Pension Protection Act Blog

The IRS announced today that they are eliminating Schedule P from the Form 5500 series. Announcement 2007-63 states that Schedule P is eliminated starting with the 2005 plan year for Form 5500-EZ filers. For all other Form 5500 filers, Schedule P is eliminated beginning with the 2006 plan year.

Schedule P, the Annual Return of Fiduciary of Employee Benefit Trust, started the clock running on the statute of limitations under Code section 6501(a) for qualified plans, which is any trust described in Code section 401(a) which is exempt from tax under Code section 501(a).

With the elimination of Schedule P, the IRS had to provide another way to start the statute of limitations running. The Service states that it will treat the filing for Form 5500, or Form 5500-EZ, as starting the statute of limitations running, unless the plan has been a party to an abusive tax avoidance transaction.

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