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Reporting Deferred Vested Pension Participants

July 13th, 2014 No comments

If you administer an ERISA 203 employee benefit plan, you are required to file IRS Form 8955-SSA, Annual Registration Statement Identifying Separated Participants With Deferred Vested Benefits. The form provides information about plan participants who no longer work for the company and who have deferred vested benefits. It also covers instances where the benefits were transferred from another plan, paid out benefits, and corrections to previous filings. The IRS passes the information along to the Social Security Administration, which reports it to new filers when they apply.

Filing Requirements

Plan administrators subject to ERISA Section 203 vesting standards must file Form 8955-SSA, This doesn’t include annuity contracts or custodial accounts as long as they were issued before Jan. 1, 2009, the employee stopped contributing before that date, the terms can be enforced without employer involvement, and the participant is fully vested. If you sponsor a plan for a church, government agency or other exempt institution, filling the form is voluntary. If you are ending the plan, you must file the form when you file Form 5500. You have to file Form 8955-SSA by the end of the seventh month following the last day of the plan year, although extensions are possible.

The rules about participant reporting differ between single- and multiple-employer plans. For single-employer contributions, file the form for participants that separate during the plan year and are entitled to a deferred vested benefits. If more than one employer contributes, report entitled participants that have incurred two successive one-year breaks in service. In either case, omit participants who’ve received some or all of the benefit, have returned to service or have forfeited their benefits. However, report when plans stop paying before all benefits have been paid out. In cases of transferred plans, both the old and new administrators must fill out portions of 8955-SSA.

Filling out the Form

In Part I:

  • Plan year
  • Voluntary or mandatory filing
  • Amended filing, extended filing

In Part II:

  • Plan name, number and sponsor and trade name
  • Sponsor’s employer identification number and address
  • Care of, in case you want a third party to receive mail for the plan
  • Plan administrator’s name, address and EIN
  • Any change to the administrator’s name or EIN
  • Number of entitled participants who separated during the plan year or separated in the previous year but weren’t reported
  • Affirmation that the administrator provided an individual statement to each entitled participant
  • Signature of plan administrator

In Part III:

  • Plan name, plan number and sponsor’s EIN
  • Filing code:

o   A: participant not previously reported

o   B: modify previous information

o   C: transfer

o   D: participant no longer entitled to deferred benefits

  • For each participant:

o   Participant Social Security number, name, and whether or not the information is complete

o   Type of annuity

o   Benefit payment frequency

o   Amount of periodic payment

o   Account value

o   Previous plan EIN

Penalties

Failure to file can get expensive. The IRS assesses $1 per day per participant for delayed filings, up to $5,000. If you fail to notify the IRS about a change to the status of the plan, the penalty is $1 a day up to $1,000. Failure to send individual statements to participants before the filing deadline will cost you $50 each.

You can reduce the filing burden by buying Form 8955-SSA software or having a service bureau produce and file the forms for you. The IRS encourages you to file the form electronically.

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8955-SSA Software for Filing New IRS Form 8955-SSA

November 8th, 2013 2 comments

Businesses oftentimes have a pension or an arrangement to provide retired employees with regular income when they are no longer working.  Pension benefit plans must generally file Form 5500, Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan, to report their financial condition, investments and operations. The IRS has announced that Form 5500, Schedule SSA has been replaced by Form 8955-SSA, Annual Registration Statement Identifying Separated Participants With Deferred Vested Benefits. Plan administrators must file this new form with the IRS and not through the EFAST2 filing system. 8955-SSA software at the site 1099fire.com makes it easy to file IRS Tax Form 8955-SSA by paper or electronically.  Service bureau and mail house solutions are also available.

Paper Filing, Electronic filing, Service Bureau…

Form 8955-SSA can be filed by paper or electronically to the IRS. “Our 8955-SSA software makes it easy to import participant information from Excel, print and electronically file IRS Form 8955-SSA quickly and easily”, said Erich J. Ruth, Technical Support for 1099FIRE.  A sample Excel template can be found on the website 1099fire.com which will import into the 8955-SSA software or technical support can guide you through the process of importing by phone or email.

If you file by paper, the plan sponsor and plan administrator must sign and date the form.  You then mail the signed form to the IRS.  Electronically filing does not require a signature at this time.

Electronic reporting of information returns eliminates the need to submit paper documents to the IRS.  Electronically filed information may be submitted to the IRS 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  “Electronic filing of Form 8955-SSA is easy to do”, said  Ruth and  “The system is updated each year to reflect the format changes that are made by the IRS”. 1099FIRE software creates original, replacement, corrected and test files in the format required by the IRS for electronic transmission.

Filing information returns can be stressful. 1099FIRE can eliminate the stress of filing information returns by electronically filing in a timely manner and at an affordable price. 1099FIRE will beat any competitor price; attain a quote for any service from any competitor and 1099FIRE will provide same, if not more complete, service at a lower price.

Visit the 1099FIRE website at www.1099fire.com to stay up-to-date with important news, tax deadlines and the latest in compliance information.

Due Date…

The 2009 and 2010 filing of Form 8955-SSA was originally due August 1, 2011. The new due date for filing both the 2009 and 2010 Form 8955-SSA is the later of:

(i) the due date that would otherwise apply to the 2010 Form 8955-SSA; or

(ii) January 17, 2012.

A form 8955-SSA filing is due the last day of the seventh month following the last day of the plan year.

About 1099FIRE…

1099FIRE is dedicated to providing feature-rich 1042-S, 1097-BTC, 1098, 1099, 3921, 3922, 5498, 8027, 8955-SSA, W-2G and W-2 software.  Import, print and eFile 1099 forms the quick and easy way!

1099FIRE is a market-leading provider of information-reporting solutions and services for 1099, W-2 and 1042-S filers. 1099FIRE develops and markets a comprehensive range of products that enables any size business or institution to effectively comply with all 1099, W-2 and 1042-S filing requirements.

Have 1099FIRE Service Bureau handle all of your printing/mailing and IRS filing needs – it’s secure, affordable and stress free!

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