us-irs-announcements-irb-2005-10-pdf•Internal Revenue Bulletin 2005-10 (PDF rendition): IRS Announcements
Internal Revenue Bulletin 2005-10 (PDF rendition): IRS Announcements
us-irs-announcements-irb-2005-10-pdfInternal Revenue Bulletin 2005-10 (PDF rendition): IRS AnnouncementsGuidance
Preserve advance releases and the authoritative Internal Revenue Bulletin rendition; directory timestamps are file-publication metadata, not legal effective dates. HTML bulletins begin June 2003; earlier available issues require full PDF parsing. Whole bulletin rendition: numbered items are identified below; other legal material and publisher context remain included. This is not a new standalone advance release.
Bulletin No. 200 5-10 March 7, 2005 HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS ISSUE These synopses are intended only as aids to the reader in identifying the subject matter covered. They may not be relied upon as authoritative interpretations. INCOME TAX Rev. Rul. 2005–13, page 664. Federal rates; adjusted federal rates; adjusted federal long-termrateandthelong-termexemptrate.For pur- poses of sections 382, 642, 1274, 1288, and other sections of the Code, tables set forth the rates for March 2005. T.D. 9175, page 665. REG–13067 1–04, page 694. Te m p o r a r y and proposed regulations under sections 6011, 6033, and 6 037 of the Code affect certain corporations and or- ganizatio ns filing returns. These regulations require certain cor- porations and organizations to file their Forms 1120, 1120S, 990, and 9 90-PF electronically. A public hearing on the pro- posed reg ulations is scheduled for March 16, 2005. T.D. 9177, page 671. Final regulations under section 6031(a) of the Code allow the Commissioner to publish in the Internal Revenue Bulletin guid- ance that excepts from the partnership income tax reporting re- quirements partnerships whose income is primarily from tax-ex- empt bonds. EMPLOYE EPLANS T.D. 917 6, page 661. Final re gulations under section 411 of the Code reflect the ad- dition o f section 411(d)(6)(E) by the Economic Growth and Tax Relief R econciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA) by amending sec- tion 1. 411(d)–4, Q&A–2(e) of the regulations. The regulations retain rules under which a defined contribution plan could be amende d, but remove the 90-day notice condition. Rev. Proc. 2005–16, page 674. This document contains revised procedures for pre-approved plans (master and prototype plans and volume submitter plans). It also provides that the Service will accept applica- tions for opinion and advisory letters beginning February 17, 2005, and ending January 31, 2006, for defined contribution pre-approved plans that take into account the requirements of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA) as well as other changes in qualification require- ments and guidance. The Service has published a Cumulative List (Notice 2004–84, 2004–52 I.R.B. 1030) reflecting such changes. The List is intended to be used primarily by plan sponsors and practitioners in drafting defined contribution pre-approved plans for their first submission under this proce- dure. Rev. Proc. 2000–20 modified and superseded. Rev. Procs. 2005–6 and 2005–8 and Announcement 2001–77 modified. EXEMPT ORGANIZATIONS T.D. 9175, page 665. REG–130671–04, page 694. Temporary and proposed regulations under sections 6011, 6033, and 6037 of the Code affect certain corporations and or- ganizations filing returns. These regulations require certain cor- porations and organizations to file their Forms 1120, 1120S, 990, and 990-PF electronically. A public hearing on the pro- posed regulations is scheduled for March 16, 2005. Announcement 2005–16, page 702. A list is provided of organizations now classified as private foun- dations. (Continued on the next page) Announcements of Disbarments and Suspensions begin on page 696. Fi nding Lists begin on page ii. TAX CONVENTIONS Announcement 2005–17, page 673. U.S.-New Zealand MAP Agreement regarding treatment of income derived through certain fiscally transparent entities.A copy of the news release issued by the Director, In- ternational (U.S. Competent Authority), on February 10, 2005, is set forth. ADMINISTRATIVE T.D. 9177, page 671. Final regulations under section 6031(a) of the Code allow the Commissioner to publish in the Internal Revenue Bulletin guid- ance that excepts from the partnership income tax reporting re- quirements partnerships whose income is primarily from tax-ex- empt bonds. March 7, 20052005–10 I.R.B. The IRS Mission Provide America’s taxpayers top quality service by helping them understand and meet their tax responsibilities and by applying the tax law with integrity and fairness to all. Introduction The Internal Revenue Bulletin is the authoritative instrument of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue for announcing official rulings and procedures of the Internal Revenue Service and for publishing Treasury Decisions, Executive Orders, Tax Conven- tions, legislation, court decisions, and other items of general interest. It is published weekly and may be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents on a subscription basis. Bulletin contents are compiled semiannually into Cumulative Bulletins, which are sold on a single-copy basis. It is the policy of the Service to publish in the Bulletin all sub- stantive rulings necessary to promote a uniform application of the tax laws, including all rulings that supersede, revoke, mod- ify, or amend any of those previously published in the Bulletin. All published rulings apply retroactively unless otherwise indi- cated. Procedures relating solely to matters of internal man- agement are not published; however, statements of internal practices and procedures that affect the rights and duties of taxpayers are published. Revenue rulings represent the conclusions of the Service on the application of the law to the pivotal facts stated in the revenue ruling. In those based on positions taken in rulings to taxpayers or technical advice to Service field offices, identifying details and information of a confidential nature are deleted to prevent unwarranted invasions of privacy and to comply with statutory requirements. Rulings and procedures reported in the Bulletin do not have the force and effect of Treasury Department Regulations, but they may be used as precedents. Unpublished rulings will not be relied on, used, or cited as precedents by Service personnel in the disposition of other cases. In applying published rulings and procedures, the effect of subsequent legislation, regulations, court decisions, rulings, and procedures must be considered, and Service personnel and others concerned are cautioned against reaching the same conclusions in other cases unless the facts and circumstances are substantially the same. The Bulletin is divided into four parts as follows: Part I.—19 86 Code. This part i ncludes rulings and decisions based on provisions of the Intern al Revenue Code of 1986. Part II.—Treaties and Tax Legislation. This part is divided into two subparts as follows: Subpart A, Tax Conventions and Other Related Items, and Subpart B, Leg- islation and Related Committee Reports. Part III.—Administrative, Procedural, and Miscellaneous. To the extent practicable, pertinent cross references to these subjects are contained in the other Parts and Subparts. Also included in this part are Bank Secrecy Act Administrative Rul- ings. Bank Secrecy Act Administrative Rulings are issued by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of the Assistant Sec- retary (Enforcement). Part IV .—Items of General Interest. This par t includes notices of proposed rulemakings, disbar- ment an d suspension lists, and announcements. The last Bulletin for each month includes a cumulative index for the matters published during the preceding months. These monthly indexes are cumulated on a semiannual basis, and are published in the last Bulletin of each semiannual period. The c ontents of this publication are not copyrighted and may be reprinted freely. A citation of the Internal Revenue Bulletin as the source would be appropriate. For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S.Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402. 2005–10 I.R.B.March 7, 2005 Place missing child here. March 7, 20052005–10 I.R.B. Part I. Rulings and Decisions Under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 Section 42.—Low-Income Housing Credit The adjusted applicable federal short-term, mid- term, and long-term rates are set forth for the month of March 2005. See Rev. Rul. 2005-13, page 664. Sect ion 280G.—Golden Para chute Payments Fede ral short-term, mid-term, and long-term rates are s et forth for the month of March 2005. See Rev. Rul. 2005-13, page 664. Section 382.—Limitation on Net Operating Loss Carryforwards and Certain Built-In Losses Following Ownership Change The adjusted applicable federal long-term rate is set forth for the month of March 2005. See Rev. Rul. 2005-13, page 664. Section 401.—Qualified P ension, Profit-Sharing, and Stock Bonus Plans 26 CFR 1.401(a)–1: Post-ERISA qualified plans and qualified trusts; in general. A revenue procedure describes methods for seek- ing an opinion letter or an advisory letter with respect to a pre-approved plan. See Rev. Proc. 2005-16, page 674. Section 403.—Taxation of Employee Annuities 26 CFR 1.403(a)–1: Taxation of beneficiary under a qualified annuity plan. A revenue procedure describes methods for seek- ing an opinion letter or an advisory letter with respect to a pre-approved plan. See Rev. Proc. 2005-16, page 674. Section 411.—Minimum Vesting Standards 26 CFR 1.411(d)–4: Section 411(d)(6) protected ben- efits. T.D. 9176 DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY Internal Revenue Service 26 CFR Part 1 Elimination of Forms of Distribution in Defined Contribution Plans AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Treasury. ACTION: Final regulations. SUMMARY: This document contains final regulations that would modify the circum- stances under which certain forms of dis- tribution previously available are permit- ted to be eliminated from qualified defined contribution plans. These final regulations affect qualified retirement plan sponsors, administrators, and participants. DATES: These regulations are effective January 25, 2005. FORFURTHERINFORMATION CONTACT:VernonS.Carter, 202–622–6060 (not a toll-free num- ber). