Form 5500 ERISA Scraper — Retirement & Benefit Plan Leads

Extract complete U.S. Department of Labor Form 5500 & 5500-SF ERISA filings — the official annual disclosure every employer-sponsored retirement and welfare benefit plan must file. Get the plan sponsor (employer) as a ready B2B lead — name, EIN, direct phone, full address, industry — plus the plan administrator, TPA/preparer, participant counts, plan assets, 401(k)/pension/welfare classification, service providers (recordkeepers, advisors, brokers, auditors) and insurance carriers.

This is the data behind the $12-trillion U.S. retirement-plan market — the same data FreeERISA, BrightScope, Larkspur and Judy Diamond sell. No login, no API key, no browser — fast streaming extraction straight from the official EFAST2 datasets.

Why this Form 5500 scraper?

Most Form 5500 tools cover only the large-plan form, charge per record at premium rates, and stop at plan name + assets. This actor ships the richest dataset in the category — including the 5500-SF small-plan filings (every small business with a 401(k)) that other scrapers ignore, plus decoded plan-feature codes, the people and firms behind each plan, and a built-in lead score.

Data	Typical scrapers	This actor
Form 5500 (large plans)	✅	✅
Form 5500-SF (small-business plans)	❌	✅ 760k+ filings/yr
Sponsor employer name, EIN, phone, full address	partial	✅
Business sector (NAICS-based)	❌	✅
Plan administrator (name, EIN, phone, address) on every filing	partial	✅ resolved, 100%
Participant counts (total/active/retired/beneficiaries)	partial	✅
Plan financials (assets, contributions, expenses)	assets only	✅ full
401(k) / pension / welfare classification	❌	✅ decoded codes
Service providers (recordkeeper, advisor, broker, auditor) + fees	❌	✅ opt-in (Schedule C)
Insurance carriers + premiums + broker commissions	❌	✅ opt-in (Schedule A)
Lead score (0–100)	❌	✅
Only-new-filings monitor mode	❌	✅
Price per record	up to $0.20	$0.012

Use cases

• Retirement-plan lead generation — RIAs, 401(k) advisors, TPAs, recordkeepers, and payroll/benefits providers prospect plan sponsors by state, industry, plan assets, and participant count. Every filing names the employer, its phone, and the decision-makers (administrator + signer). Sort by leadScore and call the highest-value plans first — leadScore rewards a separately named administrator/TPA (adminSource: "filed"), which flags the plans that already outsource.
• Win competitor plans — with includeServiceProviders, see which recordkeeper, advisor, broker, or auditor each plan already uses (and what they're paid) — then target plans served by a competitor or paying above-market fees.
• Insurance & benefits prospecting — with includeInsurance, get welfare-plan carriers, premiums, and broker commissions — ideal for group health, life, and disability brokers.
• Fresh-lead monitoring — filter to filingTypes: ["initial"] (brand-new plans) or receivedAfter a date, enable monitor mode, and schedule a daily run to feed only newly filed plans into your CRM.
• 401(k) plan audits & compliance — CPA firms find large plans (100+ participants) that require an independent audit, by state and industry.
• Market & fee benchmarking — analyze assets, contributions, participant counts, and service-provider fees across industries and plan sizes.
• ERISA research & litigation — locate plans, sponsors, fiduciaries, and service providers by EIN, name, or characteristic code.

How to use

1. Sign up for Apify — the free plan is enough to try this actor.
2. Open the Form 5500 ERISA Scraper, choose your years, formTypes, and filters (state, industry, plan size, 401(k)-only, …), and click Start.
3. Watch plan & sponsor-lead records stream into the dataset table.
4. Export as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or RSS — or pull results programmatically via the Apify API.

Input

{
    "years": ["2023"],
    "formTypes": ["5500", "5500-SF"],
    "states": ["CA", "TX"],
    "planCategory": "pension",
    "only401k": true,
    "minParticipants": 25,
    "minAssets": 1000000,
    "includeServiceProviders": true,
    "includeLargePlanFinancials": true,
    "maxResults": 1000,
    "monitorMode": false
}

