Termination going on.. and on...and on

[Guest ck1]

I am looking for help in finding the right person in the IRS to get something done--Ha-ha!!

We have a DB plan termination that was filed almost three years ago. It was questioned because of the method of reallocating the excess assets (we bumped up benefit to a current retiree along with the active participants).

While this termination has been in process, it has been passed along to several different agents, none of whom seem to have the authority to approve it, so it gets passed along again.

Finally, it has gone to a different office. We spoke with the agent today and he stated that although he did receive the files in January, it will likely be another 3-4 months before he opens them.

If anyone has had a good experience working with someone in authority in this area, I would appreciate the contact information.

Thanks so much!

[david rigby]

I can tell you who not to call. Don't call your Senator or Congressman. Such call might (not necessarily) get action but it most certainly will annoy the agent(s) who have to stop whatever they are doing to respond to a question from Capitol Hill. The end result can be more time in review.

[jpod]

I'm not sure I agree with the warning not to call the Senator or Representative to ask for help. Unless this case is caught up in the cash balance suspense, 3 years is outrageous. If you feel comfortable with your position on the allocation of the surplus, I'd give the Congressional pressure angle a try. If you were an EP manager, and you had a Representative or a Senator on your back for holding a case open for 3 years, wouldn't you want to make that case disappear quietly?

[mbozek]

What is the new office? Is it just another IRS office in another part of the country or is it in Washington? Your best shot at getting a resoluton of this matter is to get the agent to commit to resolving the case. See if you can get a letter from the Agent stating that he/she will get back to you in 90 days. The IRS is now required to repond to taxpayer inquiries. It may be the people you have been dealing with don't have the expertise to deal with your plan's technical question and keep throwing the file on the bottom of the plie.

[Guest ck1]

Thanks for the posts.

We have been through Cincinnati, Chicago and Baltimore. It has now been assigned to an agent in Cleveland, though his supervisor (whose name he will not give us) is supposedly in Baltimore. We have asked him to provide a written timeline/deadline for his review, but he claims his workload is too heavy to allow for that.

I agree that it is getting passed along because noone quite knows what to do with it. The first reviewer decided that allocating a portion of the excess assets to the retiree is discriminatory (although he is not an HCE). I think that everyone else who looks at it now is just reluctant to say that he was wrong and it is OK, so they send it to someone else.

We are getting ever so tired!

[mbozek]

One other option to consider if the client is agreeable and will pay for the cost is to request a conference with the IRS. Its a gutsy move in the absence of a written response from the IRS but it may be the only way to move them off the dime. If they refuse a conference then you are creating a record that they are being unreasonable which is one of the 10 deadly sins in the new IRS- by the way what does counsel think about this?

[david rigby]

This may be grasping at straws, but...

For the current retiree, what was his employment status at date of plan termination? If active, perhaps you can respond to the IRS that its claim of discriminatory is ridiculous.

[Guest merlin]

Have you tried the IRS Taxpayer Advocate? The Cleveland Office is at:

1240 E. 9th St., Room 423

Cleveland, OH 44199

216-522-7134