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background This document contains final amend- ments to 26 CFR part 1 under section 411(d)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (Code) as amended by the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA) (115 Stat. 117). Section 411(d)(6)(A) of the Code gen- erally provides that a plan will not be treated as satisfying the requirements of section 411 if the accrued benefit of a par- ticipant is decreased by a plan amendment. Section 411(d)(6)(B) prior to amendment by EGTRRA provided that an amendment is treated as reducing an accrued benefit if, with respect to benefits accrued before the amendment is adopted, the amend- ment has the effect of either eliminating or reducing an early retirement benefit or a retirement-type subsidy, or, except as provided by regulations, eliminating an optional form of benefit. The IRS published T.D. 8900, 2000–2 C.B. 279 in theFederal Registeron September 6, 2000 (65 FR 53901). T.D. 8900, which amended §1.411(d)–4 of the Income Tax Regulations, added paragraph (e) of Q&A–2 to provide for additional circumstances under which a defined con- tribution plan can be amended to eliminate or restrict a participant’s right to receive payment of accrued benefits under certain optional forms of benefit. Section1.411(d)–4,Q&A–2(e)(1), provides that a defined contribution plan may be amended to eliminate or restrict a participant’s rightto receive payment of accrued benefits under a particular op- tional form of benefit without violating the section 411(d)(6)anti-cutback rules if, once the plan amendment takes effect for a participant, the alternative forms of payment that remain available to the par- ticipant include payment in a single-sum distribution form that is otherwise identi- cal to the eliminated or restricted optional form of benefit. The amendment cannot apply to a participant for any distribution with an annuity starting date before the earlierofthe90 th day after the participant receives a summary that reflects the plan amendment and that satisfies Department of Labor’s requirements for a summary of material modifications under 29 CFR 2520.104b–3, or the first day of the sec- ond plan year following the plan year in which the amendment is adopted. Section 1.411(d)–4, Q&A–2(e)(2), provides that a single-sum distribution form is otherwise identical to the optional form of benefit that is being eliminated or restricted only if it is identical in all respects (or would be identical except that it provides greater rights to the participant), except for the timing of payments after commencement. A single-sum distribution form is not oth- erwise identical to a specified installment form of benefit if the single-sum form: 2005–10 I.R.B.661March 7, 2005 •is not available for distribution on any date on which the installment form could have commenced; •is not available in the same medium as the installment form; or •imposes any additional condition of el- igibility. Further, an otherwise identical distribution form need not retain any rights or features of the eliminated or restricted optional form of benefit to the extent those rights or features would not be protected from elimination under the anti-cutback rules. The single-sum distribution form would not, however, be disqualified from being an otherwise identical distribution form if the single-sum form provides greater rights to participants than did the elimi- nated or restricted optional form of benefit. Section 645(a)(1) of EGTRRA added section 411(d)(6)(E), which provides that, except to the extent provided in regula- tions, a defined contribution plan is not treated as reducing a participant’s accrued benefit where a plan amendment elim- inates a form of distribution previously available under the plan if a single-sum distribution is available to the participant atthesametimeastheformofdistribu- tion eliminated by the amendment and the single-sum distribution is based on the same or greater portion of the participant’s account as the form of distribution elim- inated by the amendment. Thus, section 411(d)(6)(E) includes conditions that are similar to those in existing §1.411(d)–4, Q&A–2(e), but without the advance notice condition. On July 8, 2003, a notice of pro- posedrulemaking(REG–112039–03, 2003–2 C.B. 504 [68 FR 40581]) was published in theFederal Registerto re- flect the addition of section 411(d)(6)(E) by EGTRRA. The proposed regulations amended §1.411(d)–4, Q&A–2(e) to elim- inate the 90-day advance notice condition on plan amendments otherwise permitted under §1.411(d)–4, Q&A–2(e). Following publication of the proposed regulations, comments were received, but no public hearing was requested. After considera- tion of the comments received, the pro- posed regulations are adopted as revised by this Treasury decision. Explanation of Provisions These final regulations retain the gen- eral structure and much of the substance of the proposed regulations, including an example illustrating the provisions. Some changes have been made in connection with a specific recommendation for mod- ification and clarification. The comments received in response to the proposed regu- lations are generally summarized below. Two commentators were concerned that, following the elimination of the 90-day notice requirement, plan partici- pants who counted on being able to retire with an annuity could discover that option is suddenly gone. The commentators ar- gued that the participant may have made plans based on the expectation of receiving an annuity, and that, although participants can purchase annuities with their lump sums, they may find that annuities pur- chased outside the plan cost more or pay lower amounts than what they were ex- pecting from the plan. The commentators recommended that, to the extent plan spon- sors adopt amendments that terminate an annuity option, those plan sponsors should allow participants within 90 days of re- tiring at the time of the amendment to be permitted to elect that annuity. The legislative history to section 645(a)(1) of EGTRRA shows that Con- gress was aware of the notice requirement in existing §1.411(d)–4, Q&A–2(e)(2), and adopted all of the same provisions in section 411(d)(6)(E) as are in existing §1.411(d)–4, Q&A–2(e)(2), except for the notice requirement. See Conference Re- port No. 107–84, 107 th Cong., 1 st Session 253–254. Accordingly, these final regu- lations adopt the amendments in the pro- posed regulation. The regulations retain the rules under which a defined contribu- tion plan may be amended to eliminate or restrict a participant’s right to receive pay- ment of accrued benefits under a particular optional form of benefit without violating the section 411(d)(6) anti-cutback rules if, once the plan amendment takes effect for a participant, the alternative forms of payment that remain available to the par- ticipant include payment in a single-sum distribution. The regulations clarify that such an amendment can apply only to dis- tributions with annuity starting dates after the amendment is adopted and, therefore, cannot apply to distributions that have already commenced. However, these final regulations remove the 90-day notice con- dition previously applicable to these plan amendments. 1 One commentator commented on the example in §1.411(d)–4, Q&A–2(e), of the proposed regulations. The commenta- tor stated it is not clear from the example why the amendment does not apply to P (the participant in the Plan) if P elects to have annuity payments begin before July 1, 2004. The commentator stated that the confusion may result because the example provided that the amendment is adopted on May 2, 2004, but does not provide when the amendment is effective. The example has been revised to reflect the comment. Under section 101 of Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1978 (43 FR 47713), the Secretary of the Treasury has interpre- tive jurisdiction over the subject matter addressed in these regulations for pur- poses of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). Section 204(g)(2) of ERISA, as amended by EGTRRA, provides a parallel rule to sec- tion 411(d)(6)(E) of the Code that applies under Title I of ERISA, and authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to provide exception to this parallel ERISA require- ment. Therefore, regulations issued under section 411(d)(6)(E) of the Code apply for purposes of the parallel requirements of section 204(g)(2) of ERISA, as well as for section 411(d)(6)(E) of the Code. Special Analyses It has been determined that this Trea- sury decision is not asignificant regula- tory action as defined in Executive Order 12866. Therefore, a regulatory assessment is not required. It also has been deter- mined that section 553(b) of the Admin- istrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. chapter 5) does not apply to these regulations, and because the regulation does not impose a collection of information on small entities, the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 1 The Department of Labor has advised Treasury and the IRS that plans covered by Title I of ERISA are subject to the requirement under Title I that plan amendments be described in a timely summary of material modifications (SMM) or a revised summary plan description (SPD) to be distributed to plan participants and beneficiaries in accordance with applicable Department of Labor disclosure rules (see 29 CFR 2520.104b–3). March 7, 20056622005–10 I.R.B. chapter 6) does not apply. Pursuant to sec- tion 7805(f) of the Code, the notice of pro- posed rulemaking preceding these regula- tions was submitted to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Ad- ministration for comment on its impact on small business. Drafting Information The principal author of these regula- tions is Vernon S. Carter of the Office of the Division Counsel/Associate Chief Counsel (Tax Exempt and Government Entities). However, other personnel from the IRS and Treasury participated in their development. ***** Amendments to the Regulations Accordingly, 26 CFR part 1 is amended as follows: Paragraph 1.The authority citation for part 1 is amended to read, in part, as follows: Authority:26 U.S.C. 7805 * * * Par. 2.Section 1.411(d)–4, Q&A–2(e) is revised to read as follows: §1.411(d)–4 Section 411(d)(6) protected benefits. ***** A–2: * * * (e)Permitted plan amendments affect- ing alternative forms of payment under defined contribution plans—(1)General rule. A defined contribution plan does not violate the requirements of section 411(d)(6) merely because the plan is amended to eliminate or restrict the abil- ity of a participant to receive payment of accrued benefits under a particular op- tional form of benefit for distributions with annuity starting dates after the date the amendment is adopted if, after the plan amendment is effective with respect to the participant, the alternative forms of pay- ment available to the participant include payment in a single-sum distribution form that is otherwise identical to the optional form of benefit that is being eliminated or restricted. (2)Otherwise identical single-sum dis- tribution. For purposes of this paragraph (e), a single-sum distribution form is oth- erwise identical to an optional form of ben- efit that is eliminated or restricted pur- suant to paragraph (e)(1) of this Q&A–2 only if the single-sum distribution form is identical in all respects to the elimi- nated or restricted optional form of ben- efit (or would be identical except that it provides greater rights to the participant) except with respect to the timing of pay- ments after commencement. For exam- ple, a single-sum distribution form is not otherwise identical toa specified install- ment form of benefit if the single-sum dis- tribution form is not available for distribu- tion on the date on which the installment form would have been available for com- mencement, is not available in the same medium of distribution as the installment form, or imposes any condition of eligi- bility that did not apply to the installment form. However, an otherwise identical dis- tribution form need not retain rights or fea- tures of the optional form of benefit that is eliminated or restricted to the extent that those rights or features would not be pro- tected from elimination or restriction un- der section 411(d)(6) or this section. (3)Example. The following example illustrates the application of this paragraph (e): Example. (i) P is a participant in Plan M, a quali- fied profit-sharing plan with a calendar plan year that is invested in mutual funds. The distribution forms available to P under Plan M include a distribution of P’s vested account balance under Plan M in the form of distribution of various annuity contract forms (including a single life annuity and a joint and sur- vivor annuity). The annuity payments under the an- nuity contract forms begin as of the first day of the month following P’s severance from employment (or as of the first day of any subsequent month, subject to the requirements of section 401(a)(9)). P has not previously elected payment of benefits in the form of a life annuity, and Plan M is not a direct or indirect transferee of any plan that is a defined benefit plan or a defined contribution plan that is subject to section 412. Distributions on the death of a participant are made in accordance with plan provisions that com- ply with section 401(a)(11)(B)(iii)(I). On September 2, 2005, Plan M is amended so that, effective for pay- ments that begin on or after November 1, 2005, P is no longer entitled to any distribution in the form of the distribution of an annuity contract. However, af- ter the amendment is effective, P is entitled to receive a single-sum cash distribution of P’s vested account balance under Plan M payable as of the first day of the month following P’s severance from employment (or as of the first day of any subsequent month, sub- ject to the requirements of section 401(a)(9)). (ii) Plan M does not violate the requirements of section 411(d)(6) (or section 401(a)(11)) merely be- cause, as of November 1, 2005, the plan amendment has eliminated P’s option to receive a distribution in any of the various annuity contract forms previously available. (4)Effective date. This paragraph (e) is applicable on January 25, 2005. ***** Mark E. Matthews, Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement. Approved January 10, 2005. Eric Solomon, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary oftheTreasury(TaxPolicy). (Filed by the Office of the Federal Register on January 24, 2005, 8:45 a.m., and published in the issue of the Federal Register for January 25, 2005, 70 F.R. 3475) Section 412.