Notice2025-24082
Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance Program
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
December 31, 2025
Effective
December 31, 2025
Issuing agencies
Labor DepartmentEmployee Benefits Security Administration
Abstract
This notice describes changes to the Department of Labor's Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance Program (DFVC Program or Program).
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 247 (Wednesday, December 31, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 247 (Wednesday, December 31, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61411-61412]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-24082]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employee Benefits Security Administration
Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance Program
AGENCY: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of Labor.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: This notice describes changes to the Department of Labor's
Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance Program (DFVC Program or
Program).
DATES: The DFVC Program is effective on December 31, 2025. The Program
adopted herein modifies, as of its effective date, the DFVC Program
adopted on April 27, 1995 (60 FR 20874) and modified on March 28, 2002
(67 FR 15052) and Jan. 29, 2013 (78 FR 6135).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Scott C. Albert, Office of the Chief
Accountant, Employee Benefits Security Administration; telephone (202)
693-8360. This is not a toll-free number.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
A. Background
The Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration
(EBSA) introduced the DFVC Program in 1995. It is intended to
encourage, through the assessment of reduced civil penalties,
delinquent plan administrators to comply with their reporting
obligations under Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security
Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA). Administrators of multiple employer
welfare arrangements (MEWAs), that are not group health plans but
provide benefits that consist of medical care (non-plan MEWAs) and
Entities Claiming Exception (ECEs), who fail to file a Form M-1
annually and upon the occurrence of specific events may be subject to
civil penalties under ERISA section 502(c)(5). Administrators of MEWAs
that are group health plans (plan MEWAs) who fail to file a Form M-1
annually and upon the occurrence of specific events may be subject to
civil penalties under section 502(c)(2) of ERISA.
Following a review of the DFVC Program, as modified in 2002 and
2013, the Department has determined to expand the penalty relief to
plan MEWAs, non-plan MEWAs, and ECEs who are required to file the Form
M-1. As with prior DFVC modifications, because the modifications to the
DFVC Program include lower civil penalty assessments, the modifications
are being put into effect upon publication of this notice in the
Federal Register. Like prior DFVC modifications, this document
constitutes an enforcement policy of the Department and is not being
issued as a general notice of proposed rulemaking.
The Secretary of Labor has the authority under sections 502(c)(2)
and 502(c)(5) of ERISA and the Secretaries' regulations to assess civil
penalties against plan administrators who fail or refuse to file
complete and timely reports as required under sections 101(b) and
101(g) of ERISA and related regulations. Pursuant to 29 CFR 2560.502c-2
and 2560.502c-5, EBSA has maintained a program for the assessment of
civil penalties for noncompliance with ERISA's reporting requirements.
The Department may, in its discretion, waive all or part of a civil
penalty assessed under sections 502(c)(2) or 502(c)(5) upon a showing
by the administrator that there was reasonable cause for the failure to
file a complete and timely report or that there was reasonable cause
why the penalty, as calculated, should not be assessed.
To encourage delinquent filers to voluntarily comply with the
annual reporting requirements under Title I of ERISA, the Department
adopted, on April 27, 1995, the DFVC Program (60 FR 20874). The
Program, as adopted in 1995, permitted administrators otherwise subject
to the assessment of higher civil penalties for failing to file a
timely annual report to pay reduced civil penalties for voluntarily
complying with the requirement to file an annual report under Title I
of ERISA. The 1995 DFVC Program provided reduced penalties for plan
administrators filing the Form 5500, plan administrators filing annual
reports for apprenticeship and training plans described in section
2520.104-22 and for ``top hat'' plans described in section 2520.104-
23(a). Under the terms of the DFVC Program, the Department reserved the
right to modify or terminate the Program upon publication of a notice
in the Federal Register.
In 2002, the Department modified the Program by reducing civil
penalty assessments. It capped the cumulative daily penalty amount for
Form 5500 annual reports for a plan year at $750
[[Page 61412]]
for small plans and $2,000 for large plans. It also provided a maximum
penalty amount of $750 for late filings by apprenticeship and training
plans and top hat plans. Finally, in consultation with the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS), the Department added small plans sponsored by
Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3) organizations (including small
code section 403(b) plans) as a new class of plans that could file a
late Form 5500 annual report under the Program, subject to a reduced
maximum penalty of $750 per DFVC submission. Although the Department's
Notice did not provide relief from late filing penalties under the Code
or Title IV of ERISA, both the IRS and Pension Benefit Guaranty
Corporation agreed to provide penalty relief where the conditions of
the DFVC Program were satisfied.
In 2013, the Department issued a Federal Register notice describing
an online penalty calculator and internet-based payment system for the
DFVC Program.
