Year End Payment Messup

[catalpa]

I receive a pension due on the first of each month. During
2016 each direct deposit was done on the first business day of
the month (if the first fell on a weekend the direct deposit
was done on Monday). I receive a monthly Earnings Statement
showing each payment being on the first of the month even if
deposited after the first.

Reviewing my bank statement for December 2016 shows a pension
deposit on 12/01 and on 12/30. That second deposit isn't
supposed to be there, but it is.

Clearly as the money was received in 2016 it is 2016 income.
The paperwork says otherwise. My 01/01/2017 Earnings Statement
shows YTD for 2017 as the amount paid me on 12/30/2016.

It is a major Trust company that messed this up for me and I
have to assume for thousands of other payees.

What am I supposed to do? Waste my time and energy trying to
inform this major Trust company they messed this up big time.
Or just let it go as not my problem.

I have already decided it is not my problem.

Can anyone cites cases of the IRS taking action against payers
for year end messups like this?

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[njoracle]

catalpa wrote:
> I receive a pension due on the first of each month. During
> 2016 each direct deposit was done on the first business day of
> the month (if the first fell on a weekend the direct deposit
> was done on Monday). I receive a monthly Earnings Statement
> showing each payment being on the first of the month even if
> deposited after the first.
>
> Reviewing my bank statement for December 2016 shows a pension
> deposit on 12/01 and on 12/30. That second deposit isn't
> supposed to be there, but it is.
>
> Clearly as the money was received in 2016 it is 2016 income.
> The paperwork says otherwise. My 01/01/2017 Earnings Statement
> shows YTD for 2017 as the amount paid me on 12/30/2016.
>
> It is a major Trust company that messed this up for me and I
> have to assume for thousands of other payees.
>
> What am I supposed to do? Waste my time and energy trying to
> inform this major Trust company they messed this up big time.
> Or just let it go as not my problem.
>
> I have already decided it is not my problem.
>
> Can anyone cites cases of the IRS taking action against payers
> for year end messups like this?
>

What happened in January 2016? Did you get a deposit on 1/01 or was your first
deposit on 2/01? Some company's do it exactly that way (see example below) and
only 12 month's of pension will show up on your 1099-R. That is what the IRS
looks at, not your bank statement.

https://www.pspp.ca/pensioners/pension-payment-dates.jsp

[BignTall]

On 1/7/2017 1:56 PM, catalpa wrote:
> I receive a pension due on the first of each month. During
> 2016 each direct deposit was done on the first business day of
> the month (if the first fell on a weekend the direct deposit
> was done on Monday). I receive a monthly Earnings Statement
> showing each payment being on the first of the month even if
> deposited after the first.
>
> Reviewing my bank statement for December 2016 shows a pension
> deposit on 12/01 and on 12/30. That second deposit isn't
> supposed to be there, but it is.
>
> Clearly as the money was received in 2016 it is 2016 income.
> The paperwork says otherwise. My 01/01/2017 Earnings Statement
> shows YTD for 2017 as the amount paid me on 12/30/2016.
>
> It is a major Trust company that messed this up for me and I
> have to assume for thousands of other payees.
>
> What am I supposed to do? Waste my time and energy trying to
> inform this major Trust company they messed this up big time.
> Or just let it go as not my problem.
>
> I have already decided it is not my problem.
>
> Can anyone cites cases of the IRS taking action against payers
> for year end messups like this?
>

The real question is what the 1099 will say. I've seen 13 payment
years where the end of December payment is treated like it was
made the next January when the 1099 is issued. I also saw checking
account records that show a 13 payment year in 2005 for Social
Security and the 2015 SSA-1099 didn't include the late December
payment. I don't know whether this treatment is explicitly
permitted by obscure statutes, if there is formal IRS guidance
that permits it, if this is just a common, long standing practice
that isn't worth the energy to stamp out, or something else I
have no clue about.