—Minimum Funding Standards The adjusted applicable federal short-term, mid- term, and long-term rates are set forth for the month of March 2005. See Rev. Rul. 2005-13, page 664. Section 467.—Certain Payments for the Use of Property or Services The adjusted applicable federal short-term, mid- term, and long-term rates are set forth for the month of March 2005. See Rev. Rul. 2005-13, page 664. Section 468.—Special Rules for Mining and Solid Waste Reclamation and Closing Costs The adjusted applicable federal short-term, mid- term, and long-term rates are set forth for the month of March 2005. See Rev. Rul. 2005-13, page 664. Section 482.—Allocation of Income and Deductions Among Taxpayers Federal short-term, mid-term, and long-term rates are set forth for the month of March 2005. See Rev. Rul. 2005-13, page 664. Section 483.—Interest on Certain Deferred Payments The adjusted applicable federal short-term, mid- term, and long-term rates are set forth for the month of March 2005. See Rev. Rul. 2005-13, page 664. 2005–10 I.R.B.663March 7, 2005 Section 501.—Exemption From Tax on Corporations, Certain Trusts, etc. 26 CFR 1.501(a)–1: Exemption from taxation. Procedures set forth whether a pre-approved plan may receive an opinion letter or an advisory letter that the plan is qualified as to form under § 401 or § 403 of the Internal Revenue Code. See Rev. Proc. 2005-16, page 674. Section 642.—Special Rules for Credits and Deductions Federal short-term, mid-term, and long-term rates are set forth for the month of March 2005. See Rev. Rul. 2005-13, page 664. Section 807.—Rules for Certain Reserves The adjusted applicable federal short-term, mid- term, and long-term rates are set forth for the month of March 2005. See Rev. Rul. 2005-13, page 664. Section 846.—Discounted Unpaid Losses Defined The adjusted applicable federal short-term, mid- term, and long-term rates are set forth for the month of March 2005. See Rev. Rul. 2005-13, page 664. Section 1274.—Determi- nation of Issue Price in the Case of Certain Debt Instru- ments Issued for Property (Also Sections 42, 280G, 382, 412, 467, 468, 482, 483, 642, 807, 846, 1288, 7520, 7872.) Federal rates; adjusted federal rates; adjusted federal long-term rate and the long-term exempt rate.For purposes of sections 382, 642, 1274, 1288, and other sections of the Code, tables set forth the rates for March 2005. Rev. Rul. 2005–13 This revenue ruling provides various prescribed rates for federal income tax purposes for March 2005 (the current month). Table 1 contains the short-term, mid-term, and long-term applicable fed- eral rates (AFR) for the current month for purposes of section 1274(d) of the Internal Revenue Code. Table 2 contains the short-term, mid-term, and long-term adjusted applicable federal rates (adjusted AFR) for the current month for purposes of section 1288(b). Table 3 sets forth the adjusted federal long-term rate and the long-term tax-exempt rate described in section 382(f). Table 4 contains the ap- propriate percentages for determining the low-income housing credit described in section 42(b)(2) for buildings placed in service during the current month. Finally, Table 5 contains the federal rate for deter- mining the present value of an annuity, an interest for life or for a term of years, or a remainder or a reversionary interest for purposes of section 7520. REV. RUL. 2005–13 TABLE 1 Applicable Federal Rates (AFR) for March 2005 Period for Compounding AnnualSemiannualQuarterlyMonthly Short-term AFR3.08%3.06%3.05%3.04% 110% AFR3.40%3.37%3.36%3.35% 120% AFR3.70%3.67%3.65%3.64% 130% AFR4.02%3.98%3.96%3.95% Mid-term AFR3.83%3.79%3.77%3.76% 110% AFR4.21%4.17%4.15%4.13% 120% AFR4.60%4.55%4.52%4.51% 130% AFR4.99%4.93%4.90%4.88% 150% AFR5.77%5.69%5.65%5.62% 175% AFR6.74%6.63%6.58%6.54% Long-term AFR4.52%4.47%4.45%4.43% 110% AFR4.98%4.92%4.89%4.87% 120% AFR5.43%5.36%5.32%5.30% 130% AFR5.89%5.81%5.77%5.74% March 7, 20056642005–10 I.R.B. REV. RUL. 2005– 13 TABLE 2 Adjusted AFR for March 2005 Period for Compounding AnnualSemiannualQuarterlyMonthly Short-term adjusted AFR 2.23%2.22%2.21%2.21% Mid-term adjusted AFR 2.91%2.89%2.88%2.87% Long-term ad justed AFR4.09%4.05%4.03%4.02% REV. RUL. 2005–13 TABLE 3 Rates Under Section 382 for March 2005 Adjusted federal long-term rate for the current month4.09% Long-term tax-exempt rate for ownership changes during the current month (the highest of the adjusted federal long-term rates for the current month and the prior two months.)4.27% REV. RUL. 2005–13 TABLE 4 Appropriate Percentages Under Section 42(b)(2) for March 2005 Appropriate percentage for the 70% present value low-income housing credit7.97% Appropriate percentage for the 30% present value low-income housing credit3.42% REV. RU L. 2005–13 TABLE 5 Rate Under Section 7520 for March 2005 Applicable federal rate for determining the present value of an annuity, an interest for life or a term of years, or a remainder or reversionary interest4.60% Section 1288.—Treatment of Original Issue Discount on Tax-Exempt Obligations The adjusted applicable federal short-term, mid- term, and long-term rates are set forth for the month of March 2005. See Rev. Rul. 2005-13, page 664. Section 6011.—General Requirement of Return, Statement, or List 26 CFR 1.6011–5T: Required use of magnetic media for corporate income tax returns (temporary). T.D. 9175 DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY Internal Revenue Service 26 CFR Parts 1 and 301 Returns Required on Magnetic Media AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Treasury ACTION: Temporary regulations. SUMMARY: This document contains temporary regulations relating to the re- quirements for filing corporate income tax returns and returns of organizations required to file returns under section 6033 on magnetic media pursuant to section 6011(e) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code). The term magnetic media includes any magnetic media permitted under ap- plicable regulations, revenue procedures, or publications, including electronic fil- ing. The text of the temporary regulations also serves as the text of the proposed regulations (REG–130671–04) set forth in the notice of proposed rulemaking on this subject in this issue of the Bulletin. DATES: These regulations are effective February 12, 2005. 2005–10 I.R.B.665March 7, 2005 FORFURTHERINFORMATION CONTACT: Michael E. Hara, (202) 622–4910 (not a toll-free number). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background Electronic filing of tax returns benefits taxpayers and the IRS by eliminating the manual processing of returns and reducing errors that are more likely to occur during the manual preparation and processing of paper returns. Electronic filing results in faster settling of accounts and better cus- tomer service because the time required to process paper returns is eliminated. The error rate for corporateincometaxreturns filed on Form 1120, “U.S. Corporation In- come Tax Return” and Form 1120S, “U.S. Income Tax Return for an S Corporation,” on paper is approximately 20 percent. In- formation returns required to be filed un- der section 6033, which include Form 990, “Return of Organization Exempt From In- come Tax,” and Form 990–PF, “Return of Private Foundation or Section 4947(a)(1) Nonexempt Charitable Trust Treated as a Private Foundation,” that are filed on pa- per have an error rate of approximately 35 percent. The error rate for paper returns is due in roughly equal parts to IRS pro- cessing errors and taxpayer return prepara- tion mistakes. By contrast, electronically filed returns have an error rate of less than one percent because these returns are sub- ject to screening by the IRS prior to be- ing accepted and are not required to be in- put manually by the IRS. Furthermore, re- turns required to be filed pursuant to sec- tion 6033 must be made available to the public by both the organization and the IRS pursuant to section 6104. Many state char- ity regulatory agencies rely on these re- turns. Requiring these returns to be filed electronically improves the accuracy of the information for both public and regulatory oversight of these organizations. Electronic filing of returns improves taxpayer satisfaction and confidence in the filing process, and may be more cost effective for taxpayers who file electroni- cally. Electronic filing will enable the IRS to review taxpayer submissions expedi- tiously to reduce audit cycle time and will help the IRS identify emerging trends. In February 2004, the IRS introduced Modernized e-File, a new electronic filing system for corporations required to file Form 1120 or Form 1120S and organiza- tions required to file Form 990. During the development of Modernized e-File, the IRS worked closely with taxpayers and tax professionals to ensure that the new electronic filing system would satisfy their needs. Modernized e-File alleviates the burden of filing massive paper returns, which may be up to 50,000 pages in length. Electronically filed returns are processed upon receipt and, shortly thereafter, an IRS acknowledgment message is generated to inform taxpayers or tax professionals that the return has been accepted or rejected. Error messages for rejected returns iden- tify the reasons the return was rejected and make it easier for the taxpayer or tax professional to correct the errors. Mod- ernized e-File streamlines electronic filing by eliminating the need for paper docu- mentstobemailedtotheIRSandenables taxpayers to attach forms and schedules, along with other documents, to the return in Portable Document Format (PDF). Section 6011(e) authorizes the Secre- tary to prescribe regulations providing the standards for determining which returns must be filed on magnetic media or in other machine-readable form.Section 6011(e)(2) provides that the Secretary may not require any person to file returns on magnetic media unless the person is required to file at least 250 returns during the calendar year. Section 6011(e)(2)(B) requires that the Secretary, prior to issu- ing regulations requiring these entities to file returns on magnetic media, take into account (among other relevant factors) the ability of the taxpayer to comply at reasonable cost with the requirements of the regulations. The term magnetic media includes any magnetic media permitted under applicable regulations, revenue procedures, or publications, including electronic filing. Recognizing the benefits of electronic filing, Congress enacted sec- tion 2001(a) of the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, Public Law 105–206, 112 Stat. 727, which states that the policy of Congress is to promote paperless filing, with a long-range goal of providing for the filing of at least 80 percent of all Federal and information returns in electronic form by 2007. The IRS has partnered with taxpayers and tax practitioners in the design of Mod- ernized e-File to minimize burdens on tax- payers and tax practitioners and to address their concerns. Most corporate returns are