Mark Your Calendar
Operating a retirement plan can be time-consuming. To help you, we’ve listed some important dates in the upcoming months. Please note that most of these deadlines are for calendar-year plans (non-calendar-year plans must adjust the dates):
December 31:
- Distribute 2011 401(k) excess contributions and excess aggregate contributions (both adjusted for 2011 income and losses) without jeopardizing the plan’s tax-qualified status.
- Revoke a single-employer defined benefit plan sponsor’s previous election to use a funding balance to offset minimum required contributions for the 2012 plan year, to the extent the election exceeded the full minimum required contribution for the year (This deadline only applies to plans with valuation dates as of the first day of the plan year.)
- Elect to reduce January 1, 2012, funding balances to avoid or lift benefit restrictions under IRC Section 436 for single-employer defined benefit plans.
- Elect to restore any single-employer defined benefit plan’s funding balances if a reduction that was made before applying MAP-21 rates is no longer necessary (if the original election was made on or before September 30, 2012 – see Notice 2012-61).
- Recertify a single-employer defined benefit plan’s 2012 AFTAP if it had previously been certified using pre-MAP-21 rates on or before September 30, 2012, if the sponsor’s decision to apply the MAP-21 rates prospectively would otherwise cause a “material” change in the AFTAP (see Notice 2012-61).
January 15: Make the 2012 fourth quarter contributions for defined benefit plans.
January 31:
- File Form 945, Annual Return of Withheld Federal Income Tax. If you made deposits timely in full payment of the taxes for 2012, you may file Form 945 by February 11, 2013.
- Trustees and custodians must issue Form 1099-R, Distributions From Pensions, Annuities, Retirement or Profit-Sharing Plans, IRAs, Insurance Contracts, etc., to recipients of 2012 retirement plan distributions.
- Amend for recent law changes and submit the plan for a determination letter, if desired, for
Cycle B individually designed plans.
Visit the Retirement Plans Web page for a complete list of upcoming Employee Plans Educational Events/Conferences.
Page Last Reviewed or Updated: 2012-12-12
