IRS Releases Instructions for Form 8955-SSA

The IRS has released the instructions for Form 9855-SSA, Annual Registration Statement Identifying Separated Participants With Deferred Vested Benefits, to be used for 2018 filing. The IRS calls the form the “designated successor” to Schedule SSA of the Form 5500, and it is used to satisfy the reporting requirements of Internal Revenue Code Section 6057(a).

Since the filing season for reporting on 2017, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has not processed any submissions of page 2 of the form that are nonstandard. Information about separated participants is to be reported only on page 2, and if additional space is needed in order to provide information about such participants, filers are to use additional copies of page 2.

The instructions also say that a Form 8955-SSA does not have to be filed for a particular year if under the instructions no information is required to be provided for that year.

Form 8955-SSA may be filed electronically through the Filing Information Returns Electronically (FIRE) system or on paper. The IRS and SSA encourage all filers to file Form 8955-SSA electronically; however, certain filers are required to file the 2018 Form 8955-SSA electronically.
Form 8955-SSA is used to report information about separated participants with deferred vested benefits under the plan. Required information includes participants who have a deferred vested benefit under the plan and: 

• separated from service covered by the plan;
• were reported as deferred vested participants on another plan's filing if their benefits were transferred (other than in a rollover) to the plan during the covered period;
• previously were reported under the plan, but have been paid out or are no longer entitled to those deferred vested benefits, or
• previously were reported under the plan, but whose information is being corrected.

The information reported on Forms 8955-SSA is generally given to the SSA, which provides the reported information to separated participants when they file for Social Security benefits.