• years — Form 5500 plan years (each is a separate official dataset). Leave empty to use the latest year published on EFAST.
• formTypes — 5500 (large plans + all welfare plans) and/or 5500-SF (small plans <100 participants, with inline financials — the bulk of small-business 401(k) leads).
• states / cities / zipCodes — filter by sponsor location.
• planCategory — all, pension (401(k), profit-sharing, pension, ESOP) or welfare (health, dental, vision, life, disability).
• only401k — keep only plans with a 401(k) feature.
• benefitCodes — keep plans carrying any of these plan-characteristic codes (e.g. ["2E","2T"] profit-sharing + safe-harbor, or ["4A","4D"] health + dental).
• businessCodes — sponsor industry codes by prefix (e.g. ["62"] health care, ["23"] construction).
• sponsorNameQuery — sponsor (employer) name contains.
• minParticipants / maxParticipants / minAssets / maxAssets — size filters.
• filingTypes — initial (new plans = freshest leads), amended, final (terminating), standard.
• receivedAfter / receivedBefore — filter by the date the DOL received the filing (fresh-lead window).
• withPhoneOnly / minLeadScore — quality filters.
• includeServiceProviders (opt-in) — attach Schedule C providers (recordkeepers, advisors, brokers, auditors, TPAs) with EIN, service type, and direct/indirect compensation.
• includeLargePlanFinancials (opt-in) — attach Schedule H financials for large (5500) plans; 5500-SF plans already report financials inline.
• includeInsurance (opt-in) — attach Schedule A insurance contracts (carrier, NAIC, premiums, broker commissions).
• includeRawData (opt-in) — attach the complete raw EFAST CSV row under rawFields.
• collapseToSponsor — one (newest) record per sponsor EIN instead of one per plan filing.
• monitorMode / monitorKey — remember filings already returned and emit only filings not seen in previous runs of the same key — a fresh-leads feed that works alongside Apify Schedules.

Output

One record per plan filing (recordType: "plan"):

{
    "recordType": "plan",
    "formType": "5500",
    "dataYear": "2023",
    "ackId": "20260416220108NAL0018762273001",
    "planName": "The Influential Network 401(K) Plan",
    "planNumber": "001",
    "planYearEndDate": "2023-12-31",
    "dateReceived": "2026-04-16",
    "filingType": "amended",
    "planEntityType": "Single-employer plan",
    "planCategory": "pension",
    "is401kPlan": true,
    "pensionBenefitCodes": [
        { "code": "2E", "description": "Profit-sharing" },
        { "code": "2J", "description": "Code section 401(k) feature" },
        { "code": "2S", "description": "Automatic enrollment with payroll-deducted elective contributions" }
    ],
    "welfareBenefitCodes": [],
    "sponsorName": "The Influential Network, Inc.",
    "sponsorEin": "46-4059417",
    "sponsorPhone": "(702) 343-3371",
    "businessCode": "541910",
    "businessSector": "Professional, Scientific & Technical Services",
    "sponsorAddress": {
        "street": "823 S Las Vegas Blvd, Floor 5",
        "city": "LAS VEGAS", "state": "NV", "zip": "89101", "country": "US",
        "formatted": "823 S Las Vegas Blvd, Floor 5, LAS VEGAS, NV 89101"
    },
    "adminName": "Accrue 401K, Inc.",
    "adminPhone": "(888) 294-0388",
    "adminSource": "filed",
    "adminSignedName": "Richard Tatum",
    "totalParticipants": 293,
    "activeParticipants": 241,
    "participantsWithAccountBalance": 299,
    "totalAssetsEOY": 6769457,
    "totalContributions": 2913641,
    "employerContributions": 936115,
    "totalExpenses": 881027,
    "financialsSource": "Schedule H",
    "schedulesAttached": ["H", "C", "R"],
    "serviceProviders": [
        { "name": "Guideline, LLC", "ein": "47-4474775", "relation": "RECORDKEEPER", "directCompensation": 7048 }
    ],
    "insuranceContracts": [],
    "leadScore": 87,
    "sourceUrl": "https://www.efast.dol.gov/5500Search/"
}

Small-business plans (formType: "5500-SF") add inline financials (netAssetsEOY, brokerFeesPaid, hasFidelityBond, hasParticipantLoans, …) and a trustee/custodian contact.

Automate & schedule

Run this actor on autopilot and pull results into your own stack:

• Apify API — start runs, fetch datasets, and manage schedules over REST.
• apify-client for JavaScript and apify-client for Python — official SDKs.
• Schedules — run daily/weekly with monitorMode to capture only newly filed plans in your target states and industries; perfect for lead pipelines.
• Webhooks — trigger downstream actions (CRM import, Slack alert, email sequence) the moment a run finishes.

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'MY_APIFY_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('scrapesage/form-5500-erisa-scraper').call({
    years: ['2023'],
    formTypes: ['5500-SF'],
    states: ['CA'],
    only401k: true,
    minAssets: 500000,
    monitorMode: true,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(`Got ${items.length} plan & sponsor leads`);

Integrate with any app

Connect the dataset to 5,000+ apps — no code required:

• Make — multi-step automation scenarios.
• Zapier — push new plan-sponsor leads straight into your CRM.
• Slack — get notified when a monitored search finds new filings.
• Google Drive / Sheets — auto-export every run to a spreadsheet.
• Airbyte — pipe results into your data warehouse.
• GitHub — trigger runs from commits or releases.

Use with AI assistants (MCP)

The output is clean, LLM-ready JSON. You can call this actor from Claude, ChatGPT, or any agent framework through the Apify MCP server — ask your assistant to "find California construction companies with 401(k) plans over $1M in assets and list their administrators" and let it run this scraper for you.

