5500EZ - Anyone getting cover letters back from IRS?

[mwyatt]

We sent several 5500-EZs out to Ogden before the 10/15/2010 deadline. We usually include a cover letter to the form (to identify client, date, etc.).

Last couple of days just started receiving the cover letters on some clients back from Ogden with a date stamp as to when received (after the 15th, but forms definitely mailed prior to that date).

Anyone else getting something back from the IRS (shades of the old days when they sent back the 5558s).

[WDIK]

That would be an affirmative.

[Tom Poje]

Possibly related to the problem indicated above, The IRS Retirement News for Employers dated 11/5/2010 contained the following:

Form 5558 Requests for Extension That May Have Been Inadvertently Denied

As everyone is well aware, plan year 2009 is the first filing season using ERISA Filing Acceptance System

(EFAST2) for the filing of Form 5500, Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan. A number of plan

administrators are still in the process of updating their systems for EFAST2 and have had some issues and

concerns about filing timely without an extension. Because of these issues and concerns, a number of plan

administrators have filed the Form 5558, Application for Extension of Time to File Certain Employee Plan

Returns. The IRS Ogden Campus received numerous Forms 5558 from the practitioner community.

Some Forms 5558 were inadvertently denied and plan sponsors received extension denial letters (CP 216H,

Application for Extension of Time to File an Employee Plan Return Denied - Not Timely). We recognized this

error and have taken the necessary steps to correct this issue.

If you believe you received a CP 216H Notice in error, please respond by enclosing the denial letter and proof

that the original Form 5558 was postmarked timely (for example, express mail or certified mail receipt). Please

send your responses to:

Ogden Accounts Management Center

EP Accounts Unit, Mail Stop 6270

Ogden, UT 84201

If you received a CP 213N, Form 5500 Late Return, proposed penalty notice indicating Form 5500 was not

timely filed, in error, please respond by following the instructions in the notice. For additional information, see

our FAQs on Notices from IRS (CP 213 Notices).

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. We appreciate the feedback.

...........

Form 5500-EZ Filing Address

Beginning with the 2009 plan year, Forms 5500-EZ must be mailed to the IRS Offices in Ogden, UT to be

processed.

Many filers have contacted the IRS that they incorrectly mailed their Form 5500-EZ to Lawrence, Kansas

instead of to the Ogden address.

The Lawrence, Kansas address is not an IRS office; it is the offices of the independent contractor hired by

the Department of Labor (DOL) to process Form 5500 returns. Up until October 31, 2010, all Forms 5500-EZ

mailed to Lawrence, Kansas were forwarded to the DOL and the DOL forwarded these returns to the IRS

Offices in Ogden. However, after October 31, 2010, the mail forward expired and the incorrectly filed returns

will be returned to the filer.

In order to ensure the Form 5500 EZ is received by the IRS, filers should send another copy of the Form

5500-EZ with an original signature to Ogden at the following address:

Department of the Treasury

Internal Revenue Service

Ogden UT 84201-0020

[mwyatt]

Tom, letters were addressed to Ogden, not Lawrence. We attached a cover letter to each return filed; the cover letter with a date stamp is what is coming back to us. Were date stamped on October 18th and mailed from MA, so don't think there is an issue with mailing late (15th was Friday, 18th Monday). Cover letters didn't state "please date stamp and return", so curious why these were mailed back to us (only received about 6 out of probably 100 filings).