Required plan amendments acceleration when you terminate a plan

[Guest Enda80]

What do you have to do when you terminate a defined contribution plan? What are the accelerated plan amendment requirements?

[Guest Enda80]

How does the Pension Protection Act figure into terminating a plan? Must one amend for it? What provisions are you liable for?

If you terminated the plan in 2005, would the Pension Protection Act matter at all?

[Guest JM123]

If you terminated the plan in 2005, would the Pension Protection Act matter at all?

If the plan has any assets, then the plan is not terminated for tax qualification purposes and must be amended to conform to changes in the law, including required PPA amendments.

[Blinky the 3-eyed Fish]

Of course if you terminated the plan in 2005 and there is still money in the plan, you are past the one year deadline and the plan may not be terminated after all.

[Guest JM123]

I agree with Blinky - you'll need to terminate again unless, based on the facts and circumstances (e.g., delayed due to circs beyond control of the plan administrator), you can overcome the presumption that the assets have not been distributed as soon as administratively feasible. See Rev. Rul. 89-87.

[Guest Kabert]

Enda80, the rules for amendments required in the case of a terminating plan are generally described in the annual Rev. Proc. that deals with determination letters. It's 2008-3 or 2008-4 or so (one of the first 6 or 7 rev procs of the year). I think the rule generally is that if a required rule is effective, the terminating plan must be amended for it, even if an ongoing plan wouldn't have to amend until, say, the end of 2009. For example, consider a PPA '06 provision that normally wouldn't have to be put into a plan amendment until the end of the 2009 plan year; however, because the rule was effective as of the 2008 plan year, a plan terminating in 2008 or before the end of 2009 would have to be amended to reflect the new rule.