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ARA Expresses Strong Support for Electronic Submission of Form 5558

Advocacy

The American Retirement Association (ARA) in a Dec. 5, 2022 letter to the IRS has expressed strong support for the electronic submission of Form 5558 via the Department of Labor’s (DOL) ERISA Filing Acceptance System (EFAST2).

The ARA sent the letter in response to a request for comments from the IRS regarding proposed revisions to the Form 5558 to allow for such electronic filing.

Filers use the Form 5558 to request extensions of time to file the Form 5500 series, the Form 8955-SSA, and the Form 5330, Return of Excise Taxes Related to Employee Benefit Plans. As part of the proposed revisions, the Form 5558 would be used to solely request extensions on the Form 5500 series and Form 8955-SSA. 

“The ARA strongly supports the electronic submission of Form 5558 via EFAST2,” write ARA Chief Executive Officer Brian Graff and ARA Chief Counsel Allison Wielobob. They note that over a period of several years, “ARA members have frequently expressed a need for an electronic method of filing the Form 5558 for purposes of extending the due date to file the Form 5500 series and/or the Form 8955-SSA.”

The current system of submitting a hard copy of the Form 5558 to the IRS in Ogden, UT, Graff and Wielobob note, “is very labor intensive and expensive for filers and the IRS” and further explain that “the current manual intake system has been prone to data entry and other errors which have imposed significant additional effort and expense on plan sponsors.”

Batch Submissions

The letter notes that at present, the paper Form 5558 can be generated on a batch basis for multiple plan sponsors and then may be sent in aggregate by mail to the IRS for processing. The ARA recommends that the IRS permit the electronic submission of Form 5558 through the EFAST2 system by multiple plan sponsors at the service provider level for batch submissions. “We believe that electronic filing of Form 5558 should be allowed on a batch basis and not require the use of individual plan administrator credentials,” it says. 

Seek Input

The ARA also recommends that the IRS “engage the service provider and vendor community to provide input in developing the filing process.” And further comments that the service provider community is interested in understanding: 

  • Whether Form 5558s will be published for public disclosure and what criteria would be available to search (e.g., AckID, EIN/PN).
  • How Form 5558s will be linked to the corresponding Form 5500. 
  • Whether an Acknowledgement ID (AckID) will be issued for each Form 5558 that is electronically filed.
  • Whether a plan filing a Form 5558, that subsequently does not file a corresponding Form 5500, lead to a delinquency notice or other similar correspondence.

Look to the Future 

“In an increasingly computerized society, filers recognize the efficiencies and effectiveness of electronic filing,” write Graff and Wielobob.

“Because the Form 5500 filing process requires certain employers and service providers to electronically file, it is a natural step for the IRS to allow those same filers to electronically file the Form 5558. As the IRS develops the administrative process for electronically filing of the Form 5558, ARA requests that you consider the following recommendations,” they continue.