Plan has 6 trustees; they won't all fit in the space provided on the S

[Richard Anderson]

Plan has 6 trustees. The space provided on the Schedule P for trustees names is not large enough.

I think that I should put as many of the trustees as will fit on the Schedule, and forget about the rest of them.

Another administrator thinks that I should file 6 Schedule P's; one for each trustee.

Another says to file 2 Schedule P's; one with 3 trustees on it; and another with the other 3 trustees.

My understanding is that only one Schedule P is filed for each trust. What are others doing in this situation. Thanks for your help.

[Wessex]

The trust agreement may provide the answer. Most trust agreements specify whether all or a subset of the individual trustees are authorized to sign on behalf of the individuals collectively acting as trustee.

[Earl]

one can sign, but don't all have to be named? I always wondered about naming all fiduciaries, but

maybe that is not the function of the Sch P?

[Guest Ray Williams]

My understanding of the purpose of the Schedule P is to start the statute of limitations for the trustee(s) named in the Schedule P. I intend to file the number of P's necessary to contain the complete legal name of all trustees. I would not want to have to explain to a trustee why I left him or her subject to liability and protected other trustees for the same Plan.

[Richard Anderson]

Thanks for the responses everyone.

Ray, my understanding of the purpose of the Schedule P was that it started the statute of limitations for the protection of the tax exempt status of the trust; and that any tax imposed on the trust must be assessed before that statute of limitations occurs (3 years). Therefore, since the protection is for the trust, I felt that all fiduciaries of the trust would come under that protection, even if one or more were left off the schedule, either by mistake or because there was not room on the form.

We have all heard the phrase "When all else fails read the directions." I just reread the instructions for Schedule P.

Under the paragraph titled "Who May File" it says every trustee of a trust created as part of 401(a) plan. Schedule P is not required to be filed, hence the title uses the phrase "who may file." From the TPA's perspective the paragraph title would be "Who Should File."

Therefore, since every trustee "may" file, I am going file as many Schedule P's as needed to include all trustees.[Edited by Richard Anderson on 07-29-2000 at 02:28 PM]

[Guest FredReilly]

The statute of limitations covered by a Schedule P from a tax standpoint would be those payable on a 990-T or 1041 as the case may be. These are only payable by the trust and not by individuals serving as trustees. I don't see how the failure of one or more trustees to be named would affect that in any way. The liabilities of the individual trustees could be for excise taxes for prohibited transactions or Title one penalties, etc. for breach. The statutory periods for such acts are governed by other factors such as the filing of 5500's and 5330's with disclosure of acts. In those cases again, the starting of the tolling of the statute does not depend upon the naming of individual fiduciaries.