Wrong EIN on 5500 filing - how to correct

[ldr]

Good afternoon to all,

The Form 5500 filing for a client has been made under an erroneous EIN for years and was discovered in 2018.  The administrator in our office after trying for days to get through to someone at the IRS finally got an employee on the phone.  He was told to amend the 2018 return showing zero participants, zero assets and mark it final.  Then file an amended 2018 return showing the correct EIN and all the original data that was filed on the first return.

Has anyone else ever done this?  It seems very convoluted and we don't want to create even more problems with the "fix" than we already have with the original problem.  Do you agree with the agent?

Thank you.

 

 

[Bird]

This sounds familiar (crazy talk from the janitor who answered the phone at the IRS).  I can tell you what I would do - start filing under the correct number and reference the old number where it asks.

[ldr]

@Bird:  That's pretty much how our administrator felt about the "advice" he was given.  Thanks for your thoughts on this.