Hurricane Maria Tax Filing Relief for Puerto Rico

Recently the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a statement providing filing deadline relief for taxpayers and Retirement Plan Sponsors located in areas affected by Hurricane Maria.  All 78 municipalities in Puerto Rico have been declared as a major disaster area due to the Hurricane.

This disaster declaration has permitted the IRS to postpone certain filing deadlines for taxpayers and Plan Sponsors, who reside or operate a business in the disaster area, which includes all of Puerto Rico.  The filing deadline postponement applies to certain tax returns that have an original or extended due date between September 17, 2017 and January 31, 2018. Those tax returns are granted additional time to file through January 31, 2018.

Among other Forms, this filing relief includes the Form 5500, which is required to be electronically filed by all employers sponsoring a retirement plan. Forms 5500, which have an original or extended due date between September 17, 2017 and January 31, 2018, will now have to be filed by January 31, 2018.  This filing deadline postponement applies to 2016 calendar plan year 5500 Forms, whose filing due dates were previously extended to October 16, 2017.

This relief is granted to Plan Sponsors whose principal place of business is located in Puerto Rico or whose records necessary to meet the filing deadline are located in Puerto Rico. If a Plan Sponsor subject to this relief receives a late filing penalty notice from the IRS, the Sponsor should contact the IRS via the telephone number provided on the notice, in order to have the IRS remove the penalty.

In this time, where priorities are focused on rebuilding and recovery efforts, hopefully this relief will provide sufficient time for Puerto Rico taxpayers and Plan Sponsors to comply with the filing requirements.  The full IRS statement and details on the tax relief are available under the Newsroom section of the IRS website and can be viewed via the following link: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-relief-for-victims-of-hurricane-maria-in-puerto-rico

Please contact your BPAS Plan Consultant with any questions.