The SPARK Institute, the leading voice in Washington for the retirement plan services industry, had written to Treasury and IRS on March 22 requesting that all of the deadlines listed in Revenue Procedure 2018-58 be extended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taking cognizance of the impact of the pandemic, IRS has released Notice 2020-23 , which provides this relief. This guidance extends several deadlines that are otherwise due to be performed on or after April 1, 2020, and before July 15, 2020, until July 15, 2020.
Here is a list of deadlines that have been extended.
- The due dates for making plan loan repayments. The CARES Act provides an extension, but this regulatory extension would be available for all participants (but only through July 15, 2020), not just those affected by COVID-19.
- The deadline for making IRA contributions on account of 2019 (already extended).
- The deadline for receiving required minimum distributions (already waived for 2020).
- The April 15 deadline for distributing excess deferrals under 402(g).
- The deadline for distributing excess contributions under 401(k) (8).
- The deadline for distributing excess aggregate contributions under 401(m) (6).
- The 60-day deadline for completing rollovers. This should provide some additional time for individuals who would like to recontribute their 2020 required minimum distribution, although it might not cover individuals whose 60-day period ended before April 1, 2020. Specific relief from IRS may be needed.
- The deadline for making 404(a) (6) grace period contributions (already extended).
- The deadline for removing excess IRA contributions.
- The June 1 deadline for filing and furnishing Form 5498. Note, however, that 2019 IRA contributions can be made as late as July 15, which is the same day as the extension ends.
- The deadline for recharacterizing IRA contributions.
- The deadline for filing Form 5500.
- The EPCRS deadline for self-correcting certain significant failures.
- The deadline for making distributions to satisfy the substantially equal periodic payment (SEPP) exception to the 10% early distribution penalty.
PBGC deadlines.
Because the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation’s (PBGC’s) disaster relief procedures are keyed to the IRS’s announcement of disaster relief that includes filing extensions for Form 5500, the Notice and the accompanying news release appear to extend the deadlines covered by PBGC’s disaster relief procedures. The Notice announces the IRS’s extended deadlines in a manner that is slightly different than what PGBC’s automatic procedures ordinarily contemplate but nevertheless appears to trigger PBGC’s automatic extensions.
ERISA deadlines.
Deadlines under Title I of ERISA, such as the quarterly benefits statement, annual funding notice, and claims procedure deadlines, are not automatically extended by this Notice. The CARES Act provides the Department of Labor (DOL) with the authority to extend deadlines by up to one year.
Please note:
This text has been extracted from the SPARK Insitute’s mailer to its members.
