Severe Weather Extends Deadlines for Certain Retirement Plan Filings

On June 21, 2010, the IRS began a plan to provide disaster relief to sponsors of pre-approved defined contribution retirement plans affected by recent severe storms and weather in eight states. This administrative relief program extends the original deadline to restate defined contribution plans and file for a determination letter from April 30, 2010 to July 30, 2010. The remedial amendment period for the retirement plans is also included in the extension.

The Economic Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 requires that qualified plans be restated at the end of every five year cycle for individual plans, or six year cycle for pre-approved plans; a determination letter is a response to a plan sponsor’s request as to the qualified status of their retirement plan.

The eight affected states each contain specific locations that were declared Presidential Disaster areas between March 1, 2010 and May 31, 2010. The following list provides the eight states with locations that may qualify for the filing extension, as well as a link to the relevant IRS News Release which provides further guidance.

Only “affected plans” are eligible for the extension specific to retirement plans, and are defined as locations that:

• Were the principal place of business of the employer maintaining the plan,
• Were the principal place of business of the employer that employs over fifty percent of the active plan participants,
• Were the office of the plan or plan administrator,
• Were the office of the primary record keeper for the plan, or
• Were the office of any advisor retained by the plan or employer and was to be directly involved in attaining the determination letter.

One of the following tax forms must be used to request a determination letter from the IRS:

• Form 5300 Application for Determination for Employee Benefit Plan
• Form 5307 Application for Determination for Adopters of Master or Prototype or Volume Submitter Plans
• Form 5310 Application for Determination for Terminating Plan

It is important to note that a determination letter will subsequently be issued by the IRS sixty days or more from the postmark date of the application, as each of the above forms are open to public inspection if there are more than twenty five plan participants. The IRS advises that it may take up to one hundred forty five days before you are contacted regarding the status of your letter. Such letters apply only to the requesting company’s plan and plan participants, thus is not transferrable to other plans. The following link is periodically updated by the Service to provide taxpayers with an idea of which dates the IRS is most currently reviewing,

• Where is My Determination Letter Request?

If your Company may be eligible or if you have any questions on this program, contact your Marcum Tax Professional indicated below. Additional information on this program can also be found on the IRS website.