DC Plan Sponsors Have Until May 1 to Adopt Pre-Approved Plan

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has extended the deadline from Sunday, April 30, 2017, to Monday, May 1, 2017, for certain employers to adopt a defined contribution (DC) pre-approved plan and apply for a determination letter, if permissible.

Notice 2016-3 previously extended the deadline from April 30, 2016, to April 30, 2017, to help employers who wanted to convert their existing individually designed plan into a current defined contribution pre-approved plan based on the 2010 Cumulative List. Plan sponsors with individually designed plan documents may want to adopt a pre-approved plan since the elimination of the five-year remedial amendment cycles for individually designed plans and other changes as described in section 4 of Rev. Proc. 2016–37.

Plan sponsors are eligible for this extension if they adopt a plan after January 1, 2016, other than one that is a modification and restatement of a defined contribution pre-approved plan they maintained before January 1, 2016. The extension allows them until May 1, 2017, to:

• Adopt a current defined contribution pre-approved plan.
• Apply for a determination letter, if permissible.

If plan sponsors qualify for the extension and to file Form 5307, Application for Determination for Adopters of Modified Volume Submitter Plans (instructions), they should include a statement in the cover letter that their submission package:

• Restates the plan as a current defined contribution pre-approved plan, and
• Qualifies for the Notice 2016-3 extension.

Plan sponsors can file for a favorable determination letter until the extended May 1, 2017, deadline.

More information is here.