SECTION 8. MASTER &

PROTOTYPE PLANS

Scope .01 This section contains procedures for requesting determination letters relating to M&P plans.

Determination letter may be .02 Except as provided in section 8.05, the issuance of a favorable opinion letter for an necessary for reliance M&P plan does not constitute a determination that an employer adopting the sponsor’s plan has reliance that the plan is qualified under § 401(a). In order to have reliance, an employer must obtain a favorable determination letter. In general, determination letters are requested for the employer’s adoption of an M&P plan, or for a change by the employer in the choice of options offered by the sponsor of an M&P plan.

Forms .03 Form 5307, Application for Determination for Adopters of Master or Prototype, Regional Prototype, or Volume Submitter Plan, must be filed to request a determination letter for the adoption of an M&P plan. Schedule Q, (Form 5300) Nondiscrimination Requirements, must be filed as an attachment to Form 5307. Form 5307 may also be filed by adopters of M&P plans that are single employer collectively bargained plans that benefit only collectively bargained employees described in § 1.410(b)-6(d)(2) and that automatically satisfy the requirements of § 1.410(b)-2(b)(7).

Required information .04 The determination letter request must include the following:

(1) An adoption agreement showing which elections the employer is making with respect to the elective provisions contained in the plan;

(2) A copy of the plan’s most recent opinion letter; and

(3) In the case of a determination letter request for an M&P plan that uses a separate trust or custodial account, a copy of the employer’s trust or custodial account document.

Special rules for .05 The following procedures apply for an employer’s adoption of an M&P standardstandardized plans ized plan or paired plan.

(1) An employer adopting a standardized form or paired plan may rely on that plan’s opinion letter, except as provided in section 8.05(2), (3) and (4) below, if the following conditions are satisfied:

(a) The sponsor of such plan or plans has a currently valid favorable opinion letter; and

(b) The employer has followed the terms of the plan(s), and the coverage and contributions or benefits under the plan(s) are not more favorable to highly compensated employees (as defined in § 414(q)) than for other employees.

(2) Except in the case of a combination of paired plans or as otherwise provided in this subsection, an employer may not rely on an opinion letter for a standardized plan, without obtaining a determination letter, if the employer maintains at any time, or has maintained at any time, another plan, including a standardized plan, that was qualified or determined to be qualified covering some of the same participants. For this purpose, a plan that has been properly replaced by the adoption of a standardized plan is not considered another plan. The plan that has been replaced and the standardized plan must be of the same type

2001–1 I.R.B. 209 January 2, 2001

(e.g., both money purchase pension plans) in order for the employer to be able to rely on the standardized plan without obtaining a determination letter. In addition, an employer that adopts a standardized defined contribution plan will not be considered to have maintained another plan merely because the employer has maintained another defined contribution plan(s), provided such other plan(s) has been terminated prior to the effective date of the standardized plan and no annual additions have been credited to the account of any participant under such other plan(s) as of any date within a limitation year of the standardized plan. Likewise, an employer that adopts a standardized defined contribution plan that is first effective on or after the effective date of the repeal of § 415(e) will not be considered to have maintained another plan merely because the employer has maintained a defined benefit plan(s), provided the defined benefit plan(s) has been terminated prior to the effective date of the standardized defined contribution plan.

(3) An employer that has adopted a standardized defined benefit plan may rely on an opinion letter with respect to the requirements of § 401(a)(26) only if the plan satisfies the requirements of § 401(a)(26) with respect to its prior benefit structure or is deemed to satisfy § 401(a)(26) under the regulations. However, an employer may request a determination letter if the employer wishes to have reliance as to whether the plan satisfies § 401(a)(26) with respect to its prior benefit structure.

(4) An employer that adopts a standardized plan may not rely on an opinion letter with respect to: (a) whether the timing of any amendment to the plan (or series of amendments) satisfies the nondiscrimination requirements of § 1.401(a)(4)-5(a), except with respect to plan amendments granting past service that meet the safe harbor described in § 1.401(a)(4)-5(a)(3) and are not part of a pattern of amendments that significantly discriminates in favor of highly compensated employees; or (b) whether the plan satisfies the effective availability requirement of § 1.401(a)(4)-4(c) with respect to any benefit, right, or feature. An employer that adopts a standardized plan as an amendment to a plan other than a standardized plan may not rely on an opinion letter with respect to whether a benefit, right, or feature that is prospectively eliminated satisfies the current availability requirements of § 1.401(a)-4 of the regulations. Such an employer may request a determination letter if the employer wishes to have reliance as to whether the prospectively eliminated benefit, right, or feature satisfies the current availability requirements. A standardized plan may give an employer the option to elect to continue to apply the pre-GUST family aggregation rules in years beginning after December 31, 1996, or the combined plan limit of § 415(e) in years beginning after December 31, 1999, to the extent such election(s) conforms to the plan’s operation. However, an employer that elects to continue to apply the pre-GUST family aggregation rules or the combined plan limit of § 415(e) will not be able to rely on the opinion letter without a determination letter with respect to the qualification of its plan for the years to which the election applies.

Amended plan is treated as .06 An employer that amends any provision of an M&P plan or its adoption agreement an individually-designed plan (other than to choose among the options offered by the sponsor if the plan permits or contemplates such options), or an employer that chooses to discontinue participation in such a plan as amended by its sponsor and does not substitute another approved plan referred to in this section 8 is considered to have adopted an individually-designed plan. The requirements stated in this revenue procedure relating to the issuance of determination letters for individually-designed plans will then apply to such plan.

Requests made prior to .07 An application submitted by an employer with respect to an M&P plan will be treatthe issuance of opinion ed as an application for an individually-designed plan if it is submitted prior to the time the M&P plan is approved.