Does a prototype approval = a FDL on 5307?

[Guest 409 eh?]

Form 5307 asks whether the plan has received a determination letter. If you check no, it says you must submit copies of all prior plans and/or adoption agreements.

My thought on this is that the prototype approval letter does not count as a FDL and the sponsor must submit all prior plan docs. Or am I reading too narrowly? If my interpretation is right, is there any practical limit on how far we have to go back if the plan has always been a prototype? Does the IRS really want reams of old master documents and adoption agreements? We're a VCP nonamender so we do have to get a FDL.

Any experience with this would be appreciated! Thanks!

[J Simmons]

Form 5307 asks whether the plan has received a determination letter. If you check no, it says you must submit copies of all prior plans and/or adoption agreements.

My thought on this is that the prototype approval letter does not count as a FDL and the sponsor must submit all prior plan docs. Or am I reading too narrowly? If my interpretation is right, is there any practical limit on how far we have to go back if the plan has always been a prototype? Does the IRS really want reams of old master documents and adoption agreements? We're a VCP nonamender so we do have to get a FDL.

Any experience with this would be appreciated! Thanks!

You are right. The prototype approval letter does not count as a FDL and the sponsor must submit all prior plan docs.

See this from the Instructions for Form 5307 (Rev. May 2008), page 3: Line 3f. If you do not have a copy of the latest determination letter, or if no determination letter has ever been received by the employer, submit copies of the initial plan (or adoption agreement along with the appropriate opinion or advisory letter), or the latest plan (or adoption agreement along with the appropriate opinion or advisory letter), and any subsequent amendments and/or restatements.

Once upon a time the prototype approval letter did so count. Too many people smoked the Service by correcting plan document problems by restating the plan using a standardized prototype, then turning right around and doing it with a non-standardized prototype and make a 5307 application specifying the recent standardized documents as the last 'approved' plan documents. It worked until the IRS caught on and closed that loophole.