Does your plan need IRS Form 8822-B?

“When filing her Form 5500 report, my client was told she needed to file IRS Form 8822-B for her 401(k) plan. What does this form report?”

ERISA consultants at the Retirement Learning Center (RLC) Resource Desk regularly receive calls from financial advisors on a broad array of technical topics related to IRAs, qualified retirement plans and other types of retirement savings and income plans, including nonqualified plans, stock options, and Social Security and Medicare. We bring Case of the Week to you to highlight the most relevant topics affecting your business.

A recent call with a financial advisor from Tennessee is representative of a common inquiry related to plan reporting.

Highlights of the Discussion

If your client had a change of address for her business or a change in the “responsible party” (i.e., the representative of the company who received the business’s official Employer Identification Number), [1]  she is required to file IRS Form 8822-B, Change of Address or Responsible Party—Business. Form 8822-B notifies the IRS of a change to a business’s mailing address, location or responsible party. Also, if an organization had not previously identified a specific person as its responsible party, filing Form 8822-B is advisable. When there’s been a change, it’s important to have Form 8822-B in place for any future mailings or correspondence the business may receive from the IRS.

The requirement to file Form 8822-B took effect in 2014, following the release of final regulations (Treasury Regulation 301.6109).  Affected businesses must file the form within 60 days of the change that is being reported. A business files the form with either the IRS office in Cincinnati, OH or Ogden, UT, depending on the firm’s old business address.  While there is no formal penalty for failing to file Form 8822-B or late filings of the form, there is a risk that important IRS notices could be misdirected to the wrong address or sent to the attention of the wrong individual. The form specifically references its connection to certain employment, excise, income and other business returns (e.g., Forms 720, 940, 941, 990, 1041, 1065, 1120, etc.) and employee plan returns such as the Form 5500 series of returns.

Conclusion

Plan sponsors may not have been aware of the importance of IRS Form 8822-B. Filing such form, when required, can only be beneficial.

[1] IRS Publication 1635: Employer Identification Number