Form 5310-A Filing Requirements, Deadlines, and Penalties

Form 5310-A is the IRS notice a plan administrator files at least 30 days before a qualified retirement plan merges, consolidates, spins off, or transfers assets or liabilities to another plan. It is a notification, not an application: the IRS does not issue a determination letter in response. The filing lets the agency confirm that participants will keep at least the benefits they had before the transaction. The form serves one other, unrelated purpose as well, which is notifying the IRS that an employer elects qualified separate lines of business (QSLOB) treatment for coverage testing.

When Form 5310-A Is Required

Four events trigger a filing. Three of them are plan transactions: a merger or consolidation, a spinoff, and a transfer of plan assets or liabilities. The fourth is the QSLOB election, which has its own rules and is covered further down.

A merger or consolidation combines two or more plans into one. Each plan involved files its own Form 5310-A under its own EIN and plan number. If three plans merge into a newly created fourth plan, that is four separate filings.

A spinoff is the reverse: a single plan splits into two or more. Only the pre-split plan files, and that one filing covers the division of assets and identifies the resulting plans.¹

A transfer of plan assets or liabilities is common in corporate acquisitions and divestitures. Depending on how the deal is structured, the transferring plan, the receiving plan, or both may need to file.

All three transaction types must meet the same underlying rule in the regulations: each participant must be entitled to a benefit after the transaction at least equal to what they would have received if the plan had terminated immediately before it.² The actuarial statement inside the form is how the IRS checks that.

One boundary worth knowing: multiemployer plans covered by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation are excluded from the transaction filing requirement.³

The 30-Day Deadline

Form 5310-A must be filed at least 30 days before the effective date of the transaction.⁴ It is a pre-transaction requirement. There is no post-closing cure.

If the closing date shifts, the question is whether the original filing still sits outside the 30-day window. Pushing the effective date back is generally fine. Moving it forward can pull the transaction inside the window and expose the filer to a late-filing penalty.

What Goes on the Form

For each plan involved, the administrator provides the plan sponsor’s legal name, the sponsor’s EIN, and the three-digit plan number.

The form asks for a reason code identifying why it is being filed. Code 1 is the QSLOB notice, code 2 is a merger or consolidation, code 3 is a spinoff, and code 4 is a transfer of plan assets or liabilities. The effective date of the transaction goes on the form as well, and that date is what fixes the 30-day deadline.³

An actuarial statement of valuation must be attached. It has to show that the transaction complies with IRC Section 401(a)(12)⁴ by demonstrating that each participant’s benefits on a termination basis are at least as large after the transaction as before it.² For defined benefit plans the calculation can be expensive, so the actuarial work needs a real slot on the transaction timeline.

The form also requires the number of affected participants. Where multiple plans are involved, an attachment listing each other plan by name, EIN, plan number, and plan type must accompany the filing so the IRS can trace how assets and liabilities move between them.

Where to Mail It

Form 5310-A is filed by mail. As of the December 2025 instructions, the addresses are:³

U.S. Postal Service: Internal Revenue Service, TE/GE Stop 31A Team 105, P.O. Box 12192, Covington, KY 41012-0192
Express mail or delivery service: Internal Revenue Service, 7940 Kentucky Drive, Florence, KY 41042

Private delivery services cannot deliver to P.O. boxes, so anything sent by PDS has to go to the Florence street address. Only IRS-designated private delivery services qualify for the timely-mailing-as-timely-filing rule. Check the IRS list before trusting a carrier to meet the deadline.

The QSLOB Election Filing

Form 5310-A is also how an employer notifies the IRS that it elects to be treated as operating qualified separate lines of business for coverage testing. This filing has nothing to do with a plan transaction. An employer that wants its plans tested on a QSLOB basis rather than company-wide files a single Form 5310-A on or before the notification date for the testing year, and only one notice per controlled group is required.¹

Miss the initial QSLOB notification date and the employer simply is not treated as operating QSLOBs for that testing year. To modify a prior notice (for example, combining two QSLOBs into one) or revoke it, a new Form 5310-A must be filed before the notification date for the current testing year. If that deadline is missed, the prior year’s notice carries forward by default.¹

Penalties for a Late or Missing Filing

Under IRC Section 6652(e), failing to file a return or statement required by Section 6058 costs $250 per day for every day the failure continues, with a maximum of $150,000 for a single missed filing.⁵ Where a transaction involves multiple plans and each misses the deadline, the cap applies separately to each plan.

The penalty falls on the plan administrator or employer responsible for filing. The IRS issues a notice and demand for payment once it determines the filing was late. Incomplete or false information on the form can bring additional scrutiny.

Requesting a Penalty Waiver

The statute includes a reasonable cause exception: the penalty does not apply if the administrator shows the failure was not due to willful neglect. The IRS evaluates reasonable cause case by case, looking at whether the filer acted responsibly before and after the failure.⁶

To request relief, call the IRS at the number on the penalty notice with the notice, the specific penalty at issue, and your explanation in hand. If phone relief is not available, you can submit a written request using Form 843, Claim for Refund and Request for Abatement.⁶

Factors that help a waiver request include a clean compliance history, being a first-time filer of this form, having used available extensions, and correcting the failure quickly. Reliance on a third-party administrator that dropped the filing can also support relief. Not knowing the requirement existed generally will not. The safer path is to put the 30-day deadline on the transaction checklist before the actuarial work starts, not after.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 5310-A
2
eCFR. 26 CFR 1.414(l)-1 – Mergers and Consolidations of Plans or Transfers of Plan Assets
3
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 5310-A (12/2025)
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6058 – Information Required in Connection With Certain Plans of Deferred Compensation
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6652 – Failure to File Certain Information Returns, Registration Statements, Etc.
6
Internal Revenue Service. Penalty Relief for Reasonable Cause