Research covering nearly 75,000 companies shows that in some employer categories 5500 noncompliance approaches 60%, according to a report from Mount Laurel, N.J.-based benefits brokerage Corporate Synergies.

"There is massive 5500 noncompliance, those are the facts," Eric Raymond, the firm's president, says.

This is the second time the company has taken a look at 5500 compliance. The first review conducted in 2005 using 2003 filing data (the latest year for which data was available at the time) showed that average noncompliance across employer size was 47%. The most recent analysis of 2005 filings shows aggregate noncompliance inched up two points across all classes of employers analyzed.

The research begs some basic questions; like, "so what?" Why should an employer care about filing a 5500 correctly?

Raymond says there are two main reasons. First, it's required. Noncompliance fees could be as much as $1,100 per day. (Listen to the rest of our conversation with Raymond online at EBA's Raw Bar.)

"DOL has increased random audits of all plans," he notes, cautioning employers from simply dismissing the department's enforcement efforts.

Second, and more importantly for Raymond, is that the 5500 is the employer's and increasingly the employees' window onto the world of group benefits costs -- more important today than at any time previously just because so much of the cost of these plans are borne by individual workers.