Waiver of Excess Accumulation Penalty

[Appleby]

The IRS has provided written confirmation that taxpayers who are requesting a waiver of the excess accumulation penalty, should not pay the penalty upfront. The following statement was included in a Special Edition issue of their Employee Plan news :

"The recently-released 2007 Form 5329, Additional Taxes on Qualified Plans (Including IRAs) and Other Tax-Favored Accounts, reflects a change in IRS policy for taxpayers who miss taking their required minimum distribution from an IRA because of a reasonable error. Taxpayers who feel they meet the reasonable cause criteria set out in IRC §4974(d) are now allowed to not pay the 50% excise tax when they file their Form 1040. The Instructions for Form 5329, under Waiver of Tax on page six, instruct taxpayers to attach a statement of explanation, complete Part VIII of the form, make the appropriate "RC" annotation, and enter the amount they want waived on line 52."