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Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (ACT ...

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PROTECTING PLAN BENEFITS:IMPROVING GOVERNMENTAL DEFINED CONTRIBUTION PLAN COMPLIANCEthe United States where it is accessible during every business day, <strong>and</strong> (2) either has atleast 30 clients that have their principal place of business within the jurisdicti<strong>on</strong> of notmore than two regi<strong>on</strong>s of the IRS <strong>and</strong> are expected to adopt the sp<strong>on</strong>sor’s regi<strong>on</strong>alprototype plan, or has at least three clients that are expected to adopt a “mass submitterregi<strong>on</strong>al prototype plan.” 39The regi<strong>on</strong>al prototype plan program <strong>and</strong> the M&P plan program operated separately,each being amended a number of times thereafter as procedural requirements changedin accordance with the law, until the two were finally unified under a single Master <strong>and</strong>Prototype plan program in 2000. Stating that it was no l<strong>on</strong>ger practical to maintainseparate programs, the IRS issued Rev. Proc. 2000-20, creating <strong>on</strong>e set ofrequirements <strong>and</strong> procedures for all Master <strong>and</strong> Prototype plan sp<strong>on</strong>sors <strong>and</strong> exp<strong>and</strong>ingthe availability of opti<strong>on</strong>s previously available to <strong>on</strong>ly <strong>on</strong>e program to make themuniversally available under the Unified Program.Since 2000, there have been minor amendments to the Unified Program, most notableof which was in 2005, when the IRS issued Rev. Proc. 2005-16, attempting to simplify<strong>and</strong> combine the otherwise separate programs for Pre-approved plans.Rev. Proc. 2005-16 sets forth the IRS’ current procedures for issuing opini<strong>on</strong> <strong>and</strong>advisory letters regarding the qualificati<strong>on</strong> of pre-approved plans under Secti<strong>on</strong>s 401(a)<strong>and</strong> 403(a) of the Code. It delineates the requirements <strong>and</strong> resp<strong>on</strong>sibilities ofSp<strong>on</strong>soring Organizati<strong>on</strong>s <strong>and</strong> Adopting Employers in c<strong>on</strong>necti<strong>on</strong> with theestablishment, qualificati<strong>on</strong> <strong>and</strong> operati<strong>on</strong> of pre-approved plans.The Rev. Proc. further provides that a Sp<strong>on</strong>soring Organizati<strong>on</strong>’s failure to comply withany requirement delineated, including the notice <strong>and</strong> recordkeeping requirements, mayresult in the loss of the ability to maintain a Master <strong>and</strong> Prototype plans or therevocati<strong>on</strong> of an existing opini<strong>on</strong> letter.39Id. at §4.02ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON TAX EXEMPT AND GOVERNMENT ENTITIES (<strong>ACT</strong>) June 11, 2008 44

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