Part C›INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK
Sec. 2 Sponsor “S” Record
Publication 4810 — Specifications for Electronic Filing of Form 8955-SSA, Annual Registration Statement Identifying Separated Participants With Deferred Vested Benefits · 2026-10-03 edition · updated 2026-10-04 · United States
The “S” Record identifies the Sponsor record.
Enter an “S” Record after the “T” Record on the file. There is only one “S” Record per file. The “S” Record is a fixed length of 750 positions.
Note: For all fields marked “ Required,” the transmitter must provide the information described under Field Description and Information. If required fields aren’t completed in accordance with these instructions, the file may not process correctly. For those fields not marked “ Required,” a transmitter must allow for the field, but may be instructed to enter blanks or zeros in the indicated field position(s) and for the indicated length. All records have a fixed length of 750 positions. Refer to the Instructions for Form 8955-SSA for additional filing information.
Record Name: Sponsor “S” Record
| Field Positions | Field Title | Length | Field Description and Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Record Type | 1 | Required. Enter “S.” |
| 2-9 | Plan Year Begin Date |
8 | Required. Enter the Plan Year Begin Date in the following format YYYYMMDD. |
| 10-17 | Plan Year End Date | 8 | Required. Enter the Plan Year End Date in the following format YYYYMMDD. |
| 18-26 | Sponsor’s EIN | 9 | Required. Enter the nine-digit Employer Identification Number of the Sponsor. Don’t enter blanks, hyphens, or alpha characters. An EIN consisting of all the same digits (e.g., 111111111) isn’t acceptable. |
| 27-29 | Plan Number | 3 | Required. Enter the plan number. Right justify the information with leading zeros. |
| 30 | FIRE Continuation Indicator |
1 | Required. Enter a “0” (zero) unless this is a continuation of a Form 8955-SSA. Enter a continuation indicator of “1” (one) only when reporting the second or subsequent in a series of files exceeding 2.5 million records. |
| 31-33 | FIRE Continuation Sequence Number |
3 | Required. Enter the sequence number of the Form 8955-SSA continuation file. Set to 001 if the FIRE Forms SSA Continuation Indicator is zero. Right justify the information and fill with leading zeros. |
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Record Name: Sponsor “S” Record
| 34 | Amended Indicator | 1 | Required. Enter a “1” (one) if this is an amended return; otherwise, enter a zero. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | 5558 Extension Filed Indicator |
1 | Required. Enter a “1” (one) if aForm 5558 extension was filed for this plan; otherwise, enter a zero. |
| 36 | Automatic Extension Indicator |
1 | Required. Enter “1” (one) if a business tax return extension other than a Form 5558 was filed for this year; otherwise, enter a zero. |
| 37 | Blank | 1 | Enter blank. |
| 38 | Special Extension Indicator |
1 | Required. Enter a “1” (one) if this file is being submitted under a special extension (for example, a disaster declaration); otherwise, enter a zero. |
| 39-73 | Special Extension Description |
35 | If the Special Extension Indicator equals ‘1”, enter either Disaster Relief Extension or Combat Zone Extension whichever is appropriate. Left justify the information and fill unused positions with blanks. |
| 74-143 | Sponsor’s Name | 70 | Required. Enter the Sponsor’s name. Left justify the information and fill unused positions with blanks. |
| 144-213 | Sponsor’s DBA Name |
70 | Enter the Sponsor’s Doing Business As (DBA), if applicable. Left justify the information and fill unused positions with blanks. |
| 214-248 | Sponsor’s In Care of Name |
35 | Enter the name if using an In Care of Name. Left justify the information and fill unused positions with blanks. |
| 249-283 | Sponsor’s Mailing Address Line 1 |
35 | Required. Enter the mailing address of the Sponsor. Street address should include number, street, apartment or suite number, or PO Box if mail isn’t delivered to street address. Left justify the information and fill unused positions with blanks. |
| 284-318 | Sponsor’s Mailing Address Line 2 |
35 | Enter any additional address information if necessary. |
| 319-340 | Sponsor’s City | 22 | Required. Enter the city, town, or post office. Left justify the information and fill the unused positions with blanks. Enter APO or FPO if applicable. SeePart A Sec. 10, .02 APO and FPO Addresses. |
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Record Name: Sponsor “S” Record
| 341-342 | Sponsor's State Code |
2 | Required. If a U.S. address, enter the valid U.S. Postal Service state abbreviation for the state or the appropriate postal identifier (AA, AE, or AP). Enter APO or FPO if applicable. See Part A Sec. 10, .02 APO and FPO Addresses. Otherwise, enter blanks for a foreign address. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 343-354 | Sponsor’s ZIP Code | 12 | Required. If a U.S. address, enter the valid ZIP Code assigned by the U.S. Postal Service. If only the first five-digits are known, left justify the information and fill the unused positions with blanks. Don’t enter hyphens or blanks between numbers. |
| 355-376 | Sponsor’s Foreign Province or State name |
22 | If the Sponsor has a foreign address, enter the province or state name. Left justify the information and fill unused positions with blanks. |
| 377-378 | Sponsor’s Foreign Country Code |
2 | If the Sponsor has a foreign address, enter the appropriate ISO Foreign Country Codes fromPart A, Sec. 10, Foreign Country Codes; otherwise, enter blanks. |
| 379-400 | Sponsor’s Foreign Mailing Routing Code |
22 | If the Sponsor has a foreign address, enter the routing code; otherwise, enter blanks. Enter the Sponsor’s Foreign Country Postal Routing Code. Left justify the information and fill unused positions with blanks. Leave blank for U.S. addresses. |
| 401-410 | Sponsor’s Telephone Number |
