ERISA § 501 (29 U.S.C. § 1131)

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Criminal penalties

USC 2024 ed., current through 2025-01-06 · current · last amended by Pub. L. 111-148

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(a) Any person who willfully violates any provision of part 1 of this subtitle, or any regulation or order issued under any such provision, shall upon conviction be fined not more than $100,000 or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both; except that in the case of such violation by a person not an individual, the fine imposed upon such person shall be a fine not exceeding $500,000.

(b) Any person that violates section 1149 of this title shall upon conviction be imprisoned not more than 10 years or fined under title 18, or both.

Source credit, amendments & notes

(Pub. L. 93–406, title I, §501, Sept. 2, 1974, 88 Stat. 891; Pub. L. 107–204, title IX, §904, July 30, 2002, 116 Stat. 805; Pub. L. 111–148, title VI, §6601(b), Mar. 23, 2010, 124 Stat. 779.)

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2010—Pub. L. 111–148 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a) and added subsec. (b).

2002—Pub. L. 107–204 substituted "$100,000" for "$5,000", "10 years" for "one year", and "$500,000" for "$100,000".

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Regulations

Secretary authorized, effective Sept. 2, 1974, to promulgate regulations wherever provisions of this subchapter call for the promulgation of regulations, see section 1031 of this title.

ERISA § 501 (29 U.S.C. § 1131) — Criminal penalties · USC 2024 ed., current through 2025-01-06 · https://pensionresource.website/EAMain?content=EAMain.Law&id=usc29-1131&asof=2011-01-07 · printed Oct 16, 2026

Cited by (code & regs)

29 C.F.R. § 2520.101-2 Filing by multiple employer welfare arrangements …
ERISA § 108 (29 U.S.C. § 1028) Reliance on administrative interpretations
29 C.F.R. § 2530.201-2 Plans covered by part 2530.

No regulations are linked to this section in the library.

Guidance addressing this section

No documents are primarily about this section.

Also cited in 17 other documents

Department of Labor (EBSA)

Technical Releases

TR 2026-02 Jun 17, 2026 — Technical Release 2026-02 (c)(3)

Proposed Rules

90 FR 35646Proposed Jul 29, 2025 — Pooled Employer Plans: Big Plans for Small Businesses Comments due Sep 29, 2025 (a)
86 FR 51284Proposed Sep 15, 2021 — Annual Reporting and Disclosure Comments due Nov 1, 2021
84 FR 56894Proposed Oct 23, 2019 — Default Electronic Disclosure by Employee Pension Benefit Plans Under ERISA Comments due Nov 22, 2019 (a)
81 FR 47534Proposed Jul 21, 2016 — Proposed Revision of Annual Information Return/Reports Comments due Oct 4, 2016 (a)(c)(3)
76 FR 76235Proposed Dec 6, 2011 — Ex Parte Cease and Desist and Summary Seizure Orders-Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangements Comments due Mar 5, 2012 (a)(b)
76 FR 76222Proposed Dec 6, 2011 — Filings Required of Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangements and Certain Other Related Entities Comments due Mar 5, 2012 (b)
75 FR 70625Proposed Nov 18, 2010 — Annual Funding Notice for Defined Benefit Plans Comments due Jan 18, 2011

Final Rules

88 FR 31608 May 18, 2023 — Annual Reporting and Disclosure
88 FR 11793 Feb 24, 2023 — Annual Reporting and Disclosure
85 FR 31884 May 27, 2020 — Default Electronic Disclosure by Employee Pension Benefit Plans Under ERISA (a)
83 FR 28912 Jun 21, 2018 — Definition of “Employer” Under Section 3(5) of ERISA-Association Health Plans (b)
81 FR 21002 Apr 8, 2016 — Best Interest Contract Exemption (c)(8)
80 FR 5626 Feb 2, 2015 — Annual Funding Notice for Defined Benefit Plans (a)(c)(d)
78 FR 13781 Mar 1, 2013 — Filings Required of Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangements and Certain Other Related Entities (b)
78 FR 13797 Mar 1, 2013 — Ex Parte Cease and Desist and Summary Seizure Orders-Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangements (a)(b)

PBGC

Opinion Letters

PBGC Op. Ltr. 1996-3 Jul 8, 1996 — Coverage (c)(6)

Tax Court (2) · DOL/Federal (1)

U.S. Tax Court (2)

Also cite this provision (2)

Rutland v. Commissioner, 89 T.C. 1137; 89 T.C. No. 80 U.S. Tax Court · Dec 8, 1987
Text when decided
Leib v. Commissioner, 88 T.C. 1474; 88 T.C. No. 83 U.S. Tax Court · Jun 16, 1987
Text when decided

DOL and federal courts (1)

Also cite this provision (1)

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, PENSION AND WELFARE BENEFITS ADMINISTRATION v. CURRENT DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION DOL Office of Administrative Law Judges · Feb 22, 2000 · Decision & Order
Text when decided

No private letter rulings in the library cite this provision yet.

Each row is a version of the text as published by the official source. Code dates are the edition/release point that first reflected the change; regulation dates are eCFR effective dates. The library checks the official sources automatically, so new versions appear here on their own; “run” opens the sync that recorded a version.

Effective	Through	Source	Amended by
Jan 4, 1995	Jan 5, 2003	USC 1994 ed., current through 1995-01-04 run 49	Pub. L. 93-406	View
Jan 6, 2003	Jan 6, 2011	USC 2002 ed., current through 2003-01-06 run 82	Pub. L. 107-204	View · Redline (sign in)
Jan 7, 2011	current	USC 2024 ed., current through 2025-01-06 run 1	Pub. L. 111-148	View · Redline (sign in)

Provision-level history (blame)