Hi - I don't know if anyone can advise me but thought I'd give this forum a try.

The company I used to work for (call it Company A) was bought out 2 years ago this July 1st. At that time I was 100% fully vested and the ESOP was bought out at 3X the stock price if I remember correctly. We were told that the IRS had to review the sale of the company before any ESOP checks would be disbursed (at least that's they way I remember it being explained to me, I'm no financial genius). Any time I asked the HR dept at Company A they just say the IRS is still working on it and don't have any other information. I find it hard to believe that it would take almost 2 yrs for this to be reviewed/approved.

Who would I call/email/mail at the IRS to get some information on this and what sort of information will they need me to provide?

Thanks!

It sounds like they requested a determination letter from the IRS regarding the termination of the plan. The determination letter is a written IRS opinion that the termination of the plan does not adversely affect the qualified status of the plan. If that is what they did, they were required to send you a Notice to Interested Parties within 10-24 days prior to filing with the IRS. If you can't find your copy of the notice, ask HR for another copy. It will show the date the filing was going to be sent to the IRS. Let us know when you find out what the filing date was.

The IRS is pretty slow processing these requests. One of our clients sent in a request for a terminating ESOP in April 2008 and still has not received the determination letter.

I have received 2 letters from the company about this - I'll find them and let you know. Thanks!