SECTION 2. WHAT CHANGES

HAVE BEEN MADE TO THIS PROCEDURE?

.01 This revenue procedure sets forth the procedures of the various offices of the Internal Revenue Service for issuing determination letters on the qualified status of pension, profitsharing, stock bonus, annuity, and employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) under § § 401, 403(a), 409 and 4975(e)(7) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and the status for exemption of any related trusts or custodial accounts under § 501(a).

.02 Part I of this revenue procedure contains instructions for requesting determination letters for various types of plans and transactions. Part II contains procedures for providing notice to interested parties and for interested parties to comment on determination letter requests. Part III contains procedures concerning the processing of determination letter requests and describes the effect of a determination letter.

In general .01 This revenue procedure is a general update of Rev. Proc. 96–6, 1996–1 I.R.B. 151, which contains the Service’s general procedures for employee plans determination letter requests. Most of the changes to Rev. Proc. 96–6 involve minor revisions, such as updating citations to other revenue procedures.

Where to file .02 The Service is in the process of centralizing the filing of requests for determination and other letters and applications for recognition of tax exemption. The list of key district offices that was formerly in section 20 has therefore been deleted. Applicants are advised to refer to Announcement 96–133, 1996–53 I.R.B., and the instructions to Form 8717, User Fee for Employee Plan Determination Letter Request, for the jurisdictions and mailing addresses of the key district offices.

GATT and SBJPA .03 Section 3 has been modified to provide that, until further notice is given, determination letters, other than those issued for terminating plans, will not include consideration by the Service of any amendments to the qualification requirements made by the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, Pub. L. 103–465 (GATT) or the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996, Pub. L. 104–188 (SBJPA), except as provided in the following paragraph.

Leased employees .04 Section 15 has been modified, in accordance with section 1454 of SBJPA, to substitute the ‘‘primary direction or control’’ test for the ‘‘historically performed’’ test in the information that will be considered by the Service in a determination as to the effect of § 414(n) upon a plan’s qualified status.