October 03, 2017
On Sept. 8, 2017, the IRS released the draft 2017 Form 5500-EZ. Then, on Sept. 20, 2017, the IRS released draft instructions for the Form. As a reminder, Form 5500-EZ is used by a one-participant retirement plan or a foreign retirement plan that does not file electronically on Form 5500-SF.
Last year, the Form 5500-EZ instructions stated that plan sponsors would not be required to enter the preparer’s information at the bottom of the second page of Form 5500-EZ. Furthermore, plan sponsors were instructed to skip questions 4a through 4d (trust information), 13a (confirmation that the plan has been timely amended), 13b (date of last plan amendment), 14 (confirmation that required minimum distributions to five percent owners who have attained age 70 1/2) and 15 (unrelated business taxable income information). These questions (and the line for the preparer’s information) have been removed from the Draft 2017 Form 5500-EZ.
The Principal Activity Codes, which can be found at the end of the Form 5500-EZ instructions, have been updated in the 2017 instructions to reflect changes to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).
Draft 2017 Form 5500-EZ Instructions » Draft 2017 Form 5500-EX »