Schedule P- Who signs the schedule P when the plan is taken over mid year and the new trustee is a corporate trustee not an Individual any more?

[Rai401k]

We have a couple of new client that came over to us, some in the beginning of last year, some in the middle last year and some towards the end. Before they came over to us the trustees were individuals. When they signed on with us they chose to have a Corporate Trustee. Who signs the schedule P for the 2003 5500 if the trustee changed during the year? The individual trustee or the corporate trustee?

Please help!

Thanks

[Mike Preston]

As I understand it, the primary purpose of the Schedule P, from the Plan's perspective, is to start the statute of limitations. I would think that this would be limited to transactions that took place under the auspices (direct or indirect) of the given trustee. Hence, in the case of a plan with three separate individual trustees, a single trustee can sign as long as they all have the ability to make decisions with respect to the entire plan. If they each have their own portion of the plan over which they have control and have no say as to the other portions, I would think you need 3 Schedules P.

In your case, it appears that you should have 2 Schedules P, signed by one of the trustees for the period from the beginning of the year through the end of the period during which they held assets. And another signed by the Corporate trustee, which covers the period of time from when they began through the end of the year.

Even if the above is not technically required, it certainly can't hurt.