Which EIN for Forms 1099-R and 945?

When a TPA processes distributions for a retirement plan sponsor, including federal tax withholdings and deposits and related tax filings, is it typical for the TPA to use their own EIN on the Form 1099-R and Form 945?  Does it depend on whether the TPA is also the custodian and/or trustee? 

Thanks in advance!

Who is transmitting the withholding? What EIN was attached to the withholding? That's who would be be doing the Tax reporting and which EIN will be used.

@Lou S. is correct that you want the EIN on the 1099s to be the same as the EIN used to make the tax deposits AND the EIN used to file the Form 945 Annual Return of Withheld Federal Income Tax.

TPAs and recordkeepers do not all use the same approach, but as long as the EINs are used consistently, there should be no problem.

That being said, here is a word of caution - avoid using the plan sponsor's EIN.  If the plan sponsor files a Form 945 for tax deposits for other payments that are not plan distributions, the plan sponsor likely will get a notice from the IRS that the Form 945 amount does not match total tax deposits reported to the payees.  It can consume a lot of time trying to straighten this out.

As examples where this can be a problem, the instructions to the Form 945 say:

All federal income tax withholding reported on Forms 1099 (for example, Form 1099-R, Distributions From Pensions, Annuities, Retirement or Profit-Sharing Plans, IRAs, Insurance Contracts, etc.; Form 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Information; or Form 1099-NEC) or Form W-2G, Certain Gambling Winnings, must be reported on Form 945.

We are sitting here in January 2025 preparing forms for distributions made in 2024.  Hopefully, the tax deposits made during the year did not use the plan sponsor's EIN.

They might want to get a separate EIN for their distribution processing group.

17 hours ago, Paul I said:

 

That being said, here is a word of caution - avoid using the plan sponsor's EIN.  If the plan sponsor files a Form 945 for tax deposits for other payments that are not plan distributions, the plan sponsor likely will get a notice from the IRS that the Form 945 amount does not match total tax deposits reported to the payees.  It can consume a lot of time trying to straighten this out.

As examples where this can be a problem, the instructions to the Form 945 say:

All federal income tax withholding reported on Forms 1099 (for example, Form 1099-R, Distributions From Pensions, Annuities, Retirement or Profit-Sharing Plans, IRAs, Insurance Contracts, etc.; Form 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Information; or Form 1099-NEC) or Form W-2G, Certain Gambling Winnings, must be reported on Form 945.

We are sitting here in January 2025 preparing forms for distributions made in 2024.  Hopefully, the tax deposits made during the year did not use the plan sponsor's EIN.

This is very important.  If you do NOT use the same EIN for the deposits and the 945/1099-Rs letters will be sent by the IRS.  The IRS reconciles all of this.  I have seen people have to waste a lot of hours trying to get the IRS to understand what happened.  This was before Covid when you could still call them and get a phone picked up pretty quickly.  I would hate to see what it would take now a days.  

I can tell you what it looks like now.  My client has the plan accounts with Schwab, the plan checking account is with Schwab.

Schwab screwed up and did not honor the EFTPS process when they used the plan checking account to pay the 945; at last minute we prepared Form 945 with plan EIN.

Since Schwab messed up, I had the client put the Schwab check into the corporate account and pay withholding from the corporate account, using 945 withholding. EFTPS confirmed the date and amount of payment.

Meanwhile, the client is receiving IRS letters and invoices for the withhold not paid under the plan ID# and the invoice keeps mounting.

It has taken over 12 months for the IRS to move the amount withheld from the corporate ID number to the plan ID number.

Each time we call to check on this, we are told that "our system for these types of transactions (moving a payment from one EIN to another) has been down since January 2024.  Your best bet is to keep calling back every 3-4 months".

The moral to the story, file Form 945 after receiving confirmation, even if the confirmation is after the due date.  Better to be a bit late on filing than go through this mess.

If plan is not on a recordkeeping platform, use PenChecks for plan distributions that require withholding