prepared with the assistance of tax return preparation software. Some of these re- turns cannot yet be filed electronically us- ing Modernized e-Filebecause additional software is needed to format the return data and additional hardware may be needed to transmit the return data to the IRS. As a re- sult, some taxpayers may incur incremen- tal costs to make the transition from pa- perfilingtoelectronic filing using Mod- ernized e-File. Aftercarefully evaluating the benefits of electronic filing and the bur- dens that might be imposed on filers, the IRS has determined that taxpayers will be able to convert to electronic filing at a rea- sonable cost and that the benefits to both the IRS and taxpayers substantially out- weigh the costs. These regulations amend the Regula- tions on Procedure and Administration (26CFRpart301)relatingtothefiling on magnetic media pursuant to section 6011(e) of corporate income tax returns, S corporation returns, and returns required under section 6033.These regulations provide that certain large corporations, in- cluding S corporations, are required to file their corporate income tax returns elec- tronically. These regulations also provide that certain large exempt organizations, nonexempt charitable trusts, and exempt and nonexempt private foundations are required to file electronically returns re- quired to be filed under section 6033. The IRS currently does not have the capability to accept electronic filing of certain types of Form 1120, Form 1120S, Form 990, and Form 990–PF, such as a Form 1120 for a taxpayer that has changed its accounting period or a Form 1120 that is the taxpayer’s final return. These types of returns are excluded from the electronic filing requirement under these regulations. The IRS will announce those returns that are excluded from electronic filing un- der these regulations in its publications, forms and instructions. The Treasury De- partment and the IRS intend to require electronic filing of additional corporate income tax returns, excise tax returns and returns required to be filed under section 6033 as the IRS increases its capability to receive these forms electronically, pro- vided that the Treasury Department and the IRS determine that taxpayers are able March 7, 20056662005–10 I.R.B. to comply with the electronic filing re- quirements at a reasonable cost. Explanation of Provisions To expand electronic filing, these regu- lations provide that the following taxpay- ers that are required by the Code or reg- ulations to file at least 250 returns during the calendar year ending with or within the taxpayer’s taxable year are required to file the following tax returns electronically for the taxable years indicated: EntitiesForm(s)Applicability Dates Corporations, including electing small business corporations, with assets of $50 million or more. Form 1120, “U.S. Corporation Income Ta x R e t u r n” or Form 1120S, “U.S. Income Tax Return for an S Corporation.” Taxable years ending on or after December 31, 2005. Corporations, including electing small business corporations, with assets of $10 million or more. Form 1120, “U.S. Corporation Income Ta x R e t u r n” or Form 1120S, “U.S. Income Tax Return for an S Corporation.” Taxable years ending on or after December 31, 2006. Exempt organizations with assets of $100 million or more that are required to file returns under section 6033. Form 990, “Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax.” Taxable years ending on or after December 31, 2005. Exempt organizations with assets of $10 million or more that are required to file returns under section 6033. Form 990, “Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax.” Taxable years ending on or after December 31, 2006. Private foundations or section 4947(a)(1) trusts that are required to file returns under section 6033. Form 990–PF, “Return of Private Foundation or Section 4947(a)(1) Nonexempt Charitable Trust Treated as a Private Foundation.” Taxable years ending on or after December 31, 2006. Under these regulations, an entity’s assets are determined based on total assets at the end of the taxable year as reported on the entity’s Form 1120, 1120S, or 990. Some of these large entities already file their returns electronically. In addition, many of these large entities prepare their income tax returns electronically, but file the returns on paper. The Treasury De- partment and the IRS have determined that these taxpayers are able to comply at a rea- sonable cost with the requirement to file returns electronically. To eliminate the po- tential burden of electronic filing on small businesses that may not be able to com- ply at a reasonable cost, these regulations exclude small corporations and certain ex- empt organizations with total assets of less than $10 million. The determination of whether an entity is required to file at least 250 returns is made by aggregating all returns, regardless of type, that the entity is required to file over the calendar year, including, for ex- ample, income tax returns, returns required under section 6033, information returns, excise tax returns, and employment tax re- turns. Under these regulations, corrected or amended returns are not counted in de- termining whether the 250-return thresh- old is met. All members of a controlled group of corporations are required to file their Forms 1120 electronically if the total number of returns required to be filed by the controlled group of corporations is at least 250. The aggregation of returns required under these regulations is limited to determining whether an entity is re- quired to file Form 1120, Form 1120S, Form 990, or Form 990–PF electroni- cally.These regulations do not affect §301.6011–2(c)(1)(iii), which provides that returns are not tobe aggregated for purposes of determining whether informa- tion returns must be filed on magnetic me- dia. These regulations also do not affect §301.6721–1(a)(2)(ii),which provides that the 250-return threshold requirements apply separately to original and corrected returns. Corporations required to file Form 1120 or Form 1120S electronically under these regulations may file amended returns on paper in the form allowed by Rev. Proc. 94–69, 1994–2 C.B. 804, or in the man- ner prescribed by any subsequent revenue procedure. However, an entity that files an incomplete electronic return and subse- quently files an amended paper return be- fore the return’s due date has not complied with the provisions of these regulations be- cause a second return filed before the due date is treated as an original return. Hardship Waiver These regulations provide that the Commissioner may waive the require- ments to file electronically in cases of undue hardship.Because the Treasury Department and the IRS believe that elec- tronic filing will not impose significant burdens on the taxpayers covered by these regulations, the Commissioner will grant waivers of the electronic filing require- ment only in exceptional cases.The Treasury Department and the IRS invite comments from the public regarding the waiver provision in these regulations. Ad- ditionally, the IRS will meet with various groups, including software developers and tax practitioners, to assist taxpayers in preparing to file their returns electroni- cally. After considering comments, the Treasury Department and the IRS will issue guidance that will set forth the pro- cedures by which a taxpayer may request a hardship waiver. Exclusions These regulations provide exclusions from the requirementto file electronically 2005–10 I.R.B.667March 7, 2005 for certain corporations and organizations that have not had a longstanding filing obligation.Corporations and organiza- tions are not required to file their returns electronically if they were not required to file a Form 1120, Form 1120S, Form 990, or Form 990–PF for the preceding taxable year or have not been in existence for at least one calendar year prior to the due date (not including extensions) of their Form 1120, Form 1120S, Form 990, or Form 990–PF. Date of Filing A return filed electronically is deemed to be filed on the date of the electronic postmark. See §301.7502–1(d). If a cor- poration or organization that is required to file electronically fails to do so, the cor- poration or organization is deemed to have failed to file its return. Effective Dates To permit taxpayers sufficient time to implement the requirements of these regu- lations, these regulations apply to corpora- tions required to file corporate income tax returns with total assets of $50 million or more as shown on their Schedule L of the Form 1120 or 1120S for taxable years end- ing on or after December 31, 2005, and to corporations required to file corporate in- come tax returns with total assets of $10 million or more as shown on their Sched- ule L of their Form 1120 or 1120S for tax- able years ending on or after December 31, 2006. These regulations apply to any or- ganization that is required to file Form 990 and that, for a taxable year ending on or after December 31, 2005, has total assets as of the end of the taxable year of $100 millionormoreorthat,forataxableyear ending on or after December 31, 2006, has total assets as of the end of the taxable year of $10 million or more. These regulations will apply to any organization required to file Form 990–PF for taxable years ending on or after December 31, 2006. All other corporations and organizations are encour- aged to adopt electronic filing as soon as feasible. Special Analyses It has been determined that this Trea- sury decision is not a significant regula- tory action as defined in Executive Order 12866. Therefore, a regulatory assessment is not required. It also has been determined that section 553(b) of the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. chapter 5) does not apply to these regulations. For appli- cability of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. chapter 6) refer to the Special Analyses of the preamble to the cross-ref- erence of proposed rulemaking published in this issue of the Bulletin. Pursuant to section 7805(f) of the Code, these regula- tions will be submitted to the Chief Coun- sel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration for comment on their im- pact on small business. Drafting Information The principal author of these tempo- rary regulations is Michael E. Hara, Office of the Associate ChiefCounsel (Procedure and Administration), although other per- sonnel from the IRS and Treasury Depart- ment participated in their development. ***** Amendments to the Regulations Accordingly, 26 CFR parts 1 and 301 are amended as follows: PART 1—INCOME TAXES Paragraph 1. The authority citation for part 1 continues to read, in part, as follows: Authority: 26 U.S.C. 7805 * * * Par. 2. Section 1.6011–5T is added to read as follows: §1.6011–5T Required use of magnetic media for corporate income tax returns (temporary). The return of a corporation that is required to be filed on magnetic me- dia under §301.6011–5T of this chapter must be filed in accordance with Inter- nal Revenue Service revenue procedures, publications, forms, or instructions. (See §601.601(d)(2) of this chapter). Par. 3. Section 1.6033–4T is added to read as follows: §1.6033–4T Required use of magnetic media for returns by organizations required to file returns under section 6033 (temporary). The return of an organization that is required to be filed on magnetic me- dia under §301.6033–4T of this chapter must be filed in accordance with Inter- nal Revenue Service revenue procedures, publications, forms, or instructions. (See §601.601(d)(2) of this chapter). Par. 4. Section 1.6037–2T is added to read as follows: §1.6037–2T Required use of magnetic media for income tax returns of electing small business corporations (temporary). The return of an electing small business corporationthatisrequiredtobefiledon magnetic media under §301.6037–2T of this chapter must be filed in accordance with Internal Revenue Service revenue procedures, publications, forms, or in- structions.