SECTION 12. APPROVED PLANS MAINTENANCE OF APPROVED

STATUS

.01 Revocation of Opinion Letter by the Service - An opinion letter found to be in error or not in accord with the current views of the Service may be revoked. However, except in rare or unusual circumstances, such revocation will not be applied retroactively if the conditions set forth in section 13.05 of Rev. Proc. 2000–4 are met. For this purpose, such opinion letters will be given the same effect as rulings. Revocation may be effected by a notice to the sponsor to which the letter was originally issued, or by a regulation, revenue ruling or other statement published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin. The sponsor should then notify each adopting employer of the revocation as soon as possible.

.02 Subsequent Required Amendments

• An approved M&P plan must be amended by the sponsor and, if necessary, the employer, to retain its approved status if any provisions therein fail to meet the requirements of law, regulations, or other issuances and guidelines affecting qualification that become effective subsequent to the issuance of an opinion letter. Failure to so amend could result in the loss of a plan’s qualified status. Sponsors are required to make reasonable and diligent efforts to ensure that each employer which, to the best of the sponsor’s knowledge, continues to maintain the plan as an M&P plan amends its plan when necessary. Failure to comply with this or any other requirement imposed on sponsors by this revenue procedure may result in the loss of eligibility to sponsor M&P plans and the revocation of opinion letters that have been issued to the sponsor.

.03 Amendments Following Revenue Rulings - If an approved M&P plan is required to be amended to retain its approved status as a result of publication by the Service of a revenue ruling, notice or similar statement in the Internal Revenue Bulletin (I.R.B.), then, unless specifically stated otherwise in the revenue ruling, etc., the time by which the sponsor must amend its M&P plan to conform to the re

2000–6 I.R.B. 565 February 7, 2000

quirements of the revenue ruling, etc. and request a new opinion letter shall be the end of the one-year period after its publication in the I.R.B., and with respect to any adopting employer’s plan the effective date of such amendment shall be the first day of the first plan year beginning within such one-year period.

.04 Loss of Qualified Status - If a sponsor reasonably concludes that an employer’s M&P plan may no longer be a qualified plan and the sponsor does not or cannot submit a request to correct the qualification failure under EPCRS, it is incumbent on the sponsor to notify the employer that the plan may no longer be qualified, advise the employer that adverse tax consequences may result from loss of the plan’s qualified status, and inform the employer about the availability of EPCRS. See Rev. Proc. 98–22, 1998–12 I.R.B. 11.