Revenue Procedure 2017-41 describes IRS procedures for issuing opinion letters. Sections 16.01 and 16.02 describe steps a provider must take if it intends to no longer offer a pre-approved plan for adoption (discontinued plan). Steps to take when a pre-approved plan is discontinued under Revenue Procedure 2017-41 A provider that intends to discontinue a pre-approved plan must notify: the IRS that it is discontinuing the plan, and all employers who continue to use the plan that the form of the plan has terminated and the employer’s plan will become an individually designed plan. Example: A pre-approved plan provider currently maintains three plans consisting of a standardized prototype profit sharing plan, a non-standardized prototype money purchase plan and a volume submitter profit sharing/401(k) plan. All have received favorable pre-approved letters and all necessary interim amendments have been timely adopted. During the third six-year cycle submission period, the provider decides to file only a single non-standardized document consisting of a profit sharing plan with a detachable 401(k) feature and a money purchase plan. This provider should not notify the IRS that any of its second cycle plans are being discontinued, since they all will be maintained only now in a single document. This holds true whether the third cycle plan is designed as an adoption agreement or a single document plan. The provider is only required to give a discontinued notice to employers who do not utilize any one of the three plan types contained in the newly approved non-standardized plan. Additional resource Pre-Approved Retirement Plans