(See §601.601(d)(2) of this chapter). PART 301—PROCEDURE AND ADMINISTRATION Par. 5. The authority citation for part 301 is amended by adding entries, in nu- merical order, to read as follows: Authority: 26 U.S.C. 7805 * * * Section 301.6011–5T also issued under 26 U.S.C. 6011. * * * Section 301.6033–4T also issued under 26 U.S.C. 6033. * * * Section 301.6037–2T also issued under 26 U.S.C. 6037. * * * Par. 6. Section 301.6011–5T is added to read as follows: §301.6011–5T Required use of magnetic media for corporate income tax returns (temporary). (a)Corporate income tax returns re- quired on magnetic media—(1) A corpora- tion required to file a corporate income tax return on Form 1120, “U.S. Corporation Income Tax Return,” under §1.6012–2 of this chapter must file its corporate income tax return on magnetic media if the corpo- rationisrequiredbytheInternalRevenue Code or regulations to file at least 250 re- turns during the calendar year ending with or within its taxable year, was required to file a corporate income tax return on Form 1120 under §1.6012–2 of this chapter for the preceding taxable year, and has been in existence for at least one year prior to the due date (excluding extensions) of its corporate income tax return. Returns filed on magnetic media must be made in ac- March 7, 20056682005–10 I.R.B. cordance with applicable revenue proce- dures, publications, forms, or instructions. In prescribing revenue procedures, publi- cations, forms, or instructions, the Com- missioner may direct the type of magnetic media filing. (See §601.601(d)(2) of this chapter). (2) All members of a controlled group of corporations must file their corporate in- come tax returns on magnetic media if the aggregate number of returns required to be filed by the controlled group of corpora- tionsisatleast250. (b)Waiver. The Commissioner may grant waivers of the requirements of this section in cases of undue hardship. A re- quest for waiver must be made in accor- dance with applicable revenue procedures or publications. The waiver also will be subject to the terms and conditions regard- ing the method of filing as may be pre- scribed by the Commissioner. (c)Failure to file. If a corporation fails to file a corporate income tax return on magneticmediawhenrequiredtodosoby this section, the corporation is deemed to have failed to file the return. (See section 6651 for the addition to tax for failure to file a return). In determining whether there is reasonable cause for failure to file the re- turn, §301.6651–1(c) and rules similar to the rules in §301.6724–1(c)(3) (undue eco- nomic hardship related to filing informa- tion returns on magnetic media) will apply. (d)Meaning of terms. The following definitions apply for purposes of this sec- tion: (1)Magnetic media.Thetermmagnetic mediameans any magnetic media permit- ted under applicable regulations, revenue procedures, or publications. These gener- ally include magnetic tape, tape cartridge, and diskette, as well as other media, such as electronic filing, specifically permitted under the applicable regulations, proce- dures, publications, forms, or instructions. (See §601.601(d)(2) of this chapter). (2)Corporation.Thetermcorporation means a corporation as defined in section 7701(a)(3). (3)Controlled group of corporations. The termcontrolled group of corporations means a group of corporations as defined in section 1563(a). (4)Corporate income tax return.The term corporate income tax returnmeans a Form 1120, “U.S. Corporation Income Ta x R e t u r n,” along with all other related forms and schedules that are required to be attached to the Form 1120. (5)Determination of 250 returns.For purposes of this section, a corporation or controlled group of corporations is re- quired to file at least 250 returns if, during the calendar year ending with or within the taxable year of the corporation or the controlled group, the corporation or the controlled group is required to file at least 250 returns of any type, including infor- mation returns.If the corporation is a member of a controlled group, the deter- mination of the number of returns includes all returns required to be filed by all mem- bers of the controlled group during that calendar year. (e)Example. The following example il- lustrates the provisions of paragraph (d)(5) of this section: Example. The taxable year of Corporation X, a fiscal year taxpayer with assets in excess of $10 million, ends on September 30. During the calen- dar year ending December 31, 2007, X was required to file one Form 1120, “U.S. Corporation Income Ta x R e t u r n,” 100 Forms W–2, “Wage and Tax State- ment,” 146 Forms 1099–DIV, “Dividends and Distri- butions,” one Form 940, “Employer’s Annual Fed- eral Unemployment (FUTA) Tax Return,” and four Forms 941, “Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Re- turn.” Because X is required to file 252 returns during the calendar year that ended within its taxable year ending September 30, 2008, X is required to file its Form 1120 electronically for its taxable year ending September 30, 2008. (f)Effective dates. This section applies to corporate income tax returns for corpo- rations that report total assets at the end of the corporation’s taxable year that equal or exceed $50 million on Schedule L of their Form 1120, for taxable years ending on or after December 31, 2005. This section ap- plies to corporate income tax returns for corporations that report total assets at the end of the corporation’s taxable year that equal or exceed $10 million on Schedule L of their Form 1120, for taxable years end- ing on or after December 31, 2006. Par. 7. Section 301.6033–4T is added to read as follows: §301.6033–4T Required use of magnetic media for returns by organizations required to file returns under section 6033 (temporary). (a)Returns by organizations required to file returns under section 6033 on mag- netic media.An organization required tofileareturnundersection6033on Form 990, “Return of Organization Ex- empt From Income Tax,” or Form 990–PF, “Return of Private Foundation or Section 4947(a)(1) Nonexempt Charitable Trust Treated as a Private Foundation,” must file its Form 990 or 990–PF on magnetic media if the organization is required by the Internal Revenue Code or regulations to file at least 250 returns during the calen- dar year ending with or within its taxable year, was required to file its Form 990 or Form 990–PF under section 6033 for the preceding taxable year, and has been in existence for at least one calendar year prior to the due date (excluding exten- sions) of its Form 990 or Form 990–PF. Returns filed on magnetic media must be made in accordance with applicable revenue procedures, publications, forms, or instructions.In prescribing revenue procedures, publications, forms, or in- structions, the Commissioner may direct the type of magnetic media filing. (See §601.601(d)(2) of this chapter). (b)Waiver. The Commissioner may grant waivers of the requirements of this section in cases of undue hardship. A re- quest for waiver must be made in accor- dance with applicable revenue procedures or publications. The waiver also will be subject to the terms and conditions regard- ing the method of filing as may be pre- scribed by the Commissioner. (c)Failure to file. If an organization re- quired to file a return under section 6033 fails to file an information return on mag- netic media when required to do so by this section, the organization is deemed to have failed to file the return. (See section 6652 for the addition to tax for failure to file a return.) In determining whether there is reasonable cause for failure to file the re- turn, §301.6652–2(f) and rules similar to the rules in §301.6724–1(c)(3) (undue eco- nomic hardship related to filing informa- tion returns on magnetic media) will apply. (d)Meaning of terms. The following definitions apply for purposes of this sec- tion: (1)Magnetic media.Thetermmagnetic mediameans any magnetic media permit- ted under applicable regulations, revenue procedures, or publications. These gener- ally include magnetic tape, tape cartridge, and diskette, as well as other media, such as electronic filing, specifically permitted under the applicable regulations, proce- dures, publications, forms or instructions. (See §601.601(d)(2) of this chapter). 2005–10 I.R.B.669March 7, 2005 (2)Return required under section 6033. The termreturn required under section 6033means a Form 990, “Return of Or- ganization Exempt From Income Tax,” and Form 990–PF, “Return of Private Foun- dation or Section 4947(a)(1) Nonexempt Charitable Trust Treated as a Private Foundation,” along with all other related forms and schedules that are required to be attached to the Form 990 or Form 990–PF. (3)Determination of 250 returns.For purposes of this section, an organization is required to file at least 250 returns if, dur- ing the calendar year ending with or within the taxable year of the organization, the or- ganization is required to file at least 250 returns of any type, including information returns. (e)Example. The following example il- lustrates the provisions of paragraph (d)(3) of this section. In the example, the organ- ization is a calendar year taxpayer: Example. In 2006, Organization T, with total as- sets in excess of $10 million, is required to file one Form 990, “Return of Organization Exempt From In- come Tax,” 200 Forms W–2, “Wage and Tax State- ment,” and 60 Forms 1099–MISC, “Miscellaneous Income.” Because T is required to file 261 returns during the calendar year, T must file its 2006 Form 990 electronically. (f)Effective dates. This section applies to any organization required to file Form 990 for a taxable year ending on or after December 31, 2005, that has total assets as of the end of the taxable year of $100 mil- lion or more. This section applies to any organization required to file Form 990 for a taxable year ending on or after Decem- ber 31, 2006, that has total assets as of the end of the taxable year of $10 million or more. This section applies to any organ- izationrequiredtofileForm990–PFfor taxable years ending on or after December 31, 2006. Par. 8. Section 301.6037–2T is added to read as follows: §301.6037–2T Required use of magnetic media for returns of electing small business corporation (temporary). (a)Returns of electing small business corporation required on magnetic media. An electing small business corporation required to file an electing small busi- ness return on Form 1120S, “U.S. Income Tax Return for an S Corporation,” un- der §1.6037–1 of this chapter must file its Form 1120S on magnetic media if the small business corporation is required by the Internal Revenue Code and regula- tions to file at least 250 returns during the calendar year ending with or within its taxable year, was required to file its Form 1120S under §6037–1 of this chapter for the preceding taxable year, and has been in existence for at least one calendar year prior to the due date (excluding exten- sions) of its Form 1120S. Returns filed on magnetic media must be made in accor- dance with applicable revenue procedures, publications, forms, or instructions.In prescribing revenue procedures, publica- tions, forms, or instructions, the Commis- sioner may direct the type of magnetic media filing. (See §601.601(d)(2) of this chapter). (b)Waiver. The Commissioner may grant waivers of the requirements of this section in cases of undue hardship. A re- quest for waiver must be made in accor- dance with applicable revenue procedures or publications. The waiver also will be subject to the terms and conditions regard- ing the method of filing as may be pre- scribed by the Commissioner. (c)Failure to file. Ifanelectingsmall business corporation fails to file a return on magnetic media when required to do so by this section, the corporation is deemed to have failed to file the return. (See sec- tion 6651 for the addition to tax for failure to file a return.) In determining whether there is reasonable cause for failure to file the return, §301.6651–1(c) and rules sim- ilar to the rules in §301.6724–1(c)(3) (un- due economic hardship related to filing in- formation returns on magnetic media) will apply. (d)Meaning of terms. The following definitions apply for purposes of this sec- tion: (1)Magnetic media.Thetermmagnetic mediameans any magnetic media permit- ted under applicableregulations, revenue procedures, or publications. These gener- ally include magnetic tape, tape cartridge, and diskette, as well as other media, such as electronic filing, specifically permitted under the applicable regulations, proce- dures, publications, forms, or instructions. (See §601.601(d)(2) of this chapter). (2)Corporation.Thetermcorporation means a corporation as defined in section 7701(a)(3). (3)Electing small business corporation return.Thetermelecting small business corporation returnmeans a Form 1120S, “U.S. Income Tax Return for an S Corpo- ration,” along with all other related forms and schedules that are required to be at- tached to the Form 1120S. (4)Electing small business corpora- tion.Thetermelecting small business corporationmeans an S corporation as definedinsection1361(a)(1). (5)Determination of 250 returns.For purposes of this section, a corporation is required to file at least 250 returns if, dur- ing the calendar year ending with or within the taxable year of the corporation, the cor- poration is required to file at least 250 re- turns of any type, including information re- turns. (e)Example. The following example il- lustrates the provisions of paragraph (d)(5) of this section. In the example, the corpo- ration is a calendar year taxpayer: Example. In 2007, Corporation S, an electing small business corporation with assets in excess of $10 million, is required to file one Form 1120S, “U.S. Corporation Income Tax Return,” 100 Forms W–2, “Wage and Tax Statement,” 146 Forms 1099–DIV, “Dividends and Distributions,” one Form 940, “Em- ployer’s Annual Federal Unemployment (FUTA) Tax Return,” four Forms 941, “Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Re turn.” Because S is required to file 252 returns during the calendar year, S is required to file its 2007 Form 1120S electronically. (f)Effective dates. This section applies to returns of electing small business corpo- rations that report total assets at the end of the corporation’s taxable year that equal or exceed $50 million on Schedule L of Form 1120S for taxable years ending on or after December 31, 2005. This section applies to returns of electing small business corpo- rations that report total assets at the end of the corporation’s taxable year that equal or exceed $10 million on Schedule L of Form 1120S for taxable years ending on or after December 31, 2006. Mark E. Matthews, Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement. Approved January 6, 2005. Eric Solomon, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. (Filed by the Office of the Federal Register on January 11, 2005, 8:45 a.m., and published in the issue of the Federal Register for January 12, 2005, 70 F.R. 2012) March 7, 20056702005–10 I.R.B. Section 6031.—Return of Partnership Income 26 CFR 1.6031(a)–1: Return of partnership income. T.D. 9177 DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY Internal Revenue Service 26 CFR Part 1 Return of Par tnership Income AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Treasury. ACTION: Final regulations and removal of temporary regulations. SUMMARY: This document contains fi- nal regulations that authorize the Commis- sioner to provide exceptions to the require- ments of section 6031(a) of the Internal Revenue Code for certain partnerships by guidance published in the Internal Rev- enue Bulletin. The regulations adopt the rules of the temporary regulations without any changes. DATES:Effective Date:These regulations are effective November 5, 2003. FORFURTHERINFORMATION CONTACT: David A. Shulman, (202) 622–3070 (not a toll-free number). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background On November 10, 2003, the IRS and Treasury published a notice of proposed rulemaking by cross reference to tem- poraryregulations(REG–115472–03, 2003–2 C.B. 1215) in theFederal Reg- ister, and temporary regulations in T.D. 9094 (2003–2 C.B. 1201 [68 FR 63733]), under section 6031 of the Internal Revenue Code (Code). Written comments and re- quests for a public hearing were solicited. No public hearing was requested, and no comments were received. Therefore, the proposed regulations under section 6031 are adopted as final regulations without any changes. The temporary regulations are removed. Explanation of Provisions The following is a general explanation of the provisions in the final regulations, which are the same as the provisions in the temporary regulations. The Commissioner may, in published guidance, provide an exception to the re- porting requirements of section 6031(a) for partnerships in situations in which all or substantially all of the partnership’s income is derived from the holding or disposition of tax-exempt obligations (as defined in section 1275(a)(3) and §1.1275–1(e)) or shares in a RIC that pays exempt-interest dividends (as defined in section 852(b)(5)). The exception may be conditioned on substitute reporting and eligibility and other requirements. In con- junction with issuance of the temporary regulations, the Commissioner published Rev. Proc. 2003–84, 2003–2 C.B. 1159, which provides for an exception to section 6031 for specified eligible partnerships. Special Analyses It has been determined that this Trea- sury decision is not a significant regula- tory action as defined in Executive Order 12866. Therefore, a regulatory assessment is not required. It has also been determined that section 553(b) of the Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. chapter 5) does not apply to these regulations. These reg- ulations impose no new collection of infor- mation on small entities; therefore a Regu- latory Flexibility Analysis under the Reg- ulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. chapter 6) is not required. Pursuant to section 7805(f) of the Code, the proposed regulations pre- ceding these regulations were submitted to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration for com- ment on its impact on small business. Drafting Information The principal author of these reg- ulations is David A. Shulman of the Office of the Associate Chief Counsel (Passthroughs & Special Industries), IRS. However, other personnel from the IRS and Treasury Department participated in their development. ***** Adoption of Amendments to the Regulations Accordingly, 26 CFR part 1 is amended as follows: PA RT 1 — I N C O M E TA X E S Paragraph 1. The authority citation for part 1 is amended by removing the entry for §1.6031(a)–1T, and revising the entry for §1.6031(a)–1 to read, in part, as fol- lows: Authority: 26 U.S.C. 7805. * * * Section 1.6031(a)–1 also issued under section 404 of the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982) Public Law 97–248; 96 Stat. 324, 669) (TEFRA). * * * Par. 2. Section 1.6031(a)–1 is amended as follows: 1. In paragraph (a)(1), the first sen- tence is amended by removing the lan- guage “and §1.6031(a)–1T” immediately following the language “of this section”. 2. Paragraphs (a)(3)(ii) and (f) are re- vised. The revisions read as follows: §1.6031(a)–1 Return of partnership income. (a) * * * (3) * * * (ii) The Commissioner may, in guid- ance published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin (see §601.601(d)(2)(ii)(b)ofthis chapter), provide for an exception to part- nership reporting under section 6031 and for conditions for the exception, if all or substantially all of a partnership’s income is derived from the holding or disposition of tax-exempt obligations (as defined in section 1275(a)(3) and §1.1275–1(e)) or shares in a regulated investment company (as defined in section 851(a)) that pays ex- empt-interest dividends (as defined in sec- tion 852(b)(5)). ***** (f)Effective dates. This section applies to taxable years of a partnership beginning after December 31, 1999, except that — (1) Paragraph (b)(3) of this section ap- plies to taxable years of a foreign partner- ship beginning after December 31, 2000; and (2) Paragraph (a)(3)(ii) of this section applies to taxable years of a partnership beginning on or after November 5, 2003. 2005–10 I.R.B.671March 7, 2005 §1.6031(a)–1T [REMOVED] Par. 3. Section 1.6031(a)–1T is re- moved. Mark E. Matthews, Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement. Approved January 26, 2005. Eric Solomon, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary oftheTreasury(TaxPolicy). (Filed by the Office of the Federal Register on February 10, 2005, 8:45 a.m., and published in the issue of the Federal Register for February 11, 2005, 70 F.R. 7176) Section 7520.—Valuation Ta b l e s The adjusted applicable federal short-term, mid- term, and long-term rates are set forth for the month of March 2005. See Rev. Rul. 2005-13, page 664. Section 7872.—Treatment of Loans With Below-Market Interest Rates The adjusted applicable federal short-term, mid- term, and long-term rates are set forth for the month of March 2005. See Rev. Rul. 2005-13, page 664. March 7, 20056722005–10 I.R.B. Part II. Treaties and Tax Legislation Subpart A.—Tax Conventions and Other Related Items NewZealandLLCMAP Agreement Announcement 2005–17 Following is a copy of the News Re- lease Issued by the Director International (U.S. Competent Authority), on February 10, 2005 (IR–2005–15). U.S. and New Zealand Reach Mutual Agreement Regarding Treatment of Income Derived Through Certain Fiscally Transparent Entities IR–2005–15, Feb. 10, 2005 WASHINGTON — The Competent Au- thorities of the United States and New Zealand have entered into a mutual agree- ment to clarify the entitlement of members of certain fiscally transparent entities to benefits under the Convention between the United States of America and New Zealand for the Avoidance of Double Tax- ation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income, signed on July 23, 1982, and as amended by Protocol signed on July 23, 1982, and as implemented in New Zealand by The Double Taxation Relief (United States of America) Order 1983 signed on July 23, 1983. It has come to the attention of the Compe- tent Authorities that a resident of a Con- tracting State may derive income from the other Contracting State through an entity that is organized in, and treated as fiscally transparent by, the first Contracting State, but that is not treated as fiscally transpar- ent by the other Contracting State. Consistent with the approach taken in Article 4 (Residence) of the Convention, and pursuant to the authority of Article 24 (Mutual Agreement Procedure) of the Convention, the Competent Authorities agree that, in applying the Convention, income paid to and through such an entity is considered to be derived by a resident of the Contracting State to the extent of the share the resident has in the income. For example, if a resident of the United States is a partner or member of an entity created or organized in the United States, under the law of the United States or any state of the United States, and the entity is treated for United States federal tax pur- poses as a partnership or is disregarded as an entity separate from its owner (e.g.,a limited partnership; or a Limited Liabil- ity Company, including one owned by a single member), the resident of the United States would be afforded the benefits of the treaty on the income that the resident de- rives from New Zealand through the en- tity, even if under its domestic law New Zealand does not treat the entity as fis- cally transparent. Consistent with Article 4 (1)(b) of the New Zealand/US treaty, the benefits extend to the income received by the fiscally transparententityonlytothe extent of the resident’s share of that in- come. 2005–10 I.R.B.673March 7, 2005 Part III. Administrative, Procedural, and Miscellaneous 26 CFR 601.201: Rulings and determination letters. (Also, Part I, §§ 401, 403 and 501; 1.401(a)–1, 1.403(a)–1, 1.501(a)–1.) Rev. Proc. 2005–16 TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION 1. PURPOSE ............................................................................................ 