IRS Updates VCP Electronic Submission Procedures, Revises Form

On June 28, 2019, the IRS issued its June Employee Plans News, in which the agency announced comparatively minor changes to the submission procedures applicable to the IRS Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (“EPCRS“). The changes include revisions to required Forms 8950 and 8951, along with technical changes to the electronic submission process itself.

The June 2019 revisions represent the most recent changes made to EPCRS, which was last extensively revised in April 2019 with the release of Revenue Procedure 2019-19. See our recent blog for more information.

• Technical Changes to the Electronic Submission Process. The significant changes are as follows:
  • Sponsoring employers and their authorized plan representatives are now permitted to use the same “Pay.gov” username to submit multiple Forms 8950—including forms submitted on behalf of different employers or plans.
  • Similarly, the same “Pay.gov” username may be used to submit additional user fees for multiple open VCP submissions, using Form 8951, Additional User Fee Payment for Open Application for Voluntary Correction Program (VCP), with respect to different plans or clients of an authorized plan representative.
  • Applicants may now submit faxes up to 150MB. The cover sheet must include: (i) the “Pay.gov” tracking ID number; (ii) the applicant’s name and EIN; and (iii) the plan name.

• Revised VCP Form 8950: Penalty of Perjury Statement.  The penalty of perjury statement has been revised to eliminate a prior misunderstanding – namely, that authorized representatives submitting the application on an employer’s behalf must sign the application under penalty of perjury.  Actually, they are not required to do so – authorized representatives need merely certify their status as set forth on Form 2848, Power of Attorney, which also must be included with the VCP submission.

TAKEAWAY: Although VCP submissions do need to include a penalty of perjury statement, that statement has to be signed by the plan sponsor itself – not the authorized representative.

Also, minor revisions have been made to the “Before you Begin” section to reflect the technical changes to the electronic submission process mentioned previously.

• Revised VCP Form 8951: Additional User Fee Payment for Open Application for VCP.  Similarly, very minor revisions have been made to the “Before You Begin” section of Form 8951 to reflect the technical changes to the electronic submission process, outlined above.

Check out Compliancedashboard for a more comprehensive discussion of the EPCRS program.