SECTION 16. ESTABLISHMENT OF

SIX-YEAR AMENDMENT/APPROVAL CYCLE FOR PRE-APPROVED PLANS

.01 This Part IV sets forth rules and procedures for the six-year remedial amendment/approval cycles for pre-approved plans.

.02 Sponsors and practitioners maintaining pre-approved plans generally have until January 31st of the calendar year following the opening of the six-year remedial amendment cycle to submit applications for opinion and advisory letters. However, sponsors and practitioners maintaining mass submitter plans and national sponsors generally have until October 31st of the calendar year in which the six-year remedial amendment cycle opens to submit opinion and advisory applications. ³ In addition, the deadline for word-for-word identical adopters and minor modifier placeholder applications is January 31st of the calendar year following the opening of the six-year remedial amendment cycle (see section 12 of Rev. Proc. 2005–16 for more details). However, sponsors and practitioners maintaining mass submitter plans are encouraged to submit their word-for-word and minor modifier placeholder applications by the earlier mass submitter submission deadline, October 31st. The Service will evaluate this new provision (that is, a different deadline for applications of mass submitter plans versus word-for-word and minor modifier placeholder applications) and may, at its discretion and through applicable published guidance, change the deadline date for the word-for-word and minor modifier placeholder applications in future six-year remedial amendment cycles.

.03 When the review of a cycle for pre-approved plans has neared completion (after approximately a two-year review process), the Service will publish an announcement providing the date by which adopting employers must adopt the newly approved plans. This will be a uniform date that will apply to all adopting employers. Depending upon the length of the review process, it is expected that this

date will give virtually all employers approximately a two-year window to adopt their updated plans. For purposes of this revenue procedure, an adopting employer means an employer who satisfies the requirements described under section 17 of this revenue procedure.

.04 An adopting employer that adopts the approved M&P or volume submitter plan by the announced deadline will have adopted the plan within the employer’s six-year remedial amendment cycle. The announced deadline will be the end of the plan’s remedial amendment cycle with respect to all disqualifying provisions for which the remedial amendment period would otherwise end during the cycle.

.05 If necessary, the Service may revise the schedule described in this section to respond to changing circumstances and needs of plan sponsors.