Form 8955-SSA & 403(b) plans

[Beemer]

Has anyone seen any quidance on which participants are required to be reported on the Form 8955-SSA for 403(b) plans? Should I report

A) 2008 and later terminations

B) 2005 and later terminations

C) All terminated participants with vested balances, as they have not been reported yet?

Thanks for any responses.

[Tom Poje]

I haven't seen anything specific, just some general discussion.

The Department of Labor issued Field Assistance Bulletin No. 2009-02 (FAB 2009-02) providing guidance and transition relief on annual reporting requirements for 403(b) contracts issued prior to January 1, 2009. FAB 2009-02 provides that the plan administrator may exclude from Form 5500 reporting annuity contracts and custodial accounts for participants that meet the following:

•The contract was issued prior to January 1, 2009

•The employer ceased to make or have an obligation to make contributions to the contract of a current or former employee before January 1, 2009

•All rights and benefits under the contract are legally enforceable against the custodian or insurer without involvement by the employer

•The individual owner of the contract is fully vested in the contract or account

Contracts that meet the above criteria may be excluded from reporting for participant count information as well as excluded from assets on the Form 5500.

I guess if you were to exclude them from the 5500, then why report them on the SSA?

My gut feeling being that if it made a difference of having the body count go above 100 and therefore would require a an audit, then people were taking the trouble to exclude these people.

That being said,

I know of no penalty for reporting someone you didn't have to report (e.g. someone who quit years and years ago), and the whole purpose of the form 8955-SSA was that these folks would be notified at age 65 if they had $ sitting about they might not know about. in other words, the govt would do the job of hunting down missing people, so to speak.