SOS Rolls Out Updated Suite of IRS Section 6039 Outsourcing and Software Solutions

San Jose, CA, October 23, 2011 --(PR.com)-- Stock & Option Solutions (SOS), a leading provider of stock plan administration, management and consulting services, today announced the roll out of an enhanced line of products and services to help companies comply with IRS regulation section 6039.

Section 6039 regulations impact companies with section 423-qualified employee stock purchase plans (ESPP) and/or incentive stock options (ISO). Businesses with ISO exercises and ESPP “transfers” (usually purchases) must complete IRS Forms 3921 and 3922. These forms must then be delivered to participants by January 31st, 2012 while corresponding IRS filing with the IRS must happen by February 28th, 2012 for paper submissions and March 31st, 2012 for electronic filings (required for more than 249 transactions).

SOS handles the 6039 needs of their clients in two different ways. For those looking to hand off the entire process, SOS provides a complete outsourcing solution which includes statement generation, IRS E-filing, and fulfillment/mailing services. Companies that want to manage the process in-house can implement SOS 6039 Xpress, a Microsoft Access-based program that links to a wide variety of stock plan data source(s) to populate and format the required participant information into the new IRS forms 3921 (ISO) and 3922 (ESPP) while keeping sensitive participant data inside the company’s own firewall.

In 2010, SOS was at the forefront of educating the equity compensation community on the complexities of the new regulations, and was quick to develop specialized technology and processes to meet the needs of the marketplace.

“We came to SOS in need of immediate help with the processing of Form 3922 and the filing with the IRS. With a short deadline, SOS met our needs timely and effectively,” said Jaclyn A. Hoey of NRG Energy Inc. After working with over 100 clients last year, SOS gathered internal and external feedback to further improve the client experience. The client satisfaction survey showed an average score of 9.12 on a scale of 1 to 10--a result which satisfied even the most exacting SOS personnel.

SOS took all commentary into account and improved their suite of solutions to include a preparation checklist that educates clients on potential data hazards, the addition of a sophisticated data audit program designed to identify incomplete and incorrect data saving time and effort in the set up process for the client, and the inclusion of a second run in the base pricing to allow for further corrections and to ensure final accuracy of what is sent to the IRS and to participants. The new version of the 6039 Xpress application, which SOS uses to prepare statements and IRS e-filings for its outsourcing clients, and which can also be installed at the Client site, has been enhanced to make correcting participant statement without processing an IRS correction file even easier. There is also added support for Box 6 on Form 3921 to allow entry of parent and subsidiary company information.

“We understand the ins and outs of the regulations, and have a well-trained team using a fully developed and battle-tested application to fully comply with the revised regs. Our goal this year is to minimize further the client-side effort in getting us the data we need, and make the process even smoother the second time around,” said Elizabeth Dodge, Vice President of Product Management.

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