Form 5558 - Employee Benefit Plan Extension Guide

An extension to file is not an extension to pay tax.

Form 5558 is the extension mechanism for the employee benefit plan return series - Form 5500, Form 5500-SF, Form 5500-EZ, and Form 8955-SSA (the plan's registration statement for deferred vested participants). It is filed by the plan administrator or plan sponsor, one form per plan, and is separate from any extension of the employer's own income tax return.

Get the form: Download Form 5558 (PDF, irs.gov) • About Form 5558 (irs.gov)

Item	Detail
Who files	Plan administrator or plan sponsor (generally the employer for a single-employer plan), one Form 5558 per plan
Returns covered	Form 5500, Form 5500-SF, Form 5500-EZ, and/or Form 8955-SSA - a single Form 5558 can extend both a plan's Form 5500 series return and its Form 8955-SSA together
Extension length	Automatic to the 15th day of the 3rd month after the return's normal due date (2.5 months) - for a calendar-year plan, from July 31 to October 15
Condition for automatic approval	Form 5558 must be filed on or before the return's normal due date, and the requested date must not be later than the 15th day of the 3rd month after that due date
Filing method	Electronically through EFAST2, or on paper with the IRS Service Center in Ogden, UT (paper filing available again as of January 1, 2025)
Number of extensions	One-time only per return - Form 5558 does not have a second-extension mechanism
Authority	IRC §6081 (extension of time for filing returns)

Exception - no Form 5558 needed: if the plan year and the employer's tax year are the same, and the employer has already been granted a federal income tax extension to a date later than the plan return's normal due date, the plan return is automatically extended to that same later date - without filing Form 5558 at all. Filing Form 5558 after the normal due date cannot extend this automatic exception further.

What this does not cover: an extension of Form 5500/5500-SF/5500-EZ/8955-SSA does not extend the PBGC (Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation) Form 1, Annual Premium Payment - that is a separate filing with its own deadline, unaffected by Form 5558.

Authority: IRC sect 6081. Sources: Form 5558 (Rev. January 2025) and its instructions, irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f5558.pdf, downloaded and searched directly this session; irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-5558.

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Form 5558 - Employee Benefit Plan Return Extension