The IRS has revised Publication 4810, Specifications for Electronic Filing of Form 8955-SSA, Annual Registration Statement Identifying Separated Participants With Deferred Vested Benefits. The revisions, made in November 2019, are to update the form for filing concerning the 2019 plan year.
Publication 4810 outlines the communication procedures, record format, validation criteria and errors associated with the electronic filing of Form 8955-SSA and sets forth the file specifications and record layouts that should be used. It must be used to prepare current and prior year Form 8955-SSAs.
New for 2019
What’s new for 2019 are the dates concerning the availability of the FIRE system https://www.irs.gov/e-file-providers/filing-information-returns-electronically-fire — the system for filing information returns electronically. Following are the relevant dates.
FIRE Production System Availability
| Function/Factor | From | Through |
| Down for annual updates | Dec. 6, 2019, 6:00 pm Eastern time | Jan. 7, 2020 |
| Controlled launch | Jan. 8, 2020, 8:00 p.m. Eastern time | Jan. 10, 2020, 4:00 p.m. |
| Available | Jan. 2, 2020 | Available 24 hours a day until end-of-year updates. Date to be determined and will be available on the FIRE webpage |
FIRE Test System Availability
| Function/Factor | From | Through |
| Down for updates | Oct. 28, 2019 | Nov. 3, 2019 |
| Available | Nov. 4, 2019 | Dec. 6, 2019, 6:00 p.m. Eastern time |
| Down for annual updates | Dec. 6, 2019, 6:00 p.m. Eastern time | Jan. 1, 2020 |
| Available | Jan. 2, 2020 | Date to be determined and will be available on the FIRE webpage. |
Note: The FIRE Systems (Production and Test) may be down every Wednesday from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. Eastern Time for programming updates.
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