SECTION 15. APPROVED PLANS

• MAINTENANCE OF APPROVED STATUS

.01 Cumulative List in Six-Year Cycle

• Future guidance described in section 3.05 of this revenue procedure will provide that practitioners of pre-approved VS plans must submit requests for advisory letters by a specified time period within a six-year cycle in order to continue to rely on their advisory letters. Practitioners may apply for advisory letters at other times, but these filings will be “off-cycle” filings, as described in section 21.03. The Service will review the plans that have been submitted by the specified time period within a six-year cycle taking into account the applicable Cumulative List that identifies changes in the qualification requirements of the Code as well as items of published guidance relating to the plan qualification requirements, such as regulations and revenue rulings. However, in order to be qualified, a plan must comply with all relevant qualification requirements, not just those on the applicable Cumulative List. The letter will not take into account, and a prac

titioner may not rely on advisory letters with respect to, statutory changes enacted, and/or any guidance issued, after the issuance of the applicable Cumulative List, unless those changes and/or guidance are listed on the applicable Cumulative List.

.02 Subsequent Required Amendments

• Except as otherwise provided in future guidance, in the event of changes in qualification requirements resulting from future guidance, or other regulatory or statutory changes that were not taken into account in issuing the advisory letter, an approved VS plan must be amended by the practitioner 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. Failure to so amend could result in the loss of a plan’s qualified status. However, this does not change the applicable period during the six-year cycle when practitioners must request advisory letters, which will still occur only once every six years. Practitioners are required to make reasonable and diligent efforts to ensure that each employer which, to the best of the practitioner’s knowledge, continues to maintain the plan as a VS plan, amends its plan when necessary.

Even if future guidance provides that the plan need not be amended during a six-year cycle to reflect a change in the qualification requirements, the plan must operationally comply with any changes in qualification requirements and the terms of the plan as ultimately amended to reflect the change. Failure to comply with this or any other requirement imposed on practitioners by this revenue procedure may result in the loss of eligibility to sponsor VS plans and the revocation of advisory letters that have been issued to the practitioner.

.03 Amendments Following Revenue Rulings - If an approved VS 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.), with changes that were not taken into account in issuing the advisory letter then, unless specifically stated otherwise in the revenue ruling, etc., the time by which the practitioner must amend its VS plan to conform to the requirements of the revenue ruling, etc., shall be the end of the one-year period after its publication in

2005–10 I.R.B. 687 March 7, 2005

(17) Plans that include so-called failsafe provisions for § 401(a)(4) or the average benefit test under § 410(b);

(18) Plans that include blanks or fill-in provisions for the employer to complete unless the provisions have parameters that preclude the employer from completing the provisions in a manner that could violate the qualification requirements.

(19) Plans designed to satisfy the provisions of § 105.

The Service may, in its discretion, decline to issue advisory letters for other types of plans not described in this section 16.02.