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Author, Ryan Gorman, Atlanta, +1 404 572 4609, rgorman@kslaw.com.
Employers and plan sponsors must comply with numerous filing and notice deadlines for their retirement and health and welfare plans. Failure to comply with these deadlines can result in costly penalties. To avoid such penalties, employers should remain informed with respect to the filing and notice deadlines associated with their plans.
The filing and notice deadline table below provides key filing and notice deadlines for the next two months. If the due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the due date is delayed until the next business day. Please note that the deadlines will generally be different if your plan year is not the calendar year. Please also note that the table is not a complete list of all applicable filing and notice deadlines (including any available exceptions and/or extensions), just the most common ones.
Deadline
|
Item
|
Action
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Affected Plans
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March 1
(60 days after the beginning of the plan year)
|
Medicare Part D Creditable Coverage Disclosure
|
Deadline for employers that provide prescription drug coverage to Medicare Part D eligible individuals to disclose to the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) whether the coverage is “creditable prescription drug coverage” by completing the Online Disclosure to CMS Form at https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Prescription-Drug-Coverage/CreditableCoverage/CCDisclosureForm.html
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Health and Welfare Plans that provide prescription drug coverage to Medicare Part D eligible individuals
|
March 15
|
Plan Contribution Deadline
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Deadline for corporate employer contributions to be made to plan trusts in order for such amounts to be deductible on corporate tax returns (assuming the employer is operating on a calendar-year fiscal year). Note that this deadline may be extended if an extension is obtained for the corporate tax return.
|
Qualified Retirement Plans*
|
March 15
(2 ½ months after the plan year)
|
Excess Contributions
|
Deadline for plan administrator to distribute any excess contributions and earnings from the prior year to avoid 10% excise tax on employer (other than eligible automatic contribution arrangements (EACAs)).
|
401(k) Plans Other Than EACAs
|
March 31
(last day of 3rd month following the end of the prior plan year)
|
Certification of Adjusted Funding Target Attainment Percentage (AFTAP)
|
Deadline for actuary to certify AFTAP to avoid presumption that AFTAP is 10 points less than prior year AFTAP.
|
Defined Benefit Plans
|
April 1
|
Age 70 ½ Distribution Requirements
|
Deadline for plan administrator to distribute prior year’s required minimum distribution for any terminated employee who reached age 70 ½ or older during the prior year.
|
Qualified Retirement Plans
|
April 15
|
Excess Deferrals
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Deadline for plan to distribute prior year’s deferrals in excess of Internal Revenue Code (IRC) §402(g) annual dollar limit and related earnings.
|
401(k) Plans
|
April 15
(105 days after the end of the plan year)
|
PBGC 4010 Filing
|
Deadline for contributing sponsors (and each controlled group member) to file PBGC Form 4010 if:
1) Any single-employer plan in the contributing sponsor’s controlled group had a prior year AFTAP of less than 80%;
2) Any single-employer plan in the contributing sponsor’s controlled group fails to make a required installment or other required payments to a plan, and as a result, a lien is imposed pursuant to ERISA section 303(k)(1) or IRC section 430(k)(1); or
3) The IRS has granted funding waivers of more than $1 million to any single-employer plan in the contributing sponsor’s controlled group and any portion of such waiver is still outstanding.
|
Defined Benefit Plans
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April 30
(no later than 120 days after the end of the plan year)
|
Annual Funding Notice
|
Deadline for the plan administrator to provide a plan funding notice to the PBGC, to each plan participant and beneficiary and to each employer that has an obligation to contribute under the plan.
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Defined Benefit Plans
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*Qualified Retirement Plans include all defined benefit and defined contribution plans that are intended to satisfy Code §401(a).