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The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) protects more than 683,000 private retirement plans, 2.5 million health plans, and similar numbers of other welfare benefit plans. To assist and provide
relief to employers/plan sponsors and their employees/plan participants
affected by national disasters, EBSA has taken the following actions:
The IRS, DOL, and PBGC may announce special
extensions of time to file Form 5500 series returns/reports for
filers affected by Presidentially-declared disasters or who are
serving the Armed Forces of the United States in a combat zone. These special extensions are announced on the IRS’s
web site.
Reference to the Form 5500 can be found in the announcement under
the bold caption “Grant of Relief.” Whatever special extension of filing Form 5500
granted by the IRS will also be automatically permitted by the DOL
and PBGC (see Section 8 of Internal Revenue Bulletin 2007-56).
Therefore, whether or not DOL or PBGC announce a special extension,
Form 5500 series filers to whom the IRS has granted a special
extension may file their annual returns/reports by the extended due
date stated in the IRS’s announcement.
Filers should follow the instructions to Form 5500
series under the section “Extension of Time To File” regarding
how to file the forms when special extensions are granted.
Filers affected by Presidentially-declared
disasters are plan administrators, employers, and other entities
who file Form 5500 series that are located in the areas designated
as federal disaster areas (as listed in IRS’s announcements).
These special extensions also apply to filers located outside the
designated disaster areas who are unable to obtain the information
necessary for filing from service providers, banks or insurance
companies whose operations are directly affected by the disasters.
The IRS will announce the particular military
operations (i.e., “combat zones”) for which special extensions
are granted for filers serving in the Armed Forces of the United
States (e.g., Notice 2003–21, 2003–1 C.B. 817 provides that all
of the acts listed in Rev. Proc. 2002–71 are applicable for those
taxpayers who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom).
Gustav and Ike
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Find Updated
Contact Information for Your Retirement or
Health Plan. Due to the disaster, many employers and their employees
have lost communication with each other. Sponsors of employer provided
retirement and health benefit plans that were located in the disaster area are
encouraged to provide us with their new contact information. We will post the
updated information on this site enabling employees/plan participants who lived
or worked in the disaster area to find updated contact information for their
employer or plan administrator. If you are the sponsor of a plan and want to
provide corrected contact information for this site, or if you are a
participant who cannot reach your plan administrator and have questions about
your benefits, contact one of our Benefits Advisors for assistance toll-free at
1.866.444.EBSA (3272).
Katrina and Rita
If you have questions about any of
the above guidance or information, contact one of our Benefits Advisors
toll-free at 1.866.444.EBSA (3272) or contact
us electronically. |
