Rev. Proc. 75-52

Section 1. Purpose.

.01 This Revenue Procedure provides supplemental and revised procedures of the Internal Revenue Service pertaining to the issuance of opinion letters by the National Office as to the acceptability of the form of certain master and prototype pension, annuity, and profit-sharing plans that do not include self-employed individuals, and the status for exemption of related trusts or custodial accounts.

.02 This revision is made to permit the issuance of opinion letters with respect to the acceptability of the form of these plans under sections 401 and 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-406), approved September 2, 1974 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act").

Sec. 2. Background and general information.

.01 Rev. Proc. 72-8, 1972-1 C.B. 716, contains procedures relating to the issuance of opinion letters as to the acceptability of the form of master and prototype plans that do not include self-employed individuals.

.02 Rev. Proc. 74-40, 1974-2 C.B. 494, was issued to temporarily limit the issuance of opinion letters until guidelines could be developed for determining whether plans meet the requirements of section 401 of the Code, as amended by the Act. Rev. Proc. 75-42, page 575, this Bulletin, authorized the issuance of opinion letters with respect to those master and prototype plans for which guidelines had been developed. Additional guidelines have now been developed permitting the publication of this Revenue Procedure extending the area in which opinion letters on master and prototype plans may be issued.

Sec. 3. Rulings and opinion letters.

.01 Except for the plans described in subsection .02 below, or section 5.02 of Rev. Proc. 72-8, the National Office of the Service, upon request, will furnish a written opinion as to the acceptability (for purposes of section 401 of the Code, as amended by the Act, and section 501(a)) of the form of a master or prototype plan that does not include self-employed individuals. If the form of plan includes a master trust or custodial account, a ruling will also be issued with respect to the exempt status of the trust or custodial account which forms part of the master plan.

.02 Subsection .01 above does not permit the issuance of opinion letters and rulings with respect to the following:

(1) A plan submitted by a sponsor other than a trade or professional association, a bank within the meaning of section 401(d)(1), an insurance company, or a regulated investment company.

(2) A defined contribution plan (including a target benefit plan) under which the test for prohibited discrimination under section 401(a)(4) is to be made by reference to benefits rather than contributions.

.03 Plans with respect to which favorable opinion letters are issued pursuant to subsection .01 above will have to be amended in the future if any provisions therein fail to meet the requirements of regulations or other guidelines adopted subsequent to the time the opinion letters are issued.

Sec. 4. Determination letters.

.01 District Directors are authorized, to the same extent (and subject to the same limitations) provided in section 3 of Rev. Proc. 75-47, to issue determination letters as to the qualification of a plan of a particular employer, if that employer has adopted a master or prototype plan that is approved by the National Office as to form.

.02 An employer requesting a determination letter authorized by subsection .01 above or section 5.05 below must properly notify interested parties of the filing of the request in accordance with the provisions of regulations prescribed under section 7476(b)(2) of the Code and the instructions contained in Rev. Proc. 75-31, page 551, this Bulletin.

Sec. 5. Amendments.

.01 A sponsoring organization described in section 3.02(1) above may amend its pre-existing plan (including any related master trust or custodial account) and the National Office will entertain a request for a written opinion as to the acceptability (for purposes of section 401 of the Code, as amended by the Act, and section 501(a)) of the form of the plan as amended. For purposes of this section a pre-existing plan means a master or prototype plan and any related trust or custodial account which is the subject of a favorable written opinion issued by the National Office, prior to the effective date of this Revenue Procedure, pursuant to section 5.02 of Rev. Proc. 72-8.

.02 Opinion letters and rulings referred to in subsection .01 above may not be issued unless the sponsoring organization represents to the Service that within 90 days after it receives a favorable opinion letter it will:

(1) Contact each employer who has previously adopted its pre-existing plan and give such employer an opportunity to decide whether he will continue in the master or prototype plan and, if so, to amend his adoption agreement to participate under a plan which has been amended pursuant to subsection .01 above or to adopt a new plan pursuant to subsection .04(2) below.

(2) Advise those employers who cannot or do not adopt an amended plan or a new plan that such employers may not continue to participate under the master or prototype plan.

(3) In the case of a prototype plan, advise each adopting employer of the possible need to amend the related trust agreement.

.03 No opinion letter will be issued regarding the effect of an amendment solely to conform a master or prototype plan to the requirements of section 402(a) of the Act, relating to naming fiduciaries, and section 503 of the Act, relating to claims procedures. If the sole effect of such an amendment is to conform the plan to the requirements of section 402(a) of the Act, the amendment will not affect the status of any favorable opinion letter issued with respect to the plan.

.04 An employer that has adopted a pre-existing plan may amend its plan to conform to the new requirements of the Act by either: (1) Amending its adoption agreement to participate under a plan of a sponsor which has been amended pursuant to this Revenue Procedure; or

(2) Adopting a new plan of a sponsor provided:

(a) the new plan contains provisions for it to be adopted in substitution for the pre-existing plan;

(b) the new plan as adopted provides for contributions or benefits at a rate at least as great as under the pre-existing plan; and

(c) in the case of a prototype plan, the trust agreement is amended, if necessary, to meet the requirements of the Act.

.05 District Directors are authorized, to the same extent provided in section 4 to issue determination letters as to the qualification of a plan amended pursuant to subsection .04 above.

Sec. 6. Instructions to sponsoring organizations and employers.

.01 A sponsoring organization that desires a written opinion as to the acceptability of the form of a master or prototype plan (or as to the exempt status of a related trust or custodial account) should submit its request to the National Office of the Service in accordance with the provisions of section 6 of Rev. Proc. 72-8.

.02 Amendments to plans with respect to which favorable opinion letters have been issued under the authority of this Revenue Procedure will be processed in accordance with provisions of section 7 of Rev. Proc. 72-8.

.03 A sponsoring organization requesting an opinion letter authorized by this Revenue Procedure shall submit a separate plan document for each type plan submitted (e.g. defined benefit or defined contribution plan). In addition, where a plan contains more than one type of contribution or benefit formula (e.g. a unit benefit and a fixed benefit formula or an integrated and non-integrated formula), a separate adoption agreement must be submitted for each such plan formula.

.04 Requests for opinion letters authorized by this Revenue Procedure shall be submitted on Form 4461, Approval of Master or Prototype Defined Contribution Plans, or on Form 4461-A, Approval of Master or Prototype Defined Benefit Plan, as appropriate.

.05 Instead of the application required by sections 5.05, 7.05, and 7.06 of Rev. Proc. 72-8, an employer requesting a determination letter authorized by sections 4.01 and 5.05 above shall file the forms prescribed in Rev. Proc. 75-47. Those forms are to be filed in accordance with the instructions therefor and accompanied by the schedules or additional material prescribed in those instructions.

Sec. 7. Effect on other documents.

.01 Rev. Proc. 74-40 and Rev. Proc. 75-42 are hereby superseded.

.02 The general procedures of Rev. Proc. 72-8 continue to apply except to the extent they are inconsistent with this Revenue Procedure.

Sec. 8. Effective date.

This Revenue Procedure is effective November 10, 1975.

¹ Also released as TIR-1419, dated November 10, 1975.