Form 5500 (2020)
Use a Form 5500 2020 template to make your document workflow more streamlined.
What Form 5500 (2020) is and does
Form 5500 (2020) is an annual report used to disclose information about an employee benefit plan, its operation, and its financial condition. The filing is associated with the U.S. Department of Labor, IRS, and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation reporting framework. A plan administrator prepares the applicable schedules and supporting information, obtains required approvals, and submits the report through the designated government filing process. signNow can help collect electronic signatures, preserve approval evidence, and store the completed package, but an electronic signature alone does not complete the government filing.
Who uses Form 5500 (2020)
Plan sponsors
Plan sponsors and benefits departments use Form 5500 (2020) to organize annual employee-benefit-plan reporting, coordinate internal approvals, and retain a signed package with evidence of review. signNow can route the document to designated participants, capture timestamps and actions, and preserve the resulting audit trail. The government filing obligation remains with the responsible plan administrator.
Benefits consultants
Benefits consultants and administrators handling multiple employer plans can use separate signNow templates, signer roles, and archives for each Form 5500 (2020) package. This structure reduces cross-client confusion while supporting repeatable review. Each completed document should remain associated with the correct plan year, employer, schedules, approvals, and filing evidence.
Business types that benefit from Form 5500
Form 5500 (2020) workflows are most useful when annual plan reporting involves repeated review, multiple signers, or distributed records.
A solo benefits administrator can prepare a single-employer Form 5500 (2020), collect authorized signatures electronically, and preserve the completed report with its audit trail for organized annual-plan records. A regional benefits consultancy can coordinate Form 5500 (2020) preparation across multiple employer plans, reuse controlled templates, route approvals by role, and keep each client’s signed package separately archived. An enterprise benefits department can standardize Form 5500 (2020) workflows across subsidiaries, connect signNow with NetSuite or Microsoft 365, and apply centralized access controls to recurring plan-reporting documents.
These tasks are executed by both individual contributors and centralized administrators depending on organizational policy and required controls.
How Form 5500 workflows operate
Form 5500 (2020) moves through preparation, plan-specific review, authorized approval, government filing, and controlled record preservation.
Identify: Identify the plan and reporting period before editing the Form 5500 document. Complete: Complete applicable information and schedules, then review plan-specific values. Approve: Route the prepared report to authorized reviewers and signers. Preserve: Store the signed report, audit trail, and filing evidence together.
How to prepare Form 5500 online
Use this sequence to move a Form 5500 (2020) document from preparation through signed-record storage without treating signing as government submission.
Upload:
Upload the Form 5500 PDF. Check fields:
Review detected fields and schedules. Route:
Add authorized signers and routing. Sign:
Collect signatures and approvals. Archive:
Download the completed PDF and audit trail.
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What the Form 5500 audit trail records
A signNow audit trail documents the signing event separately from the government filing, creating an evidence record for the completed Form 5500 package.
Authenticate:
Timestamp:
Hash document:
Seal:
Link evidence:
Export:
Ways to send and sign Form 5500
- Use the signNow web app to upload the Form 5500 (2020) PDF, inspect detected fields, and coordinate review from a desktop workspace before sending it to authorized signers.
- Use the signNow mobile app when a plan representative must review or sign the prepared Form 5500 package away from the office, while preserving the same completion record.
- Use kiosk mode for supervised, on-site signing when several authorized participants complete documents from one managed device and the workflow requires controlled signer access.
- Use a shareable signing link when an authorized signer needs direct access to the prepared Form 5500 document without receiving a separate customized email invitation.
Find and fill out the correct 2020 form 5500
airSlate SignNow helps you fill in and sign documents in minutes, error-free. Choose the correct version of the editable PDF form from the list and get started filling it out.
| Versions | Form popularity | Fillable & printable |
|---|---|---|
| DoL 5500 2020 | 4.8 Satisfied (2268 Votes) | |
| DoL 5500 2018 | 4.8 Satisfied (6339 Votes) | |
| DoL 5500 2017 | 4.8 Satisfied (216 Votes) | |
| DoL 5500 2016 | 4.8 Satisfied (185 Votes) | |
| DoL 5500 2015 | 4.7 Satisfied (77 Votes) | |
| DoL 5500 2014 | 4.7 Satisfied (191 Votes) |
Recommended Form 5500 workflow setup
A controlled Form 5500 (2020) workflow separates document preparation, signer authentication, filing responsibility, and long-term record storage.
| Form 5500 setting | Recommended configuration |
|---|---|
| Authentication method | Email verification with SMS authentication |
| Signature type | Electronic signature with signer intent |
| Audit trail | Export with every completed package |
| Document retention | Apply the underlying IRS retention rule |
| Encryption | TLS 1.2/1.3 and AES-256 protection |
Challenges when preparing Form 5500
Plan administrators may confuse collecting an electronic signature on Form 5500 (2020) with completing the required government filing through the applicable filing channel. A reused annual-report template can preserve a prior plan year, signer, or schedule value unless administrators verify every populated field before routing. Multiple employers or plans create record-separation risks when completed Form 5500 packages, audit trails, and supporting approvals share one undifferentiated folder. A missing audit trail or inaccessible final PDF can weaken the organization’s ability to demonstrate who approved the Form 5500 package and when.
Record-keeping practices for Form 5500
Accurate Form 5500 (2020) records require a controlled archive, exported signing evidence, and retention periods matched to the underlying record type.
Export the audit trail with each completed filing
Apply the correct IRS retention period
Archive signed plan records securely
Preserve a reproducible filing package
Retention periods for supporting Form 5500 records
Form 5500 (2020) packages may contain different record classes, so apply the authority governing each supporting record rather than one universal period.
Three years: filed tax records
Six years: substantial understatement records
Indefinite: fraud or no return
Six years: HIPAA-covered records
Seven years: SOX audit records
Security for Form 5500 records
Data encryption:
Security certification:
Information security:
Signature framework:
Health-plan protection:
Evidence records:
Troubleshooting Form 5500 workflows
Resolve document, signing, authentication, and filing-boundary issues before treating a Form 5500 (2020) package as complete.
If the uploaded Form 5500 (2020) does not expose expected fields, verify the source PDF and review signNow’s detected fields before sending. The Business plan includes templates and audit trails, but the plan administrator remains responsible for accurate EFAST2 preparation and filing.
signNow Business includes legally binding eSignatures, templates, and audit trails at $8 per user per month with annual billing. Use the completed signing record as supporting evidence, but submit Form 5500 through the required government filing process.
Business Premium adds bulk send at $15 per user per month with annual billing, which can help distribute recurring Form 5500 (2020) packages. Bulk delivery does not replace plan-specific review, authorized approval, or required filing procedures.
Enterprise provides advanced signer authentication at $30 per user per month with annual billing. Stronger authentication can support attribution, while ESIGN and applicable UETA rules still require intent, consent, and records that remain accessible and reproducible.
A completed eSignature does not itself constitute an EFAST2 filing. Form 5500 (2020) administrators must verify the applicable filing method and submit the annual report through the government system required for that filing.
For consumer-facing electronic records, ESIGN requires disclosure of the right to paper, access to the electronic format, and withdrawal procedures under 15 U.S.C. §7001(c). Configure the workflow accordingly when the signer is a consumer rather than a business representative.
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