irs letters on 5500s

[MJ Hartman]

what's the story with the irs now sending out letters to clients that filed extensions timely, filed their returns through efast with confirmations of receipt and being told their returns were received late?

why is it we are constantly responding to erroneous gov. correspondence that takes more time to prove we were meeting all of their "rules"?

I thought this new system would eliminate all of this?

[Tom Poje]

if the reason for the return being considered 'late' is because the 5558 was considered late and therefore invalid, then you can't blame the new system. Its unclear from your comments if that is the reason the 5500 was considered late . remember, the 5558s are not e-filed, so there is no 'electronic' recording process for them.

based on the IRS News letter that just came out, the IRS admits there have been some problems. (just posted this earlier, but I'll repost it here)

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

[MJ Hartman]

thanks Tom.

I'll send in the certified mail receipt that we sent in on behalf of all of our clients we filed extensions for. (we had many extensions due to our oh so fine 5500 software being so late in working correctly) along with the copies of the extensions that we filed.

can't wait to see how many of our plans get this letter.

[Tom Poje]

haven't heard from any of our clients yet with 'late' letters from the IRS, all our 5558s were filed (I believe) by mid July (didn't wait until the last day) and we had switched govt form software at the start of the year so we missed out on all the fun and excitement others reported.

good luck, at least it sounds like the IRS is aware of what is going on.

[Lou S.]

Just got our first "late filing notice" on a plan with a "good" 5558. I hate the IRS.

[Guest Form5500]

A few of our clients received "late filing notices" for plans that we filed extensions for at least two weeks before the filing. We responded back with copies of the extensions and certified receipts. No response back from the IRS, yet.

The electronic filing system had a few hiccups this year and I think the biggest one for the IRS was that they didn't anticipate how many plan sponsors were going to extend their filings till October 15th. They just couldn't handle the amount of extentions that came through the door.

[Kevin C]

They are still sending out denial letters for timely filed extensions. One of our clients received a letter yesterday saying the extension for their pye 9/30/2010 that we filed on 4/18 was filed late. I had the client sign a 2848 and I called the IRS. When I finally got a live person and faxed the 2848, the agent looked up their account and immediately said the letter was sent in error. They will send a corrected letter in 10-14 business days. I guess I should be happy it only took an hour to take care of this. What a pain in the ...