The IRS has issued Notice 2020-23 to provide employers, employees and retirement plan service providers with relief from business disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic. Notice 2020-23 automatically extends, to July 15, 2020, certain deadlines for employee welfare benefit plan filings and other specified time-sensitive actions, that would otherwise require completion between April 1, 2020, and July 14, 2020.
IRS Notice 2020-23. The July 15, 2020, deadline extension applies to the following filings and actions related to employee welfare benefit plans:
Forms 5500. The Form 5500 for an employee benefit plan is generally due to be filed on the last day of the seventh month following the last day of the plan year. A plan administrator may ordinarily receive an automatic 2-1/2 month extension for the annual Form 5500 filing by submitting a Form 5558 before the original due date.
- NOTE: Where an employer’s tax and plan years align, an extension of the employer’s corporate tax return deadline automatically extends the Form 5500 deadline without the need to file a Form 5558.
Notice 2020-23 provides relief only to those employers with certain non-calendar year plans with filing deadlines that are within the April 1 through July 14 time period.
- NOTE: Notice 2020-23 does not provide relief to calendar year plans, which still must be filed by July 31 (unless the plan administrator obtains an automatic extension).
Health & Medical Savings Accounts. An employee may generally make contributions to a Health Savings Account (“HSA”) or Archer Medical Savings Account (“Archer MSA”), for a particular year, at any time during the year or by the due date for filing his or her federal income tax return for that year. Because the due date for filing federal income tax returns is now July 15, 2020, under the relief provided in Notice 2020-23, employees may make contributions to HSAs or Archer MSAs for 2019 at any time up to July 15, 2020. Notice 2020-23 also extends the deadline for trustees/custodians to report HSA (or Archer MSA) contribution information by filing Form 5498-SA and providing the information to individual account holders.
IRS Notice 2020-23 is available by clicking here.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions regarding this Health and Welfare Law Alert.