Benefits & ERISA Law

Schedule SSA Morphs Into Form 8955-SSA

By Suzanne Wynn

When the DOL switched to mandatory electronic filing for Form 5500, Schedule SSA went by the wayside. This was unfortunate because Schedule SSA provided a quick way to track vested terminated participants as they exit out of a plan, especially when backtracking through a plan’s history and census information as part of terminating the plan and filing Form 5310.

Today, the IRS announced the creation of Form 8955-SSA to replace the discontinued Form 5500 Schedule SSA. It is a new stand-alone form that is filed directly with the IRS. Form 8955-SSA is to be used for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2009, which makes sense because Form 5500 Schedule SSA was discontinued for plan years that began on or after January 1, 2009, so there will not be a gap in information between the old Schedule SSA and the new Form 8955-SSA at the plan level.

The IRS notes in Announcement 2011-21 that Form 8955-SSA for the 2009 plan year is not yet available but will be made available soon. Form 8955-SSA for the 2010 plan year is still under development and should be available for filing later this year. By “later this year”, I’m hoping the IRS releases the 2010 Form 8955-SSA by the end of July, which is the initial filing deadline for the 2010 Form 5500s.

Full post as published by Pension Protection Act Blog on March 03, 2011 (boomark / email).