B. Modifications to the DFVC Program
The Department is now modifying the DFVC Program to further
facilitate and encourage voluntary compliance with certain of ERISA's
reporting requirements. These modifications expand the types of
entities eligible for the program to include MEWAs and ECEs seeking to
file a late Form M-1. The Department is also simplifying and updating
the process governing the assessment of the flat rate penalty for top
hat and apprenticeship and training plans. A discussion of the changes
follows.
1. Applicable Penalty Amount
The Department, to encourage voluntary compliance with ERISA's
reporting requirements, is extending to plan and non-plan MEWAs and
ECEs that are required to file Form M-1 the same $750 maximum penalty
amount currently available to small plans filing a late Form 5500, and
to filers of apprenticeship and training plans and top hat plans.
In addition, top hat and apprenticeship plans will no longer be
directed to the DFVC payment calculator. All plans eligible to pay a
flat $750 fee will follow a link to a gov.pay site.
Paperwork Reduction Act
The DFVC Program modifications collect only self-identifying login
information from late M-1 filers and facilitate payment through the
Department's website. Accordingly, the Department has determined that
the PRA does not apply to these modifications.
Section 1--Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance (DFVC) Program
The DFVC Program is intended to afford eligible MEWA administrators
(described in Section 2 of this Notice) the opportunity to avoid the
assessment of civil penalties otherwise applicable to administrators
who fail to file timely required reports. Eligible administrators may
avail themselves of the DFVC Program by complying with the filing
requirements and paying the civil penalties specified in Section 3 of
this Notice.
Section 2--Scope, Eligibility and Effective Date
.01 Scope. The DFVC Program described in this Notice provides
relief from assessment of civil penalties otherwise applicable to MEWA
and ECE administrators who fail or refuse to file timely required
reports. The relief extends to plan MEWAs that fail to provide a Form
M-1 receipt confirmation code on the Form 5500 because they have failed
or refused to file a timely Form M-1. Relief under this Program does
not extend to penalties that may be assessed for reports that are
otherwise determined by the Department to be incomplete or otherwise
deficient.
.02 Eligibility. The DFVC Program is available only to a MEWA or
ECE administrator that complies with the requirements of Section 3 or
Section 4, as appropriate, of this Notice prior to the date on which
the administrator is notified in writing by the Department of a failure
to file a timely report under Title I of ERISA.
.03 Effective date. The DFVC Program described herein shall be
effective December 19, 2025. The Department intends that this DFVC
Program to be of indefinite duration; however, the Program may be
modified from time to time or terminated in the sole discretion of the
Department upon publication of notice in the Federal Register.
Section 3--MEWA and ECE Administrators Filing Required Reports
.01 General. A MEWA administrator electing to file a late Form M-1
under this DFVC Program must comply with the requirements of this
Section 3.
.02 Filing a Complete Form M-1.
(a) The MEWA or ECE administrator must file a complete Form M-1
Return/Report, for the most recent filing year. The requirement to file
once for the most recent filing year applies to MEWAs and ECEs who
either failed to file annually or who failed to file upon the
occurrence of certain other events specified in 29 CFR 2520.101-2. This
filing shall be submitted electronically in accordance with the EFAST
electronic filing requirements. See the EFAST internet site at
<a href="http://www.efast.dol.gov">www.efast.dol.gov</a> to view forms and instructions.
.03 Payment.
(a) The MEWA or ECE administrator shall pay the $750.00 penalty
amount by submitting electronic payment in accordance with the gov.pay
web payment link on the Department's website. (See <a href="http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/dfvcpmain.html">http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/dfvcpmain.html</a>).
(b) Liability for Applicable Penalty Amount.
The MEWA or ECE administrator is personally liable for the payment
of civil penalties assessed under sections 502(c)(2) and 502(c)(5) of
ERISA; therefore, civil penalties, including amounts paid under this
DFVC Program, shall not be paid from the assets of an employee benefit
plan.
Section 4--Waiver of Right to Notice, Abatement of Assessment and Plan
Status
.01 Payment of a penalty under the terms of this DFVC Program
constitutes, with regard to the late or delinquent filings submitted
under the Program, a waiver of an administrator's right both to receive
notices of intent to assess a penalty under 29 CFR 2560.502c-2 and
2560.502c-5 from the Department and to contest the Department's
assessment of the penalty amount.
.02 Acceptance by the Department of a filing and penalty payment
made pursuant to this DFVC Program does not represent a determination
by the Department as to the status of the arrangement as a plan, or the
particular type of plan under Title I of ERISA.
Authority: The Secretary of Labor has the authority under sections
502(c)(2) and 502(c)(5) of ERISA and the Secretaries' regulations to
assess civil penalties against plan administrators who fail or refuse
to file complete and timely reports as required under sections 101(b)
and 101(g) of ERISA and related regulations.
Signed at Washington, DC, on December 23, 2025.
Daniel Aronowitz,
Assistant Secretary, Employee Benefits Security Administration.
[FR Doc. 2025-24082 Filed 12-30-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-29-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on December 31, 2025.
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