675 SECTION 2. BACKGROUND....................................................................................... 675 SECTION 3. OVERVIEW OF THE REVENUE PROCEDURE........................................................... 675 PART I — M&P PLANS SECTION 4. DEFINITIONS......................................................................................... 677 SECTION 5. PROVISIONS REQUIRED IN EVERY M&P PLAN......................................................... 679 SECTION 6. OP INION LETTERS — SCOPE ........................................................ .................. 680 SECTION 7. OPINION LETTERS — INSTRUCTIONS TO SPONSORS.................................................. 681 SECTION 8. APPROVED PLANS — MAINTENANCE OF APPROVED STATUS........................................... 682 SECTION 9. WITHDRAWAL OF REQUESTS......................................................................... 682 SECTION 10. ABANDONED PLANS................................................................................. 682 SECTION 11. RECORD KEEPING REQUIREMENTS................................................................. 683 SECTION 12. M&P MASS SUBMITTERS............................................................................ 683 PART II — VOLUME SUBMITTER PLANS SECTION 13. DEFINITIONS........................................................................................ 686 SECTION 14. PROVISIONS REQUIRED IN EVERY VOLUME SUBMITTER PLAN....................................... 686 SECTION 15. APPROVED PLANS — MAINTENANCE OF APPROVED STATUS.......................................... 687 SECTION 16. ADVISORY LETTERS — SCOPE....................................................................... 688 SECTION 17. ADVISORY LETTERS — INSTRUCTIONS TO VS PRACTITIONERS....................................... 688 SECTION 18. VS MASS SUBMITTERS............................................................................... 689 PART III — ALL PRE-APPROVED PLANS SECTION 19. EMPLOYER RELIANCE.............................................................................. 689 SECTION 20. WHERE TO FILE AND OTHER RULES FOR APPLICATIONS AND LETTERS.............................. 691 SECTION 21. AMENDMENTS...................................................................................... 692 SECTION 22. REVOCATION....................................................................................... 692 SECTION 23. EGTRRA............................................................................................ 692 SECTION 24. REMEDIAL AMENDMENT PERIOD................................................................... 693 SECTION 25. EFFECT ON OTHER DOCUMENTS.................................................................... 693 March 7, 20056742005–10 I.R.B. SECTION 26. EFFECTIVE DATE.................................................................................... 693 SECTION 27. PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT....................................................................... 693 SECTION 1. PURPOSE .01 This revenue procedure sets forth the Service’s procedures for issuing opin- ion and advisory letters regarding the ac- ceptability under § 401 and § 403(a) of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) of the form of pre-approved plans (that is, mas- ter and prototype (M&P) and volume sub- mitter (VS) plans). The revenue procedure revises the existing procedures to elimi- nate several of the differences between the M&P and VS programs while maintaining the distinctive features of each program. .02 This revenue procedure provides that the Service will accept applications for opinion and advisory letters beginning February 17, 2005, for defined contribu- tion pre-approved plans that take into ac- count the requirements of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, Pub. L. 107–16 (EGTRRA) as well as other changes in qualification re- quirements and guidance. The submission period for these pre-approved plans will end on January 31, 2006. The Service will announce the deadline for timely adoption by employers after the pre-approved docu- ments have been reviewed. In addition, the Service intends to accept applications for determination letters for individually de- signed plans beginning on or after Febru- ary 1, 2006, and applications for opinion and advisory letters for pre-approved de- fined benefit plans beginning February 1, 2007. The opening of these programs will be announced at a future date. SECTION 2. BACKGROUND .01 The procedures of the Service on the issuance of opinion letters regarding the acceptability of the form of M&P plans are set forth in Rev. Proc. 2000–20, 2000–1 C.B. 553, as modified. This revenue pro- cedure modifies and supersedes Rev. Proc. 2000–20. .02 Rev. Proc. 2005–6, 2005–1 I.R.B. 200, sets forth the general procedures of the Service on the issuance of employee plan determination letters and advisory let- ters regarding the acceptability of the form of volume submitter plans. .03 Notice 2001–42, 2001–2 C.B. 70, and Rev. Proc. 2005–6 provide that opin- ion, adv isory and determination letters that take in to account EGTRRA will not be is- sued un til further notice. .04 Ann ouncement 2004–33, 2004–18 I.R.B. 862, contains a draft revenue proce- dure th at applies to both the M&P and VS progra ms, with the rules for issuing opin- ion let ters and advisory letters for pre-ap- prove d plans. This revenue procedure fi- naliz es and replaces the draft revenue pro- cedur e in Announcement 2004–33. .05 An nouncement 2004–71, 2004–40 I.R.B . 569, contains a draft revenue pro- cedur e that describes procedures for im- plem enting a system of six-year remedial amen dment cycles for pre-approved plans and f ive-year staggered remedial amend- ment cycles for individually designed plan s. Under the draft revenue procedure, spo nsors and practitioners of pre-approved pla ns must submit requests for opinion or adv isory letters by a specified time period wit hin a six-year cycle in order to continue to r ely on their opinion or advisory letters. The draft revenue procedure on remedial am endment cycles is expected to be final- iz ed in the near future. .0 6 Announcement 2004–71 also con- ta ins a discussion of the annual Cumula- ti ve List of Changes in Plan Qualification Re quirements (Cumulative List). This Cu- mu lative List identifies statutory changes a nd other guidance affecting qualifica- t ion requirements that are considered by t he Service in its review of plans for the a pplicable cycle. The 2004 Cumulative L ist was published in Notice 2004–84, 2004–52 I.R.B. 1030. This 2004 Cumu- lative List was issued in conjunction with the opening of the EGTRRA opinion and advisory letter program providing that the Service will accept applications with re- spect to defined contribution pre-approved plans beginning February 17, 2005, and ending January 31, 2006, as set forth in section 23 of this revenue procedure. The 2004 Cumulative List reflects law changes under EGTRRA with technical corrections made by the Job Creation and Worker As- sistance Act of 2002, Pub. L. 107–147 (JCWAA), as well as regulations and guidance published by the Service that are effective after December 31, 2001. However, in order to be qualified, a plan must com ply with all relevant qualifica- tion re quirements, not just those on the 2004 Cu mulative List. The Service will not rev iew plan language for guidance issued after December 14, 2004, unless it is on the 2004 Cumulative List. Thus, spons ors of pre-approved plans generally may no t rely on opinion or advisory letters with r espect to any guidance issued after Decem ber 14, 2004, unless that guidance is on t he 2004 Cumulative List. SECTI ON 3. OVERVIEW OF THE REVE NUE PROCEDURE .01 Single Revenue Procedure — The Service maintains two programs for the “pre-approval” of plans qualified under §401and§403(a)—theM&Pprogram and the VS program. The two programs originated to serve different purposes and each has had its own set of rules. Until now, those rules were contained in differ- ent revenue procedures. In recent years, there have been changes that have elimi- nated several of the distinctions between the two programs. While the Service will continue to maintain the two programs separately, the narrowing of the differ- ences between the programs makes it appropriate to set forth the rules for both programs in a single revenue procedure. .02 Program Changes — The funda- mental distinction between M&P and VS plans is unchanged by this revenue proce- dure. That is, M&P plans will generally continue to consist of a basic plan docu- ment and adoption agreement that may not be amended by adopting employers, ex- cept by choosing among permitted options under the adoption agreement, without the loss of M&P status. VS plans will continue to be allowed in either adoption agreement or “individually designed” format and em- ployer amendments will not cause the loss of VS status provided the extent and com- plexity of the amendments are not incon- sistent with the purposes of the VS pro- gram. However, the revenue procedure eliminates some of the other differences between the M&P and VS programs. The principal changes are as follows: (1) The revenue procedure elimi- nates the requirement that the alloca- 2005–10 I.R.B.675March 7, 2005 tion or benefit formula in a nonstan- dardized M&P plan satisfy the uni- formity requirements for safe harbor plans under § 1.401(a)(4)–2(b)(2) or § 1.401(a)(4)–3(b)(2) of the Income Tax Regulations.This change will allow adopting employers of nonstandardized defined contribution M&P plans to adopt an allocation formula that is designed to be cross-tested for nondiscrimination on the basis of equivalent benefits under § 1.401(a)(4)–8. (2) The revenue procedure permits, but does not require, VS plans to include a pro- vision that allows the VS practitioner to amend the plan on behalf of adopting em- ployers. By choosing to include such a provision in the VS plan, the VS practi- tioner agrees to comply with certain record keeping and notice requirements that ap- ply to sponsors of M&P plans. The Service will evaluate this new feature over time to determine whether to preserve it as a per- manent feature of the VS program. (3) The revenue procedure simplifies and streamlines the two programs. For ex- ample, under the procedure, nonstandard- ized safe harbor plans and paired standard- ized plans are discontinued as separate cat- egories of M&P plans. This change has been made because recent changes in law and the procedures for employer reliance have diminished the utility of these types of plans. .03 Additional Changes in this Revenue Procedure Announcement 2004–33 contained a draft revenue procedure setting forth the rules for both the M&P and VS programs. The Service soughtpublic comment be- fore finalizing these procedures.This final revenue procedure retains the general structure and much of the substance of the draft, including the program changes listed in 3.02 above that were also con- tained in the draft. However, the Service has made additional changes to the rev- enue procedure after considering specific recommendations from commentators. In addition to minor revisions and clarify- ing language, the following changes have been made: (1) The definition of VS practitioner is expanded. Generally, a VS practitioner must have at least 30 employer-clients reasonably expected to timely adopt a plan that is substantially similar to the VS prac- titioner’s specimen plan.This revenue procedure lowers the requirement for a VS practitioner, so that it may have 10 employer/clients reasonably expected to timely adopt a money purchase pension plan (MP Plan), but only if a practitioner has a specimen MP Plan and at least one other type of specimen plan. (sec. 13.04) (2) The number of trust or custodial ac- count documents that may be