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Group: I may be going crazy given this day and age we are living in. I thought I read on one of the older benefits link.com messages/posts that the DOL - in some investigations - will not issue a closing letter but still close out their audit. Could this occur in a small case DOL Audit for an esop with less than $5k value? Or did I misunderstand the posting that the DOL Audit will always include some form of closing agreement or determination? Thank you in advance.

Have a pending Cycle E2 determination letter application for an individually-designed plan. I am in the middle of the Employee Plans Specialist's review and there will likely be a Closing Agreement matter relating to a missing interim amendment for a prototype plan that was merged into the plan a few years ago. The sponsor knew of same, and it was noted in the cover letter. Nonetheless, there will be some sort of sanction to fix, and I am OK with that. A few days ago, the sponsor indicated that it had not adopted a discretionary amendment to the individually-designed plan that added a Roth feature to the plan in mid-2016. The Roth feature has been implemented, but no adopted amendment to date. I could fix this via a separate VCP filing and pay the VCP fee, because, per the determination letter rules, the plan is not "under examination" re this item. But, would it be possible to save a buck or two and voluntarily raise this new issue with the Specialist and deal with it with the pending other nonamender failure . . . with the hope that the sanction will be baked into same, say the VCP fee of $10,000 or so as the CAP sanction. Or, should I just wait a few weeks, get the determination letter/closing agreement, and then file a VCP application to fix the new issue? Thanks.