IRS Issues Multi-Employer Amortization Extension Procedure

A new Internal Revenue Service (IRS) procedure (2010-52) details the process by which mutli-employer plans can request a five or 10-year extension of the deadline for amortizing unfunded liabilities.

The tax agency document describes the information needed in the request for extension and how and to whom it is to be turned in. Among the items required in the extension application is a statement that the plan sponsor has adopted a plan to improve the plan’s funded status.

The document also sets out who is to be notified, including the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), and warns that the notifications have to be hand-delivered, mailed, or delivered electronically to the last known address of each employee organization, participant, beneficiary, and alternate payee.

The IRS said all extension applications must be submitted by the 15th day of the third calendar month following the last day of the first plan year for which the extension is intended to take effect. The revenue procedure is effective for all ruling requests submitted on or after January 1, 2011, the tax agency said.

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