SSA problem with terminated plan

[Guest jc1457]

We have a Plan that terminated in 2000. The Plan had many issues and our Firm worked closely with the DOL and the bankruptcy court to correct all plan defects, restore participants and finally terminate the plan.

So the plan has been terminated since 2000. All participants (and there were hundreds) were reported at some point on a schedule ssa. None were ever deleted on a form SSA. As those participants reach retirement age, they are now receiving a benefit statement from the DOL.

Is there a way to remove anyone reported on an SSA now - with the plan having been terminated for 8+ years?

Thanks for your help.

[Guest lbz123]

The only way I've ever heard of updating this info is through the Schedule SSA on the 5500. So the only thing I can think of is filing an amended 5500 for the final plan year and report the paid out participants as Code D - no longer entitled to a benefit. I think with an amended 5500, you only refile the schedules that have changes, so you would need to do the basic form and the Schedule SSA.

However, you should do some research on whether an amended 5500 would trigger any type of inquiry/penalty. I don't know if there are any time constraints on how far back a filing can be amended. Since the DOL was involved with the actual termination, it sounds like you must be on pretty solid ground on how the termination was handled. But I would think there would be potential for inquires with any amended 5500 filing which you would have to weigh.

[Guest jc1457]

The only way I've ever heard of updating this info is through the Schedule SSA on the 5500. So the only thing I can think of is filing an amended 5500 for the final plan year and report the paid out participants as Code D - no longer entitled to a benefit. I think with an amended 5500, you only refile the schedules that have changes, so you would need to do the basic form and the Schedule SSA.

However, you should do some research on whether an amended 5500 would trigger any type of inquiry/penalty. I don't know if there are any time constraints on how far back a filing can be amended. Since the DOL was involved with the actual termination, it sounds like you must be on pretty solid ground on how the termination was handled. But I would think there would be potential for inquires with any amended 5500 filing which you would have to weigh.

Thank you. I am afraid of exactly what you had posted - that amending the 5500 would trigger questions. This was an unusual case, and our office worked closed with a contact from the DOL. However, this was years ago and I'm not sure where that contact is now.

Thanks for your help.

[RCK]

We just filed an amended 2001 5500 for a very similar situation. At the end of the plan, we made distributions to those we could, and merged the remainders into a surviviing plan. We have a copy of the final filing for the plan, showing all the participants as D's, but keep getting questions from them, showing that the SSA never posted that SSA form with the deletes.

On the advice of our auditors, and lacking any better idea, we filed an amended 2001 5500 with a cover letter of explanation. It's only been a week or so, so no news yet.