SECTION 12. SCOPE OF PLAN

REVIEW

With respect to individually designed plans for which a determination letter application is submitted, the IRS review will be based on the Required Amendments List that was issued during the second calendar year preceding the submission of the determination letter application. For example, with respect to a plan submitted for a determination letter during the calendar year beginning January 1, 2020, the IRS’s review will be based on the Required Amendments List that was issued in 2018, regardless of the fact that the plan otherwise would not be required to be amended for items on the 2018 Required Amendments List until December 31, 2020. The review will also take into account all previously issued Required Amendments Lists (and Cumulative Lists issued prior to 2016). Terminating plans will be reviewed for amendments required to be adopted in connection with plan termination (see section 7 of this revenue procedure). Plans submitted for initial qualification during the 2017 calendar

Bulletin No. 2016–29 143 July 18, 2016

eligible under section 20.03 of this revenue procedure and section 8 of Rev. Proc. 2016–6 (updated annually), may apply for determination letters once every six years. However, pre-approved defined contribution plans have different six-year remedial amendment cycles than preapproved defined benefit plans. Thus, the same six-year remedial amendment cycle applies with respect to all pre-approved defined contribution plans, and a separate six-year remedial amendment cycle applies with respect to all pre-approved defined benefit plans.

.02 M&P sponsors and VS practitioners 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. In addition, generally, 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 sixyear remedial amendment cycle (see section 12 of Rev. Proc. 2015–36 for more details). However, see section 16 of this revenue procedure, which modifies the dates of the submission period for preapproved defined contribution plans during the third six-year remedial amendment cycle.

.03 When the review of a cycle for pre-approved plans has neared completion (after approximately a two-year review process), the IRS intends to announce the date by which adopting employers must adopt the newly approved plans. This is expected to be a uniform date that will apply to all adopting employers. Depending upon the length of the review process, it is expected that this deadline will provide virtually all employers approximately a two-year window to adopt their updated plans. An employer that adopts the approved M&P or VS 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 for all disqualifying provisions for which the remedial amendment period would otherwise end during the cycle. For purposes of this rev

enue procedure, an adopting employer means an employer that satisfies the requirements described in section 19 of this revenue procedure.