SECTION 19. REMEDIAL

AMENDMENT PERIOD

.01 Purpose - The purpose of this section is to ensure that employers will have 12 months after an M&P plan or volume submitter specimen plan is approved for GUST in which to adopt the approved plan as a timely GUST restatement. Employers will be eligible for this 12-month period if they are prior adopters of an M&P, regional prototype, or volume submitter specimen plan, or if they certify that they intend to restate their plan for GUST using an M&P or volume submitter specimen plan, and the M&P plan sponsor or volume submitter practitioner submits its plan for GUST-approval by December 31, 2000.

.02 Extension of Remedial Amendment Period - If the requirements in subsection .03 are satisfied, the remedial amendment period for an employer’s plan will not expire before the time described in subsection .04. For purposes of this section, the remedial amendment period means the remedial amendment period determined under § 1.401(b)–1 and Rev. Proc. 97–41 and Rev. Proc. 98–14, both as modified by Rev. Proc. 99–23. As provided in section 3.05, where it is appropriate in this section (for example, in subsection .031), the term “M&P plan” includes regional prototype plans under Rev. Proc. 89–13, and the term “opinion letter” includes notification letters issued under Rev. Proc. 89–13.

.03 Requirements for Extension - The requirements of this subsection .03 are satisfied if:

1 before the end of the remedial amendment period (determined without regard to the extension provided by this section), the employer adopts an M&P plan or volume submitter specimen plan (regardless of whether such plan has a TRA ‘86 opinion or advisory letter); or

2 before the end of the remedial amendment period (determined without regard to the extension provided by this

section), the employer and an M&P plan sponsor or volume submitter practitioner execute a written certification of the employer’s intent to amend or restate its plan by adopting the sponsor’s or practitioner’s GUST-approved M&P or volume submitter specimen plan; and

3 by December 31, 2000, the sponsor or practitioner submits an application for a complete GUST opinion or advisory letter for the M&P plan or volume submitter specimen plan referred to in 1 or 2 (even if the M&P plan is an identical adoption of a mass submitter plan).

.04 Period of Extension - If the preceding requirements are satisfied, the remedial amendment period for the employer’s plan will not expire before the end of the twelfth month beginning after the date on which a GUST opinion or advisory letter is issued for the M&P or volume submitter specimen plan referred to in subsection .03 or the opinion or advisory letter application for the plan is withdrawn. Within this period, the employer must amend or restate its plan by adopting the GUST-approved M&P or volume submitter specimen plan (or another GUST-approved M&P or volume submitter specimen plan, or individually designed GUST amendments) and, if required for reliance, request a determination letter.

.05 Prior Adopters Deemed to Have Adopted Other Plans of Sponsor or Practitioner for Purposes of This Section - An employer that adopts, before the end of the remedial amendment period (determined without regard to the extension provided by this section), any M&P plan or volume submitter specimen plan of a sponsor or practitioner will, for purposes of this section, be deemed to have adopted each other M&P plan or volume submitter specimen plan of that sponsor or practitioner. Likewise, an employer that certifies, before the end of the remedial amendment period (determined without regard to the extension provided by this section), its intent to adopt any M&P plan or volume submitter specimen plan of a sponsor or practitioner will, for purposes of this section, be deemed to have made such a certification with respect to each other M&P plan or volume submitter specimen plan of that sponsor or practitioner.

.06 Certain Employer Amendments Disregarded for Purposes of This Section - An employer that has adopted an

February 7, 2000 570 2000–6 I.R.B.

year beginning on or after January 1, 2000, to the extent necessary to comply with regulations or administrative guidance of general applicability which has been issued since the date of the plan’s favorable TRA ‘86 letter. For this purpose, plan amendments will be deemed to have been adopted on the last day of the first plan year beginning on or after January 1, 2000, if they are in fact adopted after that date but within the plan’s remedial amendment period as extended by this section. The amendments must be made effective no later than the first day of the first plan year beginning on or after January 1, 2000. If the plan’s remedial amendment period has been extended by this section, the amendments may be made effective earlier than the first day of the plan year in which the amendments are adopted to the extent necessary to comply with this requirement.