IRS Announcement 2011-82: Notice of Upcoming Changes in Retirement Plan Determination Letter Procedures (PDF)

Excerpts:

"This announcement describes several important changes to the Employee Plans determination letter program that will take effect in 2012 [and will be described in Rev. Proc. 2012-6, which will be published in IRB 2012-1 on January 3, 2012]. . . .

Under these modified procedures, many employers will no longer apply for determination letters. . . .

"The changes to the determination letter filing procedures eliminate elective demonstrations regarding coverage and nondiscrimination requirements and provide that only employers that have made limited modifications to a pre-approved volume submitter (VS) plan may file Form 5307, Application for Determination for Adopters of Master or Prototype or Volume Submitter Plans. In conjunction with the latter change, the Service expects to revise the language of opinion and advisory letters to clarify the circumstances in which these letters are equivalent to a determination letter. . . .

"[Further, as before, in] certain circumstances, an application for a determination letter for an M&P or VS plan must be filed on Form 5300. Under Rev. Proc. 2012-6, the circumstances in which an application for a pre-approved plan must be filed on Form 5300 will remain the same as under prior procedures, with two additions.

"First, effective May 1, 2012, an application for a determination letter for an M&P plan must be filed on Form 5300 if the employer has added language to the pre- approved M&P plan to satisfy the requirements of sections 415 and 416 because of the required aggregation of plans.

"Second, effective May 1, 2012, an application for a determination letter for a pre-approved pension plan with a normal retirement age earlier than age 62 must be filed on Form 5300. " (U.S. Internal Revenue Service)