3)(A).
Department of Labor, 2025 Instructions for Form 5500, Section 4, What To File- Schedule I
The financial statement of a plan with fewer than 100 participants that files the Form 5500 and not the Form 5500-SF. Plans of this size have no page on this site.
The Department of Labor:
Schedule I (Form 5500) must be attached to a Form 5500 filed for pension benefit plans and welfare benefit plans that covered fewer than 100 participants as of the beginning of the plan year and that are not eligible to file Form 5500-SF.
Department of Labor, 2025 Instructions for Form 5500, Schedule I, general instructions- Service provider
A person or an organisation that gave services to the plan and received $5,000 or more. This site lists organisations. It never lists a person that Schedule C names.
The Department of Labor:
You must enter the information required for each person who rendered services to or had transactions with the plan and who received $5,000 or more in total direct or indirect compensation in connection with services rendered to the plan or the person’s position with the plan during the plan year.
Department of Labor, 2025 Instructions for Form 5500, Schedule C, specific instructions
The site copied the texts of the Department of Labor on . A quotation keeps the spelling and the punctuation of the Department.
Last checked against the agency pages on