Effective August 24, the IRS changed its appeals process for people who miss the 60-day deadline to rollover funds from a qualified plan or IRA.  The appeals process allows people to provide a self-certification that meets the requirements.

For the purpose of accepting and reporting a rollover contribution into a plan or IRA, a plan administrator (credit union) may rely on a taxpayer’s self-certification in determining whether the taxpayer has satisfied the conditions for a waiver of the 60-day rollover requirement.  (The IRS plans on modifying the instructions on Form 5498.)

• No prior denial by the IRS for the 60-day waiver.
• Eleven allowable excuses:
  1. an error was committed by the financial institution receiving the contribution or making the distribution to which the contribution relates;
  2. the distribution, having been made in the form of a check, was misplaced and never cashed;
  3. the distribution was deposited into and remained in an account that the taxpayer mistakenly thought was an eligible retirement plan;
  4. the taxpayer’s principal residence was severely damaged;
  5. a member of the taxpayer’s family died;
  6. the taxpayer or a member of the taxpayer’s family was seriously ill;
  7. the taxpayer was incarcerated;
  8. restrictions were imposed by a foreign country;
  9. a postal error occurred;
  10. the distribution was made on account of a levy under § 6331 and the proceeds of the levy have been returned to the taxpayer; or
  11. the party making the distribution to which the rollover relates delayed providing information that the receiving plan or IRA required to complete the rollover despite the taxpayer’s reasonable efforts to obtain the information.
• The contribution must be made to the plan or IRA as soon as practicable after the reason or reasons listed above no longer prevent the taxpayer from making the contribution. This requirement is deemed to be satisfied if the contribution is made within 30 days after the reason or reasons no longer prevent the taxpayer from making the contribution.

The Certification Form is available here (the password is NWCG2012.)