Question 17J on the 5310

[Belgarath]

We've just had a couple of "additional information" requests on this, and it's the first time this has ever happened.

One reviewer was from Cincinnati, OH and the other was from Portland, OR. In questions 17 j of the 5310, they ask if any participant received a distribution within the past 5 years. If we answered yes, we had to indicate the largest amount distributed.

In these two, both reviewers asked us to provide the name of the particpant who received the distribution, their allocations to their accounts for the prior 10 years, or if they had been in the plan for less than 10 all the amounts allocated to their accounts since their participation. In the one we are responding to today, the amount distributed was $15,000+. The other one was a similiar amount. On the first plan the participant had been in the plan since 1987, however, it was a takeover, and we had to go back to the Trustees to ask for information for the years where we do not have the information.

Has anyone else run into this? And if so, what in %$**& is the IRS asking this for? This is a lot of work for nothing - we haven't talked to the reviewers yet to ask them what kind of a game they are playing, but before we do, I wanted to see if anyone else is encountering similar problems, or knows why they are doing this? Thanks.

[Guest jody303]

The only additional info request experience I've had was in a DB plan. The reviewer wanted the participant's name and SSN. He said that the IRS wanted to check to make sure a 1099R was issued and that the appropriate taxes, if any, were paid.

I don't have any idea why they'd need allocation history for this purpose.

[Guest saber]

That seems a bit much for that item.

As with any request you can ask them to cite their authority to request that information. If the authority is valid then that solves it. If not then there is room to work with. If the agent still demands the information without authority then escalate the issue upwards.