Photo: Dan Macy
Have you filed a Form 5500? It may be tempting to procrastinate or more — but you do so at your own peril, because the IRS has upped the ante in a new project to increase compliance.
The IRS Employee Plans Compliance Unit (EPCU) is conducting the Form 5500 Non-Filer Project, an effort in which the EPCU contacts taxpayers that have not filed the Form 5500 or Form 5500-SF with the Department of Labor or the Form 5500-EZ with the IRS. The EPCU is doing so not only to solicit unfiled forms, but also to learn the cause of the noncompliance.
The EPCU contacts non-filers through letters; they include filing instructions and sources of additional information that may be helpful. The letters remind recipients that an audit is possible, but not as a result of failure to file the form, and also warn them that failure to file can result in penalties.
Additional information is available by sending an e-mail to the EPCU at EPCU@irs.gov.