Late Filing letters from the IRS sent to Plan Sponsors of 5500 EZ Plans

We have received 3 letters from plan sponsors in the past week that Form 5500 EZ plans filed their forms late with huge penalties.  All three forms were filed on time.  Has anyone else had plan sponsors receive these letters?  We've asked ASPPA and we haven't received a response yet and our plan sponsors are obviously concerned.  We tried to call the IRS and got a message that due to high volume to call back tomorrow.   Any advice on how to find out if these were sent out in error to EZ plans? Thank you!

5 hours ago, ABeach said:

All three forms were filed on time.

Original due date or extended?

If extended, were 5558's filed on timely? Were they filed close to July 31?

5 hours ago, ABeach said:

We tried to call the IRS and got a message that due to high volume to call back tomorrow

In order to get through to the IRS, you need to redial when you get the "call back tomorrow" message.  Sometimes it takes 15-20 times to get through.

That is happening to us.  Usually they're for plans that were filed close to 7/31, but the penalty seems to be calculated as if the 10/15 deadline was missed. In other words the penalty is in the thousands, not tens of thousands.

Since we received the same phone message, we fax a letter to the IRS (as permitted by the CP-283 notice) pointing out the inaccuracy and asking for an abatement of the penalties.  Fortunately, the tax returns were sent via certified mail so there is proof of delivery.  No response yet, as this all happened just in the last few weeks.   

One of my clients received notices back in August for both of his pension and profit sharing plans for the 2020 EZ.  The IRS claimed $15,750 in penalties for each plan (representing 63 days late).  We had filed the 5558s timely and the client filed the EZs on 9/27/21.  I faxed a letter requesting abatement on 8/19/22.  Still haven't heard anything.

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