DFVCP cure timeline — what filing under the program looks like

One test decides everything. The DFVC Program is open to a plan administrator with a Title I ERISA filing obligation who has not yet been notified in writing by the DOL of a failure to file. The notice that closes the door is EBSA's Notice of Intent to Assess a Penalty for the plan year in question. An IRS late-filer letter does not disqualify you from the DOL program, though it can affect the IRS side of the relief.

Not eligible: amended filings, Form 5500-EZ and one-participant plans (those use the IRS's separate program under Rev. Proc. 2015-32), and most direct filing entities. A plan that already filed late but never paid is still eligible as long as no written DOL notice has arrived.

If you are not sure whether a year is missing, the Late-Filing Penalty Check walks every welfare Form 5500 on record for your sponsor and flags gaps. Any employer can be looked up from the employer index.

DFVCP does not accept a filing on its own; the missing annual report has to be filed electronically through EFAST2 first, one complete Form 5500 (or 5500-SF) for every plan year you want relief for. Use the correct year's form for each plan year; EFAST2 serves the forms for prior years. In Part I of each form, check the box for the DFVC Program (the “D” box). That flag is how DOL links the filing to your payment.

For a health and welfare plan the rebuild is mostly collecting paper: a Schedule A from every carrier for every late year (insurers must supply it under ERISA §103(a)(2)), the participant count at the start of each year, Schedule C service-provider compensation for a large funded plan, and the IQPA audit if the plan held assets in a trust. Fully insured and unfunded plans with 100 or more participants usually skip Schedules C, H, and I entirely, which is why their reconstructions run faster.

The DFVCP rate is $10 for every day past the original due date (the Form 5558 extension does not move the clock), capped as follows. These are the DOL's posted figures as of October 2026:

• Small plan (under 100 participants): $750 per filing, $1,500 per plan when several years are submitted together.
• Large plan (100 or more participants): $2,000 per filing, $4,000 per plan for a multi-year submission.
• Small plan sponsored by a 501(c)(3): $750 for the whole submission, however many years.
• Top hat plans, apprenticeship and training plans, late Form M-1 filers, and MEWAs: flat $750. Each MEWA needs its own submission, each capped at $750.

The last bullet changed recently. EBSA's notice at 90 FR 61411, published December 31, 2025, extended the program to plan MEWAs, non-plan MEWAs, and entities claiming exception that are required to file Form M-1, at the same $750 maximum small plans pay. The notice lists two effective dates (December 19 and December 31, 2025); either way it is in force now. Note it covers the late M-1 only — a MEWA with late Form 5500s still makes a separate Form 5500 submission.

Compare that to the statutory alternative: ERISA §502(c)(2) allows up to $2,739 per day, per filing, with no cap (29 CFR 2575.3, for penalties assessed after January 15, 2025). The DOL announced on May 27, 2026 that no inflation adjustment would be made for 2026, so $2,739 remains the number through at least the next adjustment cycle.

A calendar-year, fully insured medical plan with 240 participants discovers in October 2026 that nobody filed Form 5500 for plan years 2022, 2023, and 2024. No DOL letter has arrived. The administrator files all three in EFAST2 and pays on November 2, 2026.

• 2022 plan year (due July 31, 2023): 1,190 days late. $10 × 1,190 = $11,900, capped at $2,000.
• 2023 plan year (due July 31, 2024): 824 days late. $8,240, capped at $2,000.
• 2024 plan year (due July 31, 2025): 459 days late. $4,590, capped at $2,000.
• Three filings would be $6,000, but the large-plan per-plan cap brings the single submission to $4,000.

The statutory ceiling for the same three years at $2,739 a day is roughly $3.26 million, $2.26 million, and $1.26 million. EBSA rarely assesses the ceiling, but once its letter arrives the number is theirs to set. The 2025 plan year (due July 31, 2026, or October 15 on extension) is on its own clock; include it if it is late too.

• Day 0–3: Confirm no written DOL notice exists. Check the mailroom, the registered agent, and the prior administrator's files.
• Week 1–3: Request Schedule A from each carrier for each year. Carriers typically take one to three weeks; this is the long pole for insured plans.
• Week 3–5: Prepare and submit each year's form in EFAST2 with the DFVC box checked. EFAST2 acknowledges the filing within minutes.
• Same day as the last filing: At askebsa.dol.gov/dfvcepay, enter the EIN, plan number, plan years, participant count, and each EFAST2 submission date. The calculator produces the capped amount; pay it by electronic check or card in the same session. DOL no longer accepts paper submissions or mailed checks. Save the confirmation page.
• Afterward: There is no separate DOL closing letter. The EFAST2 acknowledgment showing the DFVC box checked plus the payment receipt are your proof of participation.

Realistic end to end: four to eight weeks for an insured or unfunded plan; add four to eight weeks for a trust-funded plan that needs an audit opinion.

Mostly, and for a health and welfare plan almost always. Under IRS Notice 2014-35, a Title I plan that satisfies the DFVC Program gets automatic relief from the IRS late-filing penalties with no separate application. The one extra step applies only to retirement plans: if a Form 8955-SSA was required for the late year, it must be filed with the IRS on paper, with line C of Part I marked “DFVC,” within 30 days of completing the DFVCP filing. Welfare plans have no 8955-SSA, and the IRC §6652(e) penalty attaches to returns required under IRC §6058, which a welfare-only Form 5500 is not. Rev. Proc. 2015-32 is the parallel IRS program for one-participant and foreign plans that cannot use DFVCP; it does not apply here.

• Paying before the form is in EFAST2, or filing without checking the DFVC box. The payment has nothing to attach to.
• Counting from the extended due date. The $10 a day runs from the original due date even if a Form 5558 was filed.
• Splitting one plan's years into separate submissions and losing the per-plan cap.
• Using the participant count from the wrong date. Small versus large is set by the count at the start of each plan year.
• Filing one Form 5500 per benefit when the plan document is a wrap plan, or the reverse. Match the filing to the plan document.
• Paying from plan assets or the trust account.

• Run the Late-Filing Penalty Check and list every missing plan year by plan number.
• Confirm in writing with the plan administrator and registered agent that no EBSA notice has been received for any of those years.
• Send Schedule A requests to every carrier today; they gate the timeline.
• Price the submission with the DOL calculator before engaging counsel so the cure cost and the advice cost are both known.
• Once paid, put the EFAST2 acknowledgments and the payment receipt in the plan's permanent file and fix the calendar that let the years slip.