The NASPP Blog

I’m sure that all of you are completely on top of this, but just in case you’ve gotten a little distracted by all the excitement over the new tax withholding rates and the American Taxpayer Relief Act, don’t forget that it’s time to file the returns and distribute the information statements required under Section 6039 for ISOs and ESPPs.

Section 6039 Deadlines Coming Up

The information statements need to be distributed to employees by January 31 and the returns need to be filed with the IRS by February 28 (if filing on paper) or April 1 (if filing electronically).

The returns are filed on Form 3921 for ISOs and Form 3922 for ESPPs. You can simply provide employees with a copy of the returns that will be filed with the IRS or you can provide them with a substitute statement, provided the statement complies with the IRS’s requirements (which aren’t terribly onerous despite what one law firm memo I’ve seen suggests).

What If You Did Forget?

Well, you’ve still got plenty of time on the returns that are filed with the IRS, especially if you file electronically, which is actually probably easier than trying to file on paper anyway. There are several providers than can take your data, whip it into shape, and file it electronically for you–see the NASPP’s webcast “Comparing Solutions for Section 6039 Compliance. Not only is the deadline (April 1–we get an extra day this year because March 31 is a Sunday) still several months off, but you can file for an automatic, no-questions-asked 30-day extension using Form 8809.

But you’d better get cracking on the employee statements. There’s no automatic extension available here–if you need an extension you need to write a letter to the Extension of Time Coordinator in the Information Returns Branch at the IRS, include a good excuse (the dog ate my information statements?), and hope the IRS is feeling generous. [A couple of thoughts come to mind: 1) How cool is that job title? I think it would be awesome to tell people that you are the “Extension of Time Coordinator.” I bet a lot of people want to be your friend. I wonder if this person also has the authority to suspend birthdays? And, 2) if you are in need of an extension, it’s nice to know that there are so many other people in the same boat that the IRS has actually created a position to handle all the requests.]

If any of my readers have requested (or have clients that requested) an extension on the employee statements I’d love to hear from you–how quickly did the IRS respond, was the extension granted, did they give you are hard time about it, etc.?

More Information

The NASPP has loads of resources on Section 6039–Section 6039 is practically our middle name!  Our Section 6039 Portal brings together all of our great resources on this topic, including numerous blog entries we’ve written on the topic as well as many other articles we’ve collected and various IRS publications that relate to this reporting obligation. 

New this year, we’ve posted the article “6039 Gotchas!” by My Equity Comp to the portal.  And the article “Figuring Out Section 6039 Filings” answers every question you could possibly have on either the returns or the statements.  If it doesn’t, let me know so I can update it. 

In addition to the webcast on providers that I mentioned above, we have a “lessons learned” webcast on 6039 filings. 

Finally, we recently received a number of reminders on Section 6039 from various law firms; I’ve posted them to the practice alert “Don’t Forget Section 6039 Statements and Returns.”

Here’s to many happy returns! 

– Barbara