Work Plan for 2011 Is Released by IRS Employee Plans Office

• International Issues - Collaborate within the IRS (e.g., the Large Business and Internal Division) to educate employees, identify complex international transactions, and recognize target areas of significant risk and potential abuse impacting retirement plans. Also provide guidance and outreach and strengthen partnerships with tax professionals to ensure effective international tax administration.
• 401(k) Compliance Questionnaire - Analyze and share the results of the 401(k) Questionnaire with EP stakeholders in the form of a final report by the early part of fiscal year 2012. Use the results to redesign and improve case selection strategies and develop compliance projects to address the identified issues in 401(k) plans.
• Governmental Plans Community - Continue to partner with the governmental plan community, to develop a handbook for governmental plan sponsors detailing the technical requirements of those plans, to educate the governmental plan community about the Cycle E determination letter submission opportunity (which ends on January 31, 2011), and to provide guidance and frequently asked questions addressing the issues that have arisen in that determination process.
• Abusive Transactions - Address and deter abusive transactions by:
  • Promoter Investigations - Using Promoter Investigations to deter the marketing of abusive schemes that involve retirement plans by considering civil or criminal fraud charges or seeking Department of Justice involvement.
  • Proactive Strategies - Developing proactive strategies for identifying and addressing emerging issues.
  • Cross-Functional Efforts - Working with the Compliance Issue Counsel to increase cross-functional efforts to evaluate emerging compliance issues including partnering with Small Business Self Employed Division, the Lead Development Center, the and Large Business and International Division, and its Office of Tax Shelter Analysis.
  • Sharing with the Public - Sharing the discovery of potentially abusive schemes and emerging issues of concern as they are identified through an improved and dedicated Internet page.
• Staggered Determination Process - Improve the staggered determination process by analyzing previous submissions, Form 5500 filing data, and the June 2010 recommendations made by the Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (i.e., the ACT Report) to implement changes to decrease cycle time and reduce the impact of submission spikes.
• 403(b) Program - Enhance 403(b) compliance through guidance, voluntary compliance, and enforcement by:
  • Opening the 403(b) pre-approved program and designing the 403(b) approval letter program for individually designed plans.
  • Developing a 403(b) fix-it guide and publishing reports on 403(b) Employee Plans Compliance Unit project initiatives.
• Small Business - Utilize education and outreach to encourage the small business community to sponsor and maintain retirement plans, provide plain language tools to encourage them to conduct self audits, and help them to use EPCRS corrections programs and applicable guidance.

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Copyright 2010, Deloitte.

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