IRS Ruling Request Re Church Plan Status

[Brian Haynes]

I would be interested in knowing how long it takes to obtain a ruling request from the IRS re obtaining "church plan" status for a retirement plan? Has anyone submitted a ruling request on this issue? Thanks.

[jpod]

I have done several, but not in the last five years. If your facts are comparable to the dozens/hundreds issued over the years to organizations related to the Catholic Church, you should expect 4-6 months, I think. If it's not cookie-cutter, it could be a lot longer.

[Guest Danny Miller]

We have a couple of church plan ruling requests now pending, and a couple of more in the pipeline. I'd say plan on 6 months. One of ours has taken considerably longer than that. In part, the time lag is dependent on who handles the ruling. Hope this helps.

[Guest TriciaLIL]

We are in the process of acquiring church plan status currently. It has taken about 3 years, but we have been assured that a decision will be made soon. It seems that the IRS has been taking a closer look at companies requesting church plan status that aren't a traditional church.

I have a question regarding typical legal costs for such a process. We are considering charging the costs to the pension plan and we need to determine whether they are reasonable and customary. Any information you can share regarding the hourly rate for legal services in this regard, # of hours and/or total legal costs?

[Guest Danny Miller]

It's a little hard to say what's typical--would depend on the facts associated with your ruling request. The 3 year time lag tells me that this ruling request probably presented a more complicated set of facts than the norm. I'd be happy to discuss this over the phone if you want to give me a call about it.