Guest TrustMe401k Posted May 15, 2000 Posted May 15, 2000 God Bless the IRS. Well, not really. Anyway, we have had a very difficult time dealing with the IRS in reagrds to Trust ID numbers for one of our clients. They have sent multiple letters stating that the ID # is wrong, then its ok noe its been assigened in error. Whatever. So I spoke to the IRS this morning and after 5 transfers, the agent asked why we requested a second number for the company. AGAIN, I explained that the request was for our PS plan trust. She asked why we thought we needed to do that? Am I stupid or aren't we supposed to get these numbers? Can someone tell me what notice/letter/ruling that a retirement plan trust must have an EIN? Thanks for your help.
Guest rhp Posted May 16, 2000 Posted May 16, 2000 Form SS-4, line 9 [reason for applying] has a specific block for "created a pension plan". The instructions say to check this block if applying for a trust EIN when a plan is established. [This message has been edited by rhp (edited 05-17-2000).]
mming Posted May 17, 2000 Posted May 17, 2000 The instructions for Form SS-4 seem to make a trust ID# mandatory, as rhp pointed out. I'm guessing most clients of TPAs are like mine - you can get the number for them, tell them how and why to use it, and most will still register their plan investments under their EID#. Thankfully, in the majority of such instances the IRS doesn't catch this. However, once in a great while we do receive an IRS letter stating that 'Joe Client owes us a ton in back taxes, penalties, etc. because we've noticed he's never paid tax on any of the dividends, interest or capital gains on the investments in this corporate taxable account'. It usually gets straightened out without the client having to pay anything, but only after you've twice explained what the intention of the investments were to half of the IRS. Avoiding this potential frustration is another reason to get a trust ID# now. One more reason is that you may be the unfortunate one to get an IRS agent who won't let it slide as an "innocent clerical error" and demands payment. We haven't seen this happen yet, but you never know. [This message has been edited by mming (edited 05-16-2000).]
Guest TrustMe401k Posted May 17, 2000 Posted May 17, 2000 So I guess it's unanimous. Plans must have the EIN and the IRS is too mind-numb to know what I'm talking about when I try to explain their own regs to them. They might be "kindler and gentler" but not much smarter. Thanks for all your responses.
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