10 | If known, enter the Sponsor’s 10-digit telephone number; otherwise, enter blanks. Don’t enter dashes (-) or pluses (+). |
| 411-550 | Plan Name | 140 | Required. Enter the plan name. Left justify the information and fill unused positions with blanks. |
| 551 | Voluntary Filing Indicator |
1 | Required. Enter a 1 if this is a voluntary filing for a Government, Church or Other Plan; otherwise, enter a zero. |
| 552-559 | Code A Separated Participants Required for SSA Count |
8 | Required. Enter the total number of plan participants entitled to deferred vested benefits with entry code A in field position 42 of the participant “P” record who are required to be reported for this year. If this is a continuation form with a 1 in position 30 of this record, enter the combined total of all records. For example, if the first record of the submission contains 1,000 participants and the second record contains 2,000, then enter 3,000 in this field. Information should be right justified with leading zeros. |
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Record Name: Sponsor “S” Record
| 560-567 | Code A Separated Participants Voluntarily Reported for SSA Count |
8 | Required. Enter the total number of plan participants entitled to deferred vested benefits with entry code A in field position 42 of the participant “P” record that are voluntarily reported for this year. If this is a continuation form with a 1 in position 30 of this record, enter the combined total of all records. For example, if the first record of the submission contains 1,000 participants and the second record contains 2,000, then enter 3,000 in this field. Information should be right justified with leading zeros. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 568-575 | Total Participants Reported on SSA Count **Note:**This amount will reflect the total of all Participants with an entry code of A in field position 42 of the participant “P” record. Don’t include any participants who were previously reported on a Form 8955-SSA or a Schedule SSA (Form 5500.) |
8 | **Required.**Enter the total number of participants entered in the fields for Separated Participants and Voluntarily Separated Participants. Information should be right justified with leading zeros; otherwise, fill with leading zeros. |
| 576 | Participant Statement Indicator |
1 | Required. Enter a “1” (one) if the plan administrator provided an individual statement to each participant required to receive a statement; otherwise, enter a zero. |
| 577-585 | Last Report Sponsor's EIN |
9 | If present, enter the nine-digit EIN of the Sponsor. Don’t enter blanks, hyphens, or alpha characters. An EIN consisting of all the same digits (e.g., 111111111) isn’t acceptable. If the EIN isn’t available, entering blanks is acceptable. |
| 586-588 | Last Report Plan Number |
3 | Enter the 3-digit plan number, if available. Information should be right justified with leading zeros. |
| 589-658 | Last Report Sponsor's Name |
70 | Enter the plan Sponsor name, if available. Left justify the information, fill unused positions with blanks. |
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Record Name: Sponsor “S” Record
| 659-693 | Typed Sponsor Signature Name |
35 | Enter the name of the person responsible for signing the tax form. Left justify the information, fill unused positions with blanks. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 694-701 | Sponsor Signature Date |
8 | Enter the date the tax form was signed in YYYYMMDD format. |
| 702-740 | Reserved | 39 | Required. Enter blanks. |
| 741-748 | Record Sequence Number |
8 | Required. Enter the number of the record as it appears within the file. The record sequence number for the “S” record will always be “2” (two), since it is the second record on a file. Each record, thereafter, must be incremental by one in ascending numerical sequence, that is, 3, 4, etc. Right justify numbers with leading zeros in the field. For example, the “T” record sequence number would appear as “00000001” in the field, the “S” record would be “00000002”, the “A” record, “00000003”, the “P” record, “00000004” and so on until the final record of the file, the “F” record. |
| 749-750 | Blank or Carriage Return Line Feed |
2 | Enter blanks or carriage return line feed (CR/ characters. |
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Sponsor “S” Record Layout
| Record Type |
Plan Year Begin Date |
Plan Year End Date |
Sponsor's EIN |
Plan Number |
FIRE Continuation Indicator |
FIRE Continuation Sequence Number |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2-9 | 10-17 | 18-26 | 27-29 | 30 | 31-33 |
| Amended Indicator |
5558 Extension Filed Indicator |
Automatic Extension Indicator |
Blank | Special Extension Indicator |
Special Extension Description |
Sponsor’s Name |
| 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39-73 | 74-143 |
| Sponsor’s DBA Name |
Sponsor’s In Care of Name |
Sponsor’s Mailing Address Line 1 |
Sponsor’s Mailing Address Line 2 |
Sponsor’s City |
Sponsor's State Code |
Sponsor’s ZIP Code |
| 144-213 | 214-248 | 249-283 | 284-318 | 319-340 | 341-342 | 343-354 |
| Sponsor’s Foreign Province or State Name |
Sponsor’s Foreign Country Code |
Sponsor’s Foreign Mailing Routing Code |
Sponsor’s Telephone Number |
Plan Name | Voluntary Filing Indicator |
Separated Participants Required for SSA Count |
| 355-376 | 377-378 | 379-400 | 401-410 | 411-550 | 551 | 552-559 |
| Separated Participants Voluntarily Reported for SSA Count |
Total Participants Reported on SSA Count |
Participant Statement Indicator |
Last Report Sponsor’s EIN |
Last Report Plan Number |
Last Report Sponsor’s Name |
Typed Sponsor Signature Name |
| 560-567 | 568-575 | 576 | 577-585 | 586-588 | 589-658 | 659-693 |
| Sponsor Signature Date |
Reserved | Record Sequence Number |
Blank or Carriage Return Line Feed |
|||
| 694-701 | 702-740 |
741-748 | 749-750 | 749-750 | 749-750 | 749-750 |
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