Is today the SAR due date?

So, we all know the SAR is typically due 2 months after the 5500 deadline.

But is that 2 months from the "real" deadline of 7/31, or is it 2 months from the 8/1 date that came about from 7/31 being a Sunday?

And hey, 10/1 is a Saturday so now can we go up to the following Monday 10/3?

💣  (blow your mind!)

If one assume the Labor department’s rules about due dates for Form 5500 reports and summary annual reports are not contrary to law, the rule calls an administrator to furnish the SAR “within nine months after the close of the plan year.” 29 C.F.R. § 2520.104b-10(c) https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/subtitle-B/chapter-XXV/subchapter-C/part-2520/subpart-F/section-2520.104b-10#p-2520.104b-10(c).

The Treasury department’s Saturday-Sunday-holiday rule applies to “the performance of any act” required or permitted “under authority of any internal revenue law[.]” 26 C.F.R. § 301.7503-1.

For a pension plan’s Form 5500 report, the Labor department made no similar rule. But the three-agency Instructions for a Form 5500 report include the Saturday-Sunday-holiday rule.

I’m unaware of any Labor department rule that allows a Saturday-Sunday-holiday grace for furnishing a summary annual report.

For a report on a plan that ended its accounting year on December 31, 2021, I’d advise the administrator to furnish the SAR today.

That said, if the administrator furnishes the SAR next Monday, one wonders that an EBSA investigator reviewing that conduct might prefer not to challenge the timeliness of that SAR (unless there are further reasons to find fault with the plan’s administrator, or its service provider).

The Pension Answer Book says that "if the IRS has granted an extension for filing the annual report, the deadline to furnish the SAR is extended until two months after the extended due date of the annual report".  It even gives an example illustrating how you have until 12/15 for a calendar year plan on extension.  This is consistent with what I've heard from TPAs as well as from an ERISA attorney, though I can see how the wording of item (2) of 2520.104b-10(c) could be construed both ways.    

Bri’s query was about an initial (not extended) due date and the effects of Saturday-Sunday adjustments.

The unextended due date for a Form 5500 report on a year ended December 31, 2021 moved only one day from Sunday, July 1 to Monday, August 1. And the rule for a summary annual report does not say “two months after”; it says “nine months after the close of the plan year.”

About an extended Form 5500 report, the rule for a summary annual report includes this:

“When an extension of time in which to file an annual report has been granted by the Internal Revenue Service, such furnishing [of the summary annual report] shall take place within 2 months after the close of the period for which the extension was granted.” 29 C.F.R. § 2520.104b-10(c)(2) https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/subtitle-B/chapter-XXV/subchapter-C/part-2520/subpart-F/section-2520.104b-10#p-2520.104b-10(c)(2).

For a Form 5500 report due by October 17, 2022, some might interpret that rule to support an SAR due date of December 19, 2022.