Standardized?

[Guest thisissocomplicated]

I just started working for a smaller company and was given the retirement plan to take care of. The first thing that I have to do is to file the GUST/EGTRRA determination letter application (Form 5307 for M&P - nonstandardized profit sharing plan wiht 401(k) and (m)). I was talking with our administrator and found out that the plan had never received a determination letter before and because of this we have to submitt all of our prior plans. The problem is that I gathered all that documentation and noticed that first plan (1996) says that it is a "standardized" plan. This is different than our currently plan that is a "nonstandardized" plan, so I did a little research on this wonderful web site.

Anyway, it seems that we have a problem because of this standardized plan (from our past) because we have four other members in our "controlled group" (one parent that owns 100% of three subsidiaries) and none of the other members was allowed to participate in our plan when it was in "standardized" form.

Is this really a problem or am I reading too much into this standardized v. nonstandardized problem? It seems to me that the IRS would catch this problem (if it is a problem) when we submit all these doucments with our GUST/EGTRRA determination letter application. Am I nuts? What do I do-the administrator is not giving me any options.