Form 5500-EZ: Annual Return for a One-Participant Retirement Plan
Published November 7, 2026
Form 5500-EZ is the annual return for a one-participant retirement plan or a foreign plan. Owners and partners use it for a small plan that covers only themselves, or themselves and a spouse. The form is required under section 6058(a) of the Internal Revenue Code.
This post is general information from the 2025 Form 5500-EZ and its instructions, which are for plan year 2025. The instructions say to check the IRS website for later changes. This post does not tell you what to do in your case.
What counts as a one-participant plan
The instructions describe a one-participant plan as a pension plan that pays a set benefit, or a profit-sharing or money purchase pension plan. It cannot be an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). It must meet these tests:
- It covers only you, or you and your spouse, and you or you and your spouse own the entire business. The business can be incorporated or unincorporated.
- Or, it covers only one or more partners in a business partnership, or partners and their spouses. A 2% shareholder of an S corporation counts as a partner.
- It does not provide benefits for anyone other than you, your spouse, or the partners and their spouses.
The $250,000 asset test
The instructions say you do not have to file Form 5500-EZ for a one-participant plan if the plan's total assets, plus the assets of all other one-participant plans the employer maintains, do not exceed $250,000 at the end of the plan year. That rule does not apply in the plan's final year. Use the total plan assets from line 6a(2) to test the amount.
The instructions also say that if the plan does file, it must file electronically with EFAST2, the Department of Labor's filing system, when the filer must file at least 10 returns of any type with the IRS in a calendar year. EFAST2 information is at efast.dol.gov.
When it is due
The instructions say the return is due by the last day of the seventh calendar month after the end of the plan year. For a calendar-year plan, that means July 31. For the 2025 plan year, that date was July 31, 2026.
You can get one extension of up to 2½ months by filing Form 5558 on or before the normal due date. Check the box in Part I, line B, instead of attaching Form 5558 to the return. The instructions cite a penalty of $250 a day, up to $150,000 per plan year, for a return not filed by the due date. If the return is late, read What Happens If I File Late or Can't Pay What I Owe?.
What is on the form
- Part I asks whether this is the first return, an amended return, the final return, or a short plan year return. Box A(1) is for a first filing.
- Part II asks for the plan name, the three-digit plan number, the employer's EIN, and the plan's effective date.
- Part III asks for total plan assets and liabilities at the beginning and end of the year, and for contributions from employers, participants, and others, including rollovers.
- Part IV asks for feature codes from the list in the instructions.
- Part V asks about participant loans and minimum funding rules. A signer declares under penalties of perjury that the return is true, correct, and complete.
Before you file
- Confirm that the plan meets the one-participant tests for the year.
- Add up total plan assets at year end, including other one-participant plans the employer maintains.
- Note the due date and decide whether Form 5558 is needed.
- Keep a copy of the return with the plan records.
Related posts
For the plan type most small employers use, read A 401(k) for a Small Business: Deferral Limits and Basic Rules. For a simpler employer plan, read SIMPLE IRA Plans: Basic Rules for Small Employers.
Sources: Sources: IRS, Form 5500-EZ, Annual Return of a One-Participant (Owners/Partners and Their Spouses) Retirement Plan or a Foreign Plan (2025) (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f5500ez.pdf); Instructions for Form 5500-EZ (2025) (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i5500ez.pdf) This is general information, not advice about your specific return.
More guides on: Retirement and pensions
