SECTION 11. ELIGIBILITY FOR THE CYCLE SYSTEM

.01 Initial eligibility for the Cycle system .

15 See the Form 5305 series, which provides model IRA documents that have been pre-approved by the IRS and for which an opinion letter is not needed. See also Rev. Proc. 87-50, 1987‑2 CB 647, as modified by Rev. Proc. 97-29, 1997-1 CB 698; Rev. Proc. 98-59, 1998-2 CB 727; and Rev. Proc. 2010-48, 2010‑50 IRB 828, for administrative procedures for seeking opinion letters for individual retirement arrangements under § 408.

December 18, 2023 1518 Bulletin No. 2023–51

(1) In general . An Employer that initially adopts a Pre-approved Plan ¹⁶ may adopt the plan at any time during a Cycle. Subject to section 11.01(2), upon an Employer’s adoption of a Pre-approved Plan, the plan becomes subject to the rules applicable to the Cycle system and the procedures set forth in this revenue procedure. In particular, while a plan is subject to the Cycle system, the plan’s Disqualifying Provisions or Form Defects, as applicable, will have the Remedial Amendment Periods described in section 6. After a plan is no longer subject to the Cycle system, the plan’s Disqualifying Provisions or Form Defects will be subject to the Remedial Amendment Period rules for an individually designed plan. See Rev. Proc. 2022-40. Accordingly, as of the date that a plan is no longer subject to the Cycle system, if the Remedial Amendment Period for a Disqualifying Provision or Form Defect would be expired under the rules for individually designed plans, then the Remedial Amendment Period will be expired, notwithstanding that the Remedial Amendment Period would not be expired for a Pre-approved Plan. To continue to be eligible for the Cycle system, the Employer must follow the rules in this revenue procedure for continued eligibility. See, in particular, sections 11.02 and 13.

(2) Prior plan must be a valid plan . If an Employer that maintains an individually designed plan amends the plan by adopting a Pre-approved Plan, the form of the individually designed plan must satisfy the Qualification Requirements or Section 403(b) Requirements, as applicable, at the time the Pre-approved Plan is adopted. Accordingly, prior to adopting the Pre-approved Plan, the Employer must have either timely corrected any Disqualifying Provisions or Form Defects in the individually designed plan before the expiration of the applicable Remedial Amendment Period for such Disqualifying Provision or Form Defect, or have corrected any plan document failure under EPCRS.

.02 Continuing eligibility for the Cycle system - requirement to adopt newly approved Pre- approved Plan . For a Pre-approved Plan adopted pursuant to section 11.01 to continue to be eligible for the Cycle system, by the end of the Employer Adoption Window for each Cycle, the Adopting Employer must adopt a newly approved Pre-approved Plan (a newly approved version of the same plan or a newly approved version of a different Pre-approved Plan). If, during the Employer Adoption Window for a Cycle, instead of adopting a newly approved Pre-approved Plan, an Adopting Employer amends its Pre-approved Plan by adopting an individually designed plan, the plan will continue to be subject to the Remedial Amendment Period rules applicable to Pre-approved plans until the end of the Employer Adoption Window for that Cycle; however, for all other purposes, upon adoption of the individually designed plan, the plan will be treated as an individually designed plan. This means, for example, that if the plan is submitted for a determination letter during the Employer Adoption Window, the eligibility conditions applicable to submission of a determination letter set forth in section 9 of Rev. Proc. 2022-40 will apply, and the scope of plan review will be based on the applicable Required Amendments List, as described in section 10 of that revenue procedure. In contrast, if, by the end of any Employer Adoption Window, an Adopting Employer does not amend its Pre-approved Plan by adopting a newly approved Pre-approved Plan or any other plan, the plan will be treated as an individually designed plan at the end of that Employer Adoption Window. Accordingly, the plan will become subject to the rules relating to the Remedial Amendment Period, plan amendment deadlines, and the eligibility requirements applicable to individually designed plan determination letter applications set forth in Rev. Proc. 2022-40 at that time. Once a plan is treated as an individually designed plan, the Adopting Employer is no longer able to rely on an Opinion Letter for that Cycle.