401(k) Plan Administration in Virginia

Virginia has 8,325 retirement plans with 25 or more participants, with about 4.6 million participants between them — and in most of them the employer is the one legally responsible for running the plan. The recordkeeper holds the money. The advisor picks the funds. Unless the plan document names someone else, the employer is the plan administrator, and that is where the fiduciary responsibility sits. Admin316 takes that role: appointed in writing as your ERISA 3(16) plan administrator and 402(a) named fiduciary, running the compliance calendar and signing and filing the Form 5500.

We are an independent ERISA administrator, working with plan sponsors since 1997. We sell no investment products and take no commissions, so we work alongside whichever recordkeeper, payroll provider and advisor a Virginia employer already uses.

Virginia retirement plans by the numbers

Source: U.S. Department of Labor Form 5500 and 5500-SF filings, plan year 2024 (the most recent year whose filing deadlines have all passed), retirement plans with 25 or more participants at the start of the plan year, counted once per employer ID and plan number, by the sponsor’s mailing state. Timeliness is based on each return’s original filing date; late counts include only returns the DOL has received. Compiled by Admin316 from DOL data downloaded September 30, 2026.

Virginia’s retirement mandate: RetirePath Virginia and your 401(k)

• Since July 1, 2026, a Virginia employer must register for RetirePath Virginia if it has 5 or more eligible employees, has been operating for at least two years, and doesn’t offer a qualified retirement plan. Before July 1 the program covered only employers with 25 or more full-time employees.
• Eligible employees now include part-time workers: anyone 18 or older who receives Virginia wages. The old 30-hour-a-week test no longer applies.
• Employers newly covered in 2026 had to register by September 30, 2026 (10 to 24 employees) or October 30, 2026 (5 to 9, and 25 or more). Deadlines for employers covered before 2026 have passed.
• Employees are enrolled in a Roth IRA at a 5% default contribution, which rises 1% each January to 10% once the account has been open more than 180 days. They can opt out or change the rate at any time.
• Employers that already sponsor a 401(k) or another qualified plan must certify an exemption using the access code in their notice. An employer that doesn’t register or certify by its deadline can face an annual penalty of up to $200 per eligible employee.
• What it means for a 401(k) sponsor: the expansion brings thousands more Virginia small businesses into the program this year, so many small employers are now comparing the auto-IRA against starting their own 401(k).

Source: retirepathva.com (employers page, program description, saver contributions, and 2026 expansion notices); RetirePath support center (penalties). This is general information, not legal advice.

Virginia plans in the 2024 filing record

• In plan year 2024, 8,325 retirement plans with 25 or more participants, sponsored by Virginia employers, filed a Form 5500. 7,540 of them (90.6%) are 401(k) plans.
• 2,005 of those plans (24.1%) attached an independent auditor’s report to their 2024 filing (national: 22.8%). A 401(k) plan generally needs this audit once it has 100 or more participants with account balances at the start of the plan year. A plan between 80 and 120 participants can keep filing as a small plan, without an audit, if it filed that way the year before.
• 43.1% filed their 2024 return after the standard seven-month deadline but within a valid extension, which counts as on time (national: 46.0%). For a calendar-year plan, the extension moves the deadline from July 31 to October 15.
• 168 plans (2.0%) were actually late: they filed their 2024 return after the deadline, including any extension (national: 1.9%). This counts only returns the DOL has received so far.
• 710 plans (8.5%) list a plan effective date in 2023 or 2024 (national: 6.8%).

Source: U.S. Department of Labor Form 5500 data, plan year 2024.

Already sponsor a plan in Virginia? Look up your plan’s filing record in our free Form 5500 lookup, or book a 20-minute call with the fiduciary who signs the filing.

Where Virginia plans concentrate

City reflects the plan sponsor’s mailing address on the Form 5500, so headquarters cities concentrate. No single city dominates: Richmond, the largest, accounts for about 7.1% of Virginia’s plans in this population.

What the filing record shows about Virginia plans

Virginia’s late-filing rate runs close to the national average

Of the plan-year 2024 returns the DOL has received from Virginia sponsors in this population, 168 were filed after the deadline, including the extension where one was claimed — 2.0%, against 1.9% nationally. Close to average is not the same as safe: the filings that go late are almost never the ones a sponsor expects. They come in the year a payroll system changed, an entity was added, or the person who quietly owned the calendar left. Separately, 43.1% filed after the standard deadline but by the extended deadline, which is on time, not late. DOL penalties for a late Form 5500 can run up to $2,739 per day with no cap, and the Delinquent Filer Voluntary Compliance (DFVC) Program only helps sponsors who file before the DOL contacts them.

The three findings that cost Virginia sponsors the most

What we take over for a Virginia plan sponsor

How onboarding works

Check your own plan’s filing record first

Before you talk to anyone, look up your own plan. Our free Form 5500 lookup tool shows filing dates against deadlines, participant counts and the years a plan filed late for plans across the country, Virginia included. No login, no cost.

Questions Virginia plan sponsors ask