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Deadline to Adopt a DC Pre-Approved Plan, Apply for Determination Letter May 1

The IRS on April 18 announced that it has extended the deadline for certain employers to adopt a defined contribution pre-approved plan and apply for a determination letter, if permissible, from Sunday, April 30, 2017, to Monday, May 1, 2017.

Notice 2016-3 had extended the deadline from April 30, 2016, to April 30, 2017, to help employers convert their existing individually designed plan into a current DC pre-approved plan based on the 2010 Cumulative List.

This extension is available for those that adopt a plan after Jan. 1, 2016, other than one that is a modification and restatement of a DC pre-approved plan maintained before Jan. 1, 2016. The extension allows time until May 1, 2017, to:

  • adopt a current defined contribution pre-approved plan; and

  • apply for a determination letter, if permissible.

Those that qualify for the extension and to file Form 5307, Application for Determination for Adopters of Modified Volume Submitter Plans (instructions), should include a statement in the cover letter stating that the submission package:

  • restates the plan as a current DC pre-approved plan; and

  • qualifies for the Notice 2016-3 extension.

Plan sponsors can file for a favorable determination letter until the extended May 1, 2017, deadline.

In Announcement 2011-82, the IRS stated that Form 5307 submissions would only be accepted by adopters of Volume Submitter (VS) plans that modify the VS specimen plan terms and only if the modifications are not so extensive as to cause the plan to be treated as an individually designed plan (Revenue Procedure (Rev. Proc. 2016-6, Section 9).

Generally, an adopting employer that hasn’t made any changes or has only made specified minor changes to their plan document can rely on the opinion or advisory letter for the pre-approved plan. Examples of minor changes include:

  • changing the effective date of a provision;

  • adopting IRS model or sample amendments; and


Adopters of VS plans that have not changed their pre-approved VS specimen plan, and adopters of a master & prototype (M&P) plan, cannot submit a Form 5307 for a word-for-word adoption of a DC pre-approved plan. Such employers may rely on the advisory or opinion letter issued for the version of the VS or M&P plan they adopted (Rev. Proc. 2016-6, Section 9).