Update to IRS Form 8955-SSA

If you file a Form 5500 for a retirement plan, you should be aware of changes to the old SSA schedule to report participants who have separated from service covered by the plan, and who retain a deferred vested benefit in a retirement plan. Since the 2009 tax year, IRS Form 5500 was required to be filed electronically and made available to the public through the DOL EFAST2 filing system. A separate filing just to the IRS for Form 8955-SSA has been implemented to protect the individuals from having their private information available to others. The IRS will report this information to the Social Security Administration.
IRS Form 8955-SSA must be completed for all plans subject to the vesting standards of section 203 of ERISA for plan years beginning January 1, 2009 or later. The due date for the filing of IRS FORM 8955-SSA for the 2009 and 2010 tax years is January 17, 2012. The IRS has allowed for the reporting of both the 2009 and 2010 information on the 2009 IRS FORM 8955-SSA, as an option to filing separate year forms.
The Internal Revenue Code states that each plan administrator required to file a registration statement must also provide to each impacted participant an individual statement setting forth the information that must be contained in the IRS Form 8955-SSA.
Future filings for tax year 2011 and beyond will be due the last day of the seventh month following the last day of the plan year plus any filed extension (two and half months after the initial due date). This is similar to the deadlines for reporting IRS Form 5500, but requires a separate standalone filing just to the IRS and not the Department of Labor..