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IRS Issues Draft Form 5500-EZ for 2015 Reporting

The IRS has issued a draft of the Form 5500-EZ to be used by one-participant retirement plans for 2015 information reporting.

The 2015 Form 5500-EZ is different from the 2014 Form 5500-EZ in two sections.

In Part II, “Basic Plan Information,” changes have been made to Lines 4a, 4b, 6a and 6b.

  • Lines 4a and 4b: Filling out Line 4a (name of trust) and Line 4b (trusts employer identification number) had been optional for 2014 reporting; they are not optional in for 2015 reporting.

  • Line 6: Lines 6a and 6b were expanded for 2015, and line 6c has been added for 2015. Line 6c also has been added for 2015 reporting. The changes to Line 6 are as follows:

2014

Line 6a. Total number of participants at the beginning of the plan year
Line 6b. Total number of participants at the end of the plan year

2015

Line 6a(1). Total number of participants at the beginning of the plan year
Line 6a(2). Total number of active participants at the beginning of the plan year
Line 6b(1).Total number of participants at the end of the plan year
Line 6b(2).Total number of active participants at the end of the plan year
Line 6c. Number of participants that terminated employment during the plan year with accrued benefits that were less than 100% vested

In Part V Compliance and Funding Questions, a change was made to Line 11a and Lines 13-16 were added.

  • Line 11a: for 2014 reporting, the instructions were to enter the unpaid minimum required contribution for current year from Schedule SB (Form 5500), line 39; for 2015 reporting, the instructions are to enter that data from line 40.

  • Lines 13a-16 were added. They read as follows:

Line 13a. Has the plan been timely amended for all required tax law changes?
Line 13b. Date the last plan amendment/restatement for the required law changes was adopted (MM/DD/YYYY). Enter the applicable code (see instructions for tax law changes and codes).
Line 13c. If the employer is an adopter of a pre-approved master and prototype (M&P), or volume submitter plan that is subject to a favorable IRS opinion or advisory letter, enter the date of that favorable letter (MM/DD/YYYY) and the letter's serial number.
Line 13d. If the plan is an individually-designed plan and received a favorable determination letter from the IRS, enter the date of the plan's last favorable determination letter (MM/DD/YYYY) .
Line 14. Were required minimum distributions made to 5% owners who have attained age 70½ (regardless of whether or not retired) as required under section 401(a)(9)? . .
Line 15. Did the plan trust incur unrelated business taxable income? If “Yes,” enter amount
Line 16. Were in-service distributions made during the plan year? If “Yes,” enter amount.

The draft 2015 Form 5500-EZ is not to be used for actual reporting and filing; the IRS has posted it for informational purposes only.