New Extended Date for Filing Form 5500

On July 31, 2015 President Barack Obama signed the Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015 (the “Act”) which focuses on authorizing the use of funds for transportation programs to make funds available for veteran health care programs. The Act includes a number of important tax provisions, including revised due dates for partnership and C corporation returns and revised extended due dates for some returns for tax years beginning after December 31, 2015.

As it applies to ERISA plans, the Act directs the Internal Revenue Service to modify the maximum automatic extension period for employee benefit plans filing Form 5500 (Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan) to 3 1⁄2 months. The extension now will end on November 15 for calendar year filers. The current 2 1⁄2 month automatic extension period (ending on October 15 for calendar year plans) will continue to apply for the plan years beginning on or before December 31, 2015 (for example, calendar year 2014 filers are still subject to the October 15, 2015 deadline for filing if an extension was requested on or before July 31, 2015).

Next Step: In light of the above, we strongly recommend that employers review and update their plan’s tax reporting to ensure compliance with the new tax filing deadlines under the Act for plan years beginning after December 31, 2015. In addition, certain other employee benefit plan deadlines may change because they are related to the deadline for filing the employer’s tax return (including extensions). Stay tuned for additional guidance that may be issued related to this matter.

This document has been prepared for information purposes only and is not intended as, and should not be relied upon as legal advice. If you have any questions or comments about the matters discussed in this notice, wish to obtain more information related thereto, or about its possible effect(s) on policy or operational matters, please contact us.