A Year-End IRA Program Checklist for Your Credit Union
It’s almost December, which means it’s time for “making a list and checking it twice”—a task that doesn’t apply only to your holiday gift list! Taking the appropriate year-end steps at your credit union in these final months of the year can help ensure smooth sailing for the upcoming tax reporting season.
We reached out to our IRA experts at Ascensus, to get the skinny on what your credit union should start thinking about doing now and in December to make sure you’re in good shape for the busy IRA distribution and reporting season coming up. We made the list, now you check it twice!
- Review the status of Traditional IRA owners receiving required minimum distributions (RMDs), and ensure that each owner’s full payment amount for the year is distributed by December 31.
- Mail withholding notices to IRA owners and beneficiaries who are receiving scheduled payments quarterly or more frequently (e.g., RMDs), as the withholding notice must be provided before the first payment each year.
- Update your core processing system with corrections to an IRA owner’s name, Social Security number, and date of birth in preparation for tax reporting.
- Review your IRA owner address information and update it as necessary, so there are no tax form delivery problems during the upcoming reporting season.
- Review the IRS rules for fair market value (FMV) and RMD reporting, and confirm that your credit union is ready to comply with the requirements.
- Contact your data processor to confirm that your expectations for tax file creation and submission are clear and documented.
- At the end of December, verify that all IRA withdrawals for the current year have been entered into your core processing system to ensure the information is complete before your Form 1099 file is produced.
Have questions? Maybe we can help. Listen to a new podcast with Ascensus IRA expert, Fred Volkman on year-end IRA program best practices including answers to some of the most common questions posed by IRA staff at this time of year.
Have more questions? No problem - Ascensus offers more great resources (and contact information) on their NAFCU Services page at www.nafcu.org/ascensus.
Post written by Kirstin Orr, Marketing Manager, NAFCU Services Corp.