Agent-ready: autonomous payments (x402 & Skyfire)

This actor is agent-ready — AI agents can discover it, run it, and pay for it autonomously, with no Apify account and no human in the loop. It uses pay-per-event pricing and limited permissions, so it qualifies for Apify's agentic-payment standards:

• x402 — an open, HTTP-native payment protocol. Agents pay per run in USDC on the Base network directly through the Apify MCP server — no account, no API key.
• Skyfire — agent-to-service payments for fully autonomous AI-agent workflows.

Building an AI agent, MCP tool, or autonomous data pipeline? This scraper is ready to plug in and pay as it goes.

More scrapers from scrapesage

Build a complete B2B & financial lead-gen stack from official U.S. data sources:

• Financial Advisor & Broker Scraper — FINRA + SEC RIA and broker leads (the #1 buyers of Form 5500 data).
• BrokerCheck Scraper — financial advisors, brokers & firms with disclosures.
• TaxBuzz Scraper — tax preparers, CPAs & accountant leads (they prepare 5500s).
• Insurance Agent Scraper — State Farm & Farmers agent leads.
• SBA Loan Leads Scraper — 7(a) & 504 financed small businesses.
• US Business Formation Scraper — newly registered LLCs & companies.
• USAspending Scraper — federal awards, contractors & leads.
• GSA eLibrary Scraper — government contractors & B2B leads.
• US Federal Grants Scraper — Grants.gov, NIH & NSF funding recipients.
• H-1B Visa & LCA Sponsor Scraper — visa-sponsoring employer leads.

Tips

• Small-business 401(k) leads: set formTypes: ["5500-SF"] and only401k: true — these small employers are the prime targets for advisors, recordkeepers, and payroll providers, and the SF form reports assets inline (no Schedule H needed).
• Freshest leads: use filingTypes: ["initial"] for brand-new plans, or receivedAfter a recent date, with monitorMode on a daily Schedule.
• Audit-required plans: formTypes: ["5500"], minParticipants: 100 finds plans that need an independent ERISA audit.
• Find the plans that already outsource: filter on adminSource: "filed". The Form 5500 states the plan administrator in one of two ways — it either names one, or it ticks "same as plan sponsor" and leaves the line blank (the DOL instructs filers to do exactly that). This actor resolves both, so adminName/adminEin/adminPhone/adminAddress are populated on every filing, and adminSource tells you which way it was stated: "filed" = a separately named administrator/TPA (~7% of 5500s, ~12% of 5500-SFs — these plans already pay a third party), "same-as-sponsor" = the employer administers its own plan (the rest — an unserved prospect). Nothing is invented: a "same-as-sponsor" record simply repeats the sponsor identity the filing pointed at.
• Cost & speed: each filter narrows results, but the full year file is always scanned to sort newest-first; runs typically take 30–90 seconds per year. Schedule C/H/A joins only download those files when you opt in.
• No proxy needed: the DOL EFAST files are public bulk datasets downloaded directly — leave the proxy disabled.

FAQ

What is Form 5500? It's the annual report every ERISA-covered employee benefit plan (retirement plans like 401(k)s and pensions, and welfare plans like health/dental/life) files with the U.S. Department of Labor, IRS, and PBGC. The data is public.

What's the difference between 5500 and 5500-SF? The full Form 5500 is filed by large plans (100+ participants) and all welfare plans; financial detail is on attached schedules. The 5500-SF is the short form for small plans (<100 participants) and reports financials inline — it's where most small-business 401(k) plans appear.

Where does the data come from? The official EFAST2 public-disclosure datasets published by the DOL Employee Benefits Security Administration. No login or API key is required.

Can I get plan assets for large plans? Yes — enable includeLargePlanFinancials to join Schedule H (assets, contributions, income, expenses). 5500-SF plans already include assets inline.

Can I see who the recordkeeper / advisor / broker is? Yes — enable includeServiceProviders to join Schedule C, which lists each provider's name, EIN, service type, and compensation. (Service providers are reported mainly by larger plans.)

Does it include emails? Form 5500 filings do not contain email addresses, so this actor does not invent them — it returns the sponsor's phone, full address, and the named administrator and signer. (The DOL also redacts the paid preparer from the public files — preparerName/preparerFirm are shipped empty by the source on 100% of filings, so they arrive null rather than invented.) Pair it with the TaxBuzz or Financial Advisor scrapers for contact enrichment on the firms involved.

How do I monitor only new filings? Turn on monitorMode with a stable monitorKey, then create a daily/weekly Schedule. Each run returns only filings not seen before — no duplicates.

Can I export to Google Sheets, CSV, or Excel? Yes — one click in the dataset view, or automatically on every run via the Google Drive integration.

Is this legal? This actor collects publicly available U.S. government disclosure data. You are responsible for using it in compliance with applicable laws and the DOL's terms.

Need help?

Open an issue on the actor's Issues tab, or visit the Apify help center. Feature requests are welcome — this actor is actively maintained.