5500 Rejection

[Earl]

I just had two of these rejected.

They were final filing for terminated plans that made final distribution in Feb or March 2006.

I used a 2005 form and marked it final and wrote 2006 by the 2005 in the upper right. I filed them in August, 2006 (way before the 2006 form was available).

IRS issued a letter saying "not in government approved format".

Any ideas on how to do this? I see that the instructions do not seem to say "mark up the form" any more.

Thanks

[JanetM]

If the instructions don't allow us to mark up form for filing then we won't be able to terminate any plans in the first half of the year. I would call the EBSA and ask what we are to do for final filing now.

[Tom Poje]

if I understand things correctly, marking up the form never accomplished anything. (especially if you are electronically filing since it is the bar codes that are scanned)

the notes from the 5500 preparers book says

if you are filing a final return and the form is not released by the due date of the final filing, use the most current year form that is available. if there are any changes to the questions on the new form, the EBSA may request further info.

so, maybe something else is incorrect on the form?

[Guest VDBadmin]

I was told by EBSA rep that crossing out the 2005 and writing in 2006 has caused the computer to reject these. They advise following the 2006 instructions which state "...enter the 2006 fiscal year beginning and ending dates on the line provided at the top of the form."

[Earl]

I called EBSA and they basically said what VDBadmin is saying. Any hand marking will cause a rejection on the software generated forms.

They said just enter the dates of the final period in Part I and don't make and hand written marks.

And at this time they said to use the 2006 form, by the way...

Thanks -