Form 8822-B - change in responsible party

[Kevin C]

Has anyone heard about this?

Employee Plans News Issue 2013-8, from the new section today:

Use Form 8822 B to Report Change in Identity of Responsible Party for Your Retirement Plan

Beginning January 1, 2014, any entity with an EIN, such as a plan sponsor, must report a change in the identity of their plan’s responsible party on

Form 8822-B, Change of Address or Responsible Party - Business, within 60 days of the change. If the change is made before 2014, and the sponsor has not previously reported the change, the sponsor should file Form 8822-B prior to March 1, 2014.

For retirement plans, "responsible party" is the person who has a level of control, directly or indirectly, over the funds or assets in the retirement plan. See the instructions to Form 8822-B, page 2, for a detailed definition of "responsible party" and an explanation of who must sign the form.

Here is the Form:

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/epn_2013_8.pdf

[BG5150]

We had a client move one time. Add that to we ever-so-slightly changed the plan name on the 1096 and they got a letter saying 2009 & 2010 info didn't match up, and they had to submit the 8822-B to report the "change"

[Belgarath]

Question - it appears if you don't, no big deal, as no penalty?

If you are an entity with an EIN and your responsible party has changed, use of this form is mandatory. Otherwise, use of this form is voluntary. You will not be subject to penalties for failure to file this form. However, if you fail to provide the IRS with your current mailing address or the identity of your responsible party, you may not receive a notice of deficiency or a notice of demand for tax. Despite the failure to receive such notices, penalties and interest will continue to accrue on any tax deficiencies.

[chc93]

But the 5500 and 5500-SF Line 4 asks specifically if the name and/or EIN of the sponsor has changed, then enter the name, EIN, and plan number from the last return/report. This is all that we've done in the past. Why do we now need to also file 8822-B...

[BG5150]

As I said above, my client got one when they filed a 1096 (or 945. I forget which) and the info wasn't the same as a previous year.

[Bill Presson]

So I'm not the only one that thought this was weird! Good.

I couldn't recall ever seeing or hearing about this form in 30 years of working in the retirement field. I feel a little better.

If I think of doing this, I might. Otherwise, I'm not losing sleep over it.