ROBS Annual Administration Costs: Budget, Payers, and Quote Math

A truthful annual ROBS budget has five working subtotals: base recurring plan administration; annual plan-year obligations; annual corporate, tax, payroll, and state obligations; participant or individual-service charges; and optional or nonroutine events. IRS materials specifically point to Form 5500/Form 1120 failures, recordkeeping, valuation, employee-participation, recurring promoter fees, and Form 1099-R issues in ROBS arrangements.^[1][2][3] DOL materials add the fiduciary process: know which services are needed, compare providers with identical facts, pay only reasonable plan expenses, and monitor fees after selection.^[4][5]

The right question is not the annual fee alone. It is which annual obligations are included, separately billed, employer-paid, plan-paid, participant-paid, or event-triggered. That question prevents two common errors: treating a monthly plan-administration price as the whole company budget, and adding the same Form 5500, routine valuation, or amendment support twice when a provider already includes it.

Government sources establish the ROBS structure, annual plan duties, payer limits, fiduciary process, filing obligations, valuation concerns, and employee-plan requirements. Provider pages establish only provider-published pricing and stated service scope as of the review date.

Sources were reopened on July 31, 2026. Provider pages are used only for current first-party pricing and stated scope; they do not prove that a provider is best, safest, or sufficient for a specific plan.

The core work falls into six buckets. On small screens each bucket is a card; there is no horizontal scrolling or compressed comparison table.

These are first-party pricing and scope anchors reopened on July 31, 2026. They are not recommendations and are not complete budgets. Ask each provider for a written renewal schedule, employee tier, cancellation rule, payer instruction, included forms, and event-fee list.

DOL states that plan expenses may be paid by the employer, the plan, or both, and that the plan document should specify how fees are paid.^[4][5] For ROBS owners, that means the payer decision is not a convenience choice. The invoice must identify the service recipient, the plan document must allow the payment, fiduciaries must determine the service is necessary and reasonable, and tax treatment should be checked before corporate or plan assets pay the charge.

These examples are decision tools, not forecasts. They state assumptions, formulas, exclusions, and boundaries so the numbers can be reproduced and changed without overlap with setup-fee or monthly-fee pages.

The service agreement should let an owner reproduce the invoice math. Before comparing signatures, send each provider the same census, expected hire dates, owner-only versus employee participation, plan assets, employer-stock value, contribution plans, distribution history, state of incorporation, payroll frequency, valuation events, and expected exit horizon. DOL specifically recommends giving prospective providers complete and identical information so the comparison is meaningful.^[4][5]

1. Convert monthly, quarterly, and annual rates to annual, 3-year, and 5-year totals.
2. Remove setup fees unless the page or quote explicitly bundles first-year administration.
3. Put Form 5500, testing, routine valuation, amendments, notices, and statements in the included column only once.
4. List bond, state, registered-agent, tax, bookkeeping, and payroll costs outside base plan administration.
5. Model participant tiers with dates employees become eligible, not just current headcount.
6. Add a separate event column for audit, correction, distribution, QDRO, sale, redemption, shutdown, or plan termination work.

Annual administration support does not replace fiduciary judgment, legal advice, tax advice, payroll compliance, or valuation judgment. DOL explains that attorneys, accountants, and actuaries generally are not fiduciaries when acting solely in their professional capacities, and fiduciary status depends on discretion or control over the plan.^[4] Pango likewise states that its company is not a lender, fiduciary, trustee, or legal/tax adviser and that fiduciaries and trustees remain responsible for plan design and investment direction.^[10]

Use professional review for payer allocation, promoter-fee concerns, transaction-level valuations, employer-stock purchases or redemptions, plan amendments that affect employees, late filings, correction programs, distributions, Form 1099-R/Form 945 withholding issues, corporate tax returns, sale or shutdown planning, and any invoice that could be paid from plan assets.

Use these answers to separate ordinary renewal math from payer, employee, valuation, correction, and exit questions that need the written service agreement or professional review.

Sources were reopened on July 31, 2026. Provider facts are first-party, date-sensitive, and limited to the pricing or scope shown on the cited pages.

1. 1. IRS ROBS Compliance Project

   ROBS structure, C corporation stock ownership, recurring promoter-fee concern, recordkeeping and information-reporting questions, Form 5500/Form 1120 nonfiling, valuation, employee-participation, Form 1099-R, and business-failure findings.

2. 2. IRS Guidelines Regarding Rollovers as Business Start-Ups

   Typical ROBS sequence, case-by-case analysis, employer-stock purchase, promoter-fee fact pattern, annual reporting, employee participation, nondiscrimination, prohibited transaction, and valuation concerns.

3. 3. IRS Operating a 401(k) Plan

   401(k) operating duties: participation, contributions, vesting, nondiscrimination, investments, disclosures, Form 5500/Form 5500-EZ, Form 1099-R, distributions, compliance, and correction programs. Page last reviewed July 31, 2026.

4. 4. DOL Meeting Your Fiduciary Responsibilities

   Written plan, trust, recordkeeping, fiduciary prudence, plan documents, reasonable fees, employer/plan fee payment, participant disclosures, Form 5500 reporting, fidelity bond, service-provider monitoring, attorneys/accountants fiduciary boundary, prohibited transactions, employer stock, and correction programs.

5. 5. DOL Understanding Retirement Plan Fees and Expenses

   Plan administration, investment and individual service fee categories; bundled and unbundled arrangements; employer or plan payment; pro rata or per capita allocation; identical-information quote comparison; direct and indirect compensation; and ongoing monitoring.

6. 6. Guidant Financial pricing

   Provider-published 401(k) Business Financing starting at $5,495 and 401(k) Plan Administration starting at $149 per month, with listed compliance review, amendments, business valuation, and adjacent payroll, tax, bookkeeping, SBA, and valuation service lines.

7. 7. FranFund pricing

   Provider-published $4,995 setup fee and $165 monthly TPA fee; TPA scope includes consultations, contribution allocation/reconciliation, annual compliance testing, Form 5500/1099-R/Form 945, annual fair-market-value support, SAR/benefit statements, employee census/enrollment, amendments/restatements, audit assistance, transaction documentation, notices, trustee webinars, projections, plan design, and QDRO review.

8. 8. Benetrends ROBS/RAPS cost article

   Provider-published Rainmaker setup fee of $4,995 and $155 monthly administration fee; Rainmaker Roth Advantage setup fee of $9,995 and $195 monthly administration fee; stated ongoing administration, recordkeeping, annual required reports, annual fair-market-value assistance, and audit/liability protection language.

9. 9. My Solo 401k Financial pricing

   Provider-published $3,000 setup fee including first-year annual support, $899 annual fee starting 12 months later for first 10 participants, $75 per additional participant, and annual support for Form 5500, Form 1099-R, routine corporation valuation, amendments, participant statements, contributions, vesting, nondiscrimination, top-heavy, additions, and coverage.

10. 10. Pango Financial common questions

    Provider-published $4,695 setup fee, $129 monthly maintenance, Form 5500, compliance testing, documentation maintenance, plan reconciliation, participant statements, vesting and eligibility tracking, plan design, payment-source restriction, employee offering requirement, and fiduciary/trustee boundary statement.

11. 11. Accelefund pricing

    Provider-published $4,500 setup fee, $99 monthly plan administration, recordkeeping, annual testing/contribution review, fidelity-bond facilitation, Form 5500 and 8955-SSA, SAR/benefit statements, census/enrollment, amendments/restatements, audit assistance, professional specialist group, unlimited consultations, and fidelity-bond cost about $100 per year for most clients.