What should be done if Schedule P received from the trustee does not i

[John A]

Regarding the Schedule P's that are often receive directly from the trustee:

If a Schedule P was obviously created by changing the 1998 dates on the form to 1999, can this Schedule P be used?

If a Schedule P has the same layout as the 1998 form but has the 1999 dates printed correctly -- perhaps was produced on the trustee's own system or something -- can this Schedule P be filed? Does it make any difference if the Schedule P was created in March 2000 (before the final forms were issued?)?

Can 5500's be filed with these forms or will the filing be rejected?

Is the best course of action to print out a completed 1999 Schedule P and send that to the trustee to sign?

Has anyone else run into this?

[Fredman]

No offense John, but I think you could've filled out and printed a Schedule P and mailed it to the Trustee in the amount of time it took to write all those questions.

That's what I would do.

Sorry, just a little cranky about 5500s today.

[Cathy from Chicago]

I'm cranky everyday about 5500's. This whole new process is a nightmare and totally ridiculous!

[Guest Boilerburm]

We received a Schedule P from Putnam that was just like you described, John. We called them back to see if we could print one off and mail it to them, and the said that what they gave us is all that will be issued. They whined "Do you know how many Schedules P we would have to sign if we did that for all of the clients we have?". I don't feel that I have any choice but to include the piece of crap that they gave me and wait for a notice. This whole process in incredibly frustrating.

[david rigby]

So what if they whine! If they can't find the time to do it right now, ask them when they are going to find the time to do it over.

[richard]

Let me see. Three things can possibly happen.

1. The filing can be accepted in its entirety for 2000 by the IRS/DOL. Everyone's happy.

2. The entire filing will be rejected because one page doesn't have the requisite bar codes. This would be an unfortunate result (note my penchant for understatement.) I suspect that this would be unlikely (but don't quote me) because the filing of the Schedule P is optional.

3. The filing can be accepted except for the Schedule P. Now, if I understand correctly, the Schedule P starts the statute of limitations period for the fiduciary for whom it is filed. In other words, it protects Putnam. So, if I am correct in this, Putnam is (in theory) hurting themselves.

Am I correct?

(By the way, I suspect that they will all get their act together in the next year or two, and the IRS/DOL will be extremely lenient.)