8955 SSA - 2 questions

[Guest AHS527]

Two questions here:

1 - Can I do 2009 and 2010 on separate 2009 Forms? Does it matter if I combine them all on 1 form or do both separately?

2 - For Relius users - I have Plan Sponsor and Plan Admin info populated in the Plan Info worksheet so when I open the SSA everything rolls into the form. The IRS instructions state to put "SAME" on the 8955 SSA form for the Plan Admin info if the info is the same as the Plan Sponsor. Does it really matter if I populate both sections? I cannot edit the form so I would need to go to my Plan Info worksheet, erase all of the plan Admin data, write in SAME, and carry over to the SSA. Trivial I know but just trying to see if I can avoid doing that for 100 plans.

Thanks in advance for the input.

[Tom Poje]

IRS Q and A #3

May I prepare one Form 8955-SSA covering both 2009 and 2010 reportable employees?

Yes, you may prepare one Form 8955-SSA covering both 2009 and 2010 reportable employees. In that case, the 2010 reportable employees are treated as reported in 2009. Enter the beginning and ending date for the 2009 plan year on the Form 8955-SSA when combining information for the 2009 and 2010 plan years. For example, a plan that reports on a calendar year basis and combines information for the 2009 and 2010 plan years should enter January 1, 2009 as the beginning date and December 31, 2009 as the ending date.

ft William suggested the following:

In some cases, you may have a participants that has not been previously reported (Code A) for 2009 and in 2010 becomes a participant previously reported, but is no longer entitled to the deferred vested benefits (Code D). While there is no official guidance on this point, we would recommend that you do not report the participant - if combining the 2009 and 2010 information. It is recommend to report both if you are completing two separate Form 8955-SSAs, one for 2009 and one for 2010.

..........

as for your Q 2 - who knows. it probably won't make a difference.

In the past, it was permissible to put "SAME" for the 5500, but once E Fast 2 started (and the Form SSA was eliminated) you had to enter the address all over again.

I suppose writing SAME was just to make life easy on the filer, and its just a carry over, but technically you are not following the instruction, so I couldn't say for sure. but I think people in the past have filed the 5500 with the addresses being the same and there has never been a problem.

[Guest AHS527]

Tom:

Thanks for the response. So basically in your opinion it does not matter if I report 2009&2010 on 1 form or on 2 separate forms...meaning that I am going to do 2 forms regardless of the situation. I am never going to combine all of the info onto 1 form. Easier for the import from the Relius XML file.

[Tom Poje]

I guess if you are using the Relius export the answer is probably yes.

Since I used FT William I ran a report running from 1/1/09 - 12/31/10 and then imported into their software so I ended up combining things.

but it certainly ok to do it either way.

the 2010 form was just released, so that may further change how you do things, though I'm not sure what the time frame is before Relius will have it available. I think you can use the 2009 form (and entering the proper dates), but at this point I no longer care (sorry) because I've done all out 2009 and 2010 plans. (except maybe some mid year plans we have)