"Under Examiniation" - Multiemployer Plan

[luissaha]

I have a multiemployer defined contribution plan that needs to be corrected for a few violations. The plan itself is not under investigation; however, the labor union that established the plan is currently under investigation by the DOL for issues unrelated to the plan. Rev. Proc, 2013-12, section 5.09, defines the term "under investigation" to mean a plan sponsor that is under an "Exempt Organizations examination." If the plan sponsor is "under investigation," the EPCRS is not available to the plan.

I have 2 questions. First, in a multiemployer plan the "plan sponsor" is the plan's board of trustees. The board is not under investigation, but the labor union who established the plan and where all of the union-side trustees come from, is under DOL investigation. Would this be considered an investigation of the "plan sponsor." Second, the union is being investigated by the DOL, bot the IRS (as far as I know). Would the DOL investigation make the plan ineligible for the EPCRS?

Any help would be appreciated.

[ETA Consulting LLC]

An EPCRS filing is with the IRS for 'qualification failures'. Hence, a submission would protect the client "from the IRS" for only those items included in the EPCRS submission. So, if the plan sponsor it under examination "by the IRS", then it would be too late to submit volutarily in order to receive that protection.

With that said, the DOL examination is entirely a separate process and would have no bearing on the ability to submit under EPCRS.

Good Luck!

[PensionPro]

Based on the following excerpt I believe the plan is eligible for EPCRS.

The term “Under Examination” means: ... (b) a Plan Sponsor that is under an Exempt Organizations examination (that is, an examination of a Form 990 series or other Exempt Organizations examination); ...