IRS Forms User Guide

Instructions for IRS/PBGC Forms Package

PLEASE NOTE: this is intended to be a general guide to introduce you to the IRS Forms software features and structure. More detail is often provided at ftwilliam.com. At the top of every page you should find a link to 'Help' and a link to contact 'support' (via email). You can also call us during regular business hours at (800) 596-0714 (we are located in the Central Time Zone). This number can also be found at the bottom of every page in your account.

Contents

Introduction to the ftwilliam.com software. Top

Logging In. Top

You will need the company code, login name and password you received when you signed up for the ftwilliam.com system.

General ftwilliam.com website features available after log-in:

  • Getting Help: at the top of every page you should find links for 'help' (links to this guide once you are in the IRS forms software pages) and a link to contact 'support' (via email). You can also call us during regular business hours at (800) 596-0714 (we are located in the Central Time Zone). This number can also be found at the bottom of every page in your account.
  • Admin Menu: a link to the 'Admin Menu' is provided at the top of every page. It provides the following options (not all options may appear depending on your subscription with ftwilliam.com):
    • Print Blank Checklists*
    • Print Blank Adoption Agreements for Prototype-Style Plans*
    • Print IRS Letters for Prototype & Volume Submitter Plans*
    • Print Compliance List* (provides lists of Safe Harbor, Cross Tested, Hardship Plans, among many others)
    • Print List of Deleted Plans*
    • Edit Document/SAR/AFN Print Settings
    • Portal Settings
    • 5500 WorkFlow
    • SAR/AFN Defaults
    • Edit Company Profile
    • Edit Divisions (allows the Master Admin User to set-up containers which hold one or more companies (Plan Sponsors))
    • Edit User(s) (designated administrators can set permissions for users, log-in and password information)
    • Download all plan information by checklist* (downloads entire document checklist for a particular plan type into Excel format)
    • Extract selected plan information for all plans (download into Excel basic information for all plans on the system (plan name, EIN, etc.)
    • Mandatory Cash Out Sample Customer Letter*
    • Roth 401(k) Sample Customer Letter*
    • Roth 401(k) Sample Description*
    • Extract selected Year 5500 information for all plans | (Links for prior years) (Excel download includes participant counts and total plan assets)
    • Payment Authorization Forms
    • Download 'Tell a Friend' form (This form is for informing ftwilliam.com that you've referred a friend or colleague to us. If your referral signs up within 60 days, ftwilliam.com will give you credit toward your next purchase.)
    • View Online Usage Agreement
* These options may not appear or may appear differently if you do not have a document subscription with ftwilliam.com.

Select Company. Top

After log-in, you will be taken to the "Select Company" page where you can Add Company / Select Company / Delete Company. First time ftwilliam.com users will need to add a company to get started. The 55AutoFill feature will import company information from 5500 form filings. All you need to do is enter the plan sponsor's taxpayer identification number and basic plan and company information for that plan sponsor are automatically imported for your use - even if you did not use our software in any previous year. (Patent pending).

A Company that will already be in place when you first log in is the Company "ZZZ - Default Plans". (It is named "ZZZ" so that it will appear last in your list of Companies.) You may want to start by opening the default company plans and reviewing the plan specifications. These specifications will be used whenever you add a new plan to the system (unless you clone a plan).

In addition, the 'Select Company' page includes 'Quick links' to many batch features, links to all our recent technical updates, recent email announcements, a link to our 'Upload Center' (contact support for more information if you are interested in the Upload features), and User Guides.

Select Plan. Top

After selecting a Company, you will be taken to the "Select Plan" page. First time ftwilliam.com users may need to add a plan to get started.

Note that you can only add plans related to your current document subscription. For example, if you have a retirement documents subscription but not welfare documents, you will be able to add any plan in the retirement document subscription but will not see options to add cafeteria or other welfare plans. Contact us at any time to add subscriptions to your account.

Go to Documents/IRS Forms/5500 forms/1099s/Admin/Portal. Top

After selecting a Plan, you will be taken to the "Edit/Print Menu" page. The different sections of the checklist will appear in the 'Select Section' box. Click on each section to enter relevant plan specifications. Make sure to click 'Update' to save your changes and trigger any applicable edit checks.

At the bottom of the page, under the "Print Menu", are options to access specific software features for this plan: Documents/IRS Forms/5500 forms/1099s/Admin/Portal. Items where you do not have an subscription will appear as 'N/A' instead of having a "Go" button.

