SECTION 13. DEFINITIONS

.01 Volume Submitter Plan - A “volume submitter plan” or “VS plan” refers to either a specimen plan of a VS practitioner or a plan of a client of the VS practitioner that is substantially similar to the VS practitioner’s approved specimen plan.

.02 Specimen Plan - A “specimen plan” is a sample plan of a VS practitioner (rather than the actual plan of an employer). A specimen plan may include an adoption agreement.

.03 Advisory Letter - An “advisory letter” is a written statement issued by the Service to a VS practitioner or VS mass submitter as to the acceptability of the form of a specimen plan and any related trust or custodial account under § 401(a) or § 403(a).

.04 VS Practitioner - A “VS practitioner” is any person that (1) has an established place of business in the United States where it is accessible during every business day and (2) represents to the Service that it has at least 30 employerclients each of which is reasonably expected to adopt a plan that is substantially similar to the VS practitioner’s specimen plan within the 12-month period following the issuance of an advisory letter.

A VS practitioner may submit any number of specimen plans for advisory letters provided the 30-employer requirement is separately satisfied with respect to each specimen plan. The Service reserves the right at any time to request from the VS practitioner a list of the employers that have adopted or are expected to adopt the VS practitioner’s specimen plans, includ

ing the employers’ business addresses and employer identification numbers.

Notwithstanding the above, any person that has an established place of business in the United States where it is accessible during every business day may sponsor a specimen plan as a word-for-word identical adopter of a specimen plan of an VS mass submitter, regardless of the number of employers that are expected to adopt the plan.

By submitting an application for an advisory letter for a specimen plan under this revenue procedure (or by having an application filed on its behalf by a VS mass submitter), a person represents to the Service that it is a VS practitioner, as defined above. If the VS practitioner’s specimen plan permits the VS practitioner to amend the VS plan on behalf of adopting employers, as permitted by section 15, the VS practitioner also agrees to comply with any requirements imposed on sponsors of M&P plans by this procedure. Failure to comply with these requirements may result in the loss of eligibility to sponsor specimen plans and the revocation of advisory letters that have been issued to the VS practitioner.

.05 VS Mass Submitter — A “VS mass submitter” is any person that (1) has an established place of business in the United States where it is accessible during every business day and (2) submits advisory letter applications on behalf of at least 30 unaffiliated practitioners each of which is sponsoring, on a word-for-word identical basis, the same specimen plan. A VS mass submitter may submit an advisory letter application on its own behalf as one of the 30 unaffiliated practitioners. For purposes of this definition, affiliation is determined under § 414(b) and (c). Additionally, the following will be considered to be affiliated: any law, accounting, consulting firm, etc., with its partners, members, associates, etc. A VS mass submitter will be treated as a VS mass submitter with respect to each specimen plan for which the 30 unaffiliated practitioner requirement is separately met.