[authors: Julie Wagner, Jonathan Hull]
As we previously reported, the IRS had said last year that determination letter program for retirement plans would largely be going away. Rev. Proc. 2016-37 includes information with respect to the future of the determination letter program. As highlighted in a recent IRS webcast, a noteworthy development is that “subject to IRS resources” that post-initial determination letters may be available after 2017 in specified circumstances:
(1) significant law changes,
(2) new plan designs, and
(3) Plan types that can’t convert to a pre-approved format.
Number 3 means complex plans that do not fit on a pre-approved document may, ‘subject to IRS resources’ as published annually, be able to be submitted for a ruling under the determination letter program. Therefore, complex individually designed plans may still have hope that the IRS will continue to rule on their qualified status.
There were two other key points in the webcast. First, the IRS will publish a “required amendments” list and that employers will have until the end of the second calendar year after the date the list is published to amend their plans. Second, there will also be an operational compliance list issued annually that will be accessible on the IRS website, not published. The purpose of the operational list is to focus on the operation of the plan prior to the date of adoption of the amendment. These lists will include information that is prospective only and will not include information from prior annual lists.
[View source.]
