On April 9, 2020, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2020-23, which amplifies previous notices providing taxpayer relief due to the coronavirus pandemic. Notice 2020-23 expanded the defined “affected taxpayer” to those performing a time-sensitive action. Relief is provided to filing any form, including Form 5500, Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan, due to be filed on or after April 1, 2020 and before July 15, 2020 (originally or pursuant to a valid extension), by extending the due date to July 15, 2020. This extension of time is automatic and no additional correspondence is required with the IRS to gain this relief. Additional filing extensions beyond July 15, 2020 must be requested with the appropriate extension by July 15, 2020. This immediate relief does not extend to calendar year 2019 Form 5500 filings originally due July 31, 2020. We will communicate if any additional relief notices are issued.
On April 10, 2020, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) followed suit by extending due dates for premium payments and filings that would otherwise have been due. The PBGC’s disaster relief policy provides that many PBGC due dates will be similarly extended when the IRS provides relief to employee benefit plans. Premium payments and filings that would have otherwise have been due on or after April 1, 2020 and before July 15, 2020, have been extended to July 15, 2020. However, these extensions do not apply to particularly important or time-sensitive filings that may indicate a high risk of harm to pension plan participants or the insurance program, but such filers may request individual extensions. These exceptions can be found here on the PBGC website, under the Disaster Relief section of its website.