The page shown at right displays what it looks like if you have a plan documents subscription with ftwilliam.com. It may look different and have different options under the "Print Menu" depending upon the subscriptions you have with ftwilliam.com.

Details on each of the relevant software features are provided in separate user guides. The links to those user guides is provided below:

Click on "Go" under "IRS Forms" to access IRS forms software.

IRS/PBGC Forms Package

Overview. Top

After you click on "Go" under "IRS Forms" from the 'Edit/Print Menu' page you will be taken to the 'IRS Forms' page shown at right.

Note the forms and materials you have access to on the IRS Forms page will depend upon your subscription with ftwilliam.com. Retirement document subscribers that do not have an IRS forms subscription will have access to the following forms only:

  • Form 5307
  • Schedule Q
  • Form 8717
  • Form 2848
  • Form 8905
  • Notice to Interested Parties
  • IRS cover letter

IRS Forms. Top

Click on the name of the form you wish to edit and the form will open in a screen where you can enter and edit information (shown at right). There is no need to click 'Update' buttons. Once information is entered, it is saved in the system.

Note that once a form is opened, you can navigate to other forms directly from the menu shown on the left-hand side of the page. You can also 'Run Edit Checks' for the form that is open on your screen. (See the Edit Checks section of this guide for more information.)

Misc Documents. Top

Options under the "Misc Documents" box include Quick Entry, Notice to Interested Parties and IRS Cover Letter. Click on 'Quick Entry' to enter the date the Plan is to be submitted to IRS for the Notice to Interested Parties and IRS Cover Letter. You can also enter the testing date if the Plan is providing testing data in 'Quick Entry'.

Sch Q Demo. Top

The Schedule Q demos under the 'Sch Q Demo' box are all generally sample demonstrations/instructions that you can modify and save in Microsoft Word on your computer. To view the instructions for the different demonstrations, click here.

EPCRS Forms. Top

Click on the type of EPCRS filing you want to complete (streamlined or full) then click on the name of the form you wish to edit and the form will open in a screen where you can enter and edit information (full filing shown at right). There is no need to click 'Update' buttons. Once information is entered, it is saved in the system.

New form options will generally be available to complete if you have indicated elsewhere that the particular form/schedule/Appendix should be completed.

Note that once a form is opened, you can navigate to other forms directly from the menu shown on the left-hand side of the page. You can also 'Run Edit Checks' for the form that is open on your screen. Links are also provided for your reference to VCP Submission Kit and EPCRS Rev. Proc. 2008-50.

Edit PBGC Forms. Top

Click on the name of the form you wish to edit and the form will open in a screen where you can enter and edit information (shown at right). There is no need to click 'Update' buttons. Once information is entered, it is saved in the system.

Note that once a form is opened, you can navigate to other forms directly from the menu shown on the left-hand side of the page. You can also 'Run Edit Checks' for the form that is open on your screen.

Edit Checks. Top

Once your data is entered, you may perform edit checks on the data for each IRS form. The purpose of these edit checks is to look for missing and/or inconsistent data. These edit checks are NOT intended to check for the accuracy, correctness or completeness of the responses.

There are a few ways to run edit checks on a form:

  1. Listed edit checks (most comprehensive) - You may run edit checks on each form by clicking on the edit check symbol (, or ) next to the appropriate form. This will open a list of errors in a new window. If you have the form open at the same time, you can click on '(Go To)' and the form will move the item to the top of the page.
  2. "Visual Edit Checks" - When a form is open, you can click on 'Run Edit Checks' in the left-hand pane. Field items that are not complete will be highlighted yellow. You can double click in the yellow area to view the text of the edit check.
  3. 'Edit Check All Selected IRS/EPCRS Forms' - This will run a list of edit checks for all selected forms.

Immediately before printing the final version of a form, it is a good idea to rerun the edit checks even if the all status codes are "OK". The following is a description of the status codes:

SymbolMeaning
Unknown Status: edit checks have not yet been run or edit checks have not been run since a change was made to the form.
NOT OK: Edit checks have been run and the form has errors.
OK: Edit checks have been run and discovered no errors.

Help. Top

There are two methods of consulting the official form instructions.

1. On the main IRS/PBGC page, you may click on the next to the appropriate form. This will display a page with the full text of the instructions for the applicable form.

2. When you are entering data on a form, you may click on the blue buttons with question marks next to the line item on the form to read the materials related to that line item.

Other Forms/Documents. Top

A variety of links are provided in the 'Other IRS Forms'box. All forms must be modified and saved to your computer: