Articles

The IRS penalty for a late Form 5500 is $250 per day, capped at $150,000. The DOL adds up to $2,529 per day with no cap. Here's what to do before July 31.

There's no new law banning voluntary benefits. But four ERISA lawsuits filed in December 2025 are arguing many "voluntary" programs were never safely outside ERISA. Here's what the safe harbor actually requires and where employers are slipping.

Fully-insured employers often can't access their own claims data due to contractual and legal barriers, even as ERISA fiduciary standards require it. Self-funding transfers legal data ownership to the employer and creates a defensible basis for every benefits dollar spent.

The PCORI fee jumped to $3.84 per covered life for plan years ending in the 2025-2026 window. Here's a step-by-step guide to calculating covered lives and filing IRS Form 720 before the July 31, 2026 deadline.