submitted by an M&P sponsor or mass submitter with a single plan document is increased from 5 to 10. Additional submissions of trusts or custodial account documents will be per- mitted for an additional fee. (sec. 4.05) (3) The category of plans eligible for advisory letters is expanded to include VS plans that provide for non safe-har- bor hardship distributions under § 401(k), provided that nondiscriminatory and ob- jective criteria are contained in the plans. (sec. 16.02) (4) The category of plans eligible for advisory letters is expanded to include de- fined benefit plans that provide for em- ployee contributions, by eliminating this category from the list of plans not covered by advisory letters. (sec. 16) (5) The category of plans not eligible for advisory or opinion letters is revised to include plans designed to satisfy the pro- visions of § 105. (secs. 6.03(20) and 16.02(19)) (6) The instructions to VS practition- ers are revised to specify that one speci- men plan and application is required for a VS profit-sharing plan, with or without a § 401(k) arrangement. (sec. 17.03) (7) The submission procedure for mod- ifications of M&P mass submitter plans has been clarified to provide that an M&P mass submitter should submit only the first page of the applicable form along with the applicable fee as part of an initial submis- sion, rather than the entire plan document. (sec. 12.03(2)) (8) The procedures for issuing opin- ion letters to M&P mass submitters and sponsors, and advisory letters to VS mass submitters and practitioners have been changed to provide that the Service will send an interim email notifying an M&P or VS mass submitter, sponsor or practitioner that review of the applicable plan has been completed, subject to final approval in the form of an opinion or advisory letter. (sections 7.07, 12.01, 17.05, 18.01) (9) The requirement of word-for-word identical documents in order for an em- ployer to have reliance is clarified to provide that typographical errors and cross-references may be corrected with- out affecting reliance, provided that these corrections do not change the original intended meaning or impact any qualifica- tion requirements, and an employer may adopt model, sample or other required good faith amendments. (sec. 19.03) (10) The provisions on employer re- liance have been expanded to specify that an adopting employer of a VS plan may rely on an advisory letter with respect to the nondiscrimination in amounts require- ment under § 401(a)(4) when the adopting employer selects and utilizes certain de- sign-based safe harbors and compensation definitions, under the conditions specified. (sec. 19.02) (11) The provision on remedial amend- ment cycles is clarified to specify the cir- cumstances in which the six-year remedial amendment cycle applies to an employer that has adopted a VS or M&P plan and has changed the plan so that it is considered to be an individually designed plan. (sec. 24) (12) The VS provisions have been clar- ified to specify that amending the admin- istrative provisions of the trust or custo- dial documents is allowed. This language is identical to the provisions that apply to nonstandardized M&P plans in section 5.09. (sec. 14) (13) The definition of “National Spon- sor” and “VS Practitioner” is revised to include a sponsor or practitioner that has 3000 or more adopting employers or 30 or more adopting employers in 30 or more states. This definition was included in An- nouncement 2004–33 but was not in the draft revenue procedure attached to that announcement. (sec. 4.09 and 13.04) (14) The VS submission procedures specify that Form 4461 is being revised to incorporate VS applications. Until the Form is published, the VS submission must include a cover letter requesting ap- proval. (sec. 17.02) (15) The application procedure is streamlined to provide that VS and M&P applications are now submitted to the same address. This address was formerly used for VS applications but is a change of address for M&P applications. (sec. 20) (16) The revocation procedures contain a requirement that the content of the notifi- cation to each adopting employer must ex- March 7, 20056762005–10 I.R.B. plain how the revocation affects reliance. (sec. 22) (17) The provision on employer amend- ments is revised to specify that sample, model or other required good faith amend- ments adopted by certain employers will not cause the plan to be individually de- signed. (sec. 5.02, sec. 15, sec. 19) (18) The provision on amendments of M&P mass submitter plans is revised to include references to sample or model amendments. (sec. 12.04) (19) The revenue procedure is revised throughout so that its provisions are con- sistent with the draft revenue procedure at- tached to Announcement 2004–71 on re- medial amendment periods. .04 Provisions Related to EGTRRA — This revenue procedure announces the opening of the pre-approved defined con- tribution plan programs as of February 17, 2005, for EGTRRA and other appli- cable guidance.The 2004 Cumulative List reflects law changes under EGTRRA including technicalcorrections made by JCWAA as well as regulations and guid- ance published by the Service that are effective after December 31, 2001, that will be considered by the Service in its re- view of plans. Section 23 of this revenue procedure provides further details on the scope of this Cumulative List. This Cumu- lative List will be updated and published annually to identify statutory, regulatory and guidance changes that will be consid- ered by the Service in its review of plans whose remedial amendment cycles are proposed to end on the January 31 of the second calendar yearfollowing publica- tion of the list. .05 Remedial Amendment Period — In Announcement 2004–71, the Service in- cluded a draft revenue procedure contain- ing the Service’s procedures for issuing opinion and advisory letters for pre-ap- proved plans under a regular, six-year re- medial amendment cycle under § 401(b) of the Internal Revenue Code. The draft also contains procedures for issuing deter- mination letters under a staggered reme- dial amendment period system that estab- lishes regular, five-year cycles for deter- mination letters for individually designed plans. The Service intends to issue guid- ance that will supersede and finalize the draft revenue procedure attached to An- nouncement 2004–71 in the near future. PA RT I — M & P P L A N S SECTION 4. DEFINITIONS .01 Master Plan — A “master plan” is a plan (including a plan covering self-em- ployed individuals) that is made available by a sponsor for adoption by employers and for which a single funding medium (for example, a trust or custodial account) is established, as part of the plan, for the joint use of all adopting employers. A master plan consists of a basic plan doc- ument, an adoption agreement, and, unless included in the basic plan document, a trust or custodial account document. .02 Prototype Plan — A “prototype plan” is a plan (including a plan covering self-employed individuals) that is made available by a sponsor for adoption by employers and under which a separate funding medium is established for each adopting employer.A prototype plan consists of a basic plan document, an adoption agreement, and, unless the basic plan document incorporates a trust or cus- todial account agreement the provisions of which are applicable to all adopting employers, a trust or custodial account document. .03 Basic Plan Document — A “ba- sic plan document” is the portion of a plan containing all thenon-elective provi- sions applicable to all adopting employers. No options (including blanks to be com- pleted) may be provided in the basic plan document, except as provided in section 12.03(1) of this revenue procedure regard- ing flexible plans. .04 Adoption Agreement — An “adop- tion agreement” is the portion of the plan containing the options that may be selected by an adopting employer. .05 Trust or Custodial Account Docu- ment (Note: This definition does not apply if the basic plan document includes a trust or custodial account agreement the provi- sions of which apply to all adopting em- ployers.)— (1) A “trust or custodial account doc- ument” is the portion of an M&P plan that contains the trust agreement or custo- dial account agreement and includes provi- sions covering such matters as the powers and duties of trustees, investment author- ity, and the kinds of investments that may be made. (2) Except as provided in section 5.09 and below, all provisions of the trust or custodial account document must be ap- plicable to all adopting employers of that trust or custodial account, and no options (including blanks to be completed) may be provided in the trust or custodial account document. (3) With respect to prototype plans, a sponsor or mass submitter may provide up to 10 separate trust or custodial account documents that are intended for use with any single basic plan document. Notwith- standing the above, a sponsor or mass sub- mitter may submit more than 10 separate trust or custodial account documents in- tended for use with any single basic plan document, along with an additional user fee that applies to submissions above the 10 trust (or custodial account) limit. The amount of the applicable user fee will be specified in future guidance. (4)Asprovidedinsection5.09,aspon- sor or M&P mass submitter may provide a trust or custodial account document, desig- nated for use only by adopters of nonstan- dardized plans, which provides for blanks to be completed with respect to adminis- trative provisions of the trust or custodial account agreement. (5) Any trust or custodial account docu- ment (including one to be used by adopters of standardized plans) may provide for blanks to be completed that merely en- able the adopting employer to specify the names of the plan, employer, trustee or custodian, plan administrator and other fiduciaries, the trust year, and the name of any pooled trust in which the plan’s trust will participate. .06 Opinion Letter — An “opinion let- ter” is a written statement issued by the Service to a sponsor or M&P mass submit- ter as to the acceptability of the form of an M&P plan under § 401(a) or § 403(a), and, in the case of a master plan, the acceptabil- ity of the master trust under § 501(a). .07 Sponsor — A “sponsor” is any per- son that (1) has an established place of business in the United States where it is ac- cessible during every business day and (2) represents to the Service that it has at least 30 employer-clients each of which is rea- sonably expected to timely adopt the spon- sor’s basic plan document. The deadline for timely adoption will be announced by the Service in future guidance. 2005–10 I.R.B.677March 7, 2005 A sponsor may request opinion letters for any number of basic plan documents and adoption agreements provided the 30-em- ployer requirement is met with respect to at least one basic plan document. The Ser- vice reserves the right at any time to re- quest from the sponsor a list of the em- ployers that have adopted or are expected to adopt the sponsor’s M&P plans, includ- ing the employers’ business addresses and employer identification numbers. Notwithstanding the above, any person that has an established place of business in the United States where it is accessible during every business day may sponsor a plan as a word-for-word identical adopter or minor modifier adopter of a plan of an M&P mass submitter, regardless of the number of employers that are expected to adopt the plan. By submitting an application for an opin- ion letter for an M&P plan under this rev- enue procedure (or by having an applica- tion filed on its behalf by an M&P mass submitter as required for a minor modi- fier), a person represents to the Service that it is a sponsor, as defined above, and agrees to comply with any requirements imposed on sponsors by this revenue pro- cedure. Failure to comply with these re- quirements may result in the loss of eligi- bility to sponsor M&P plans and the revo- cation of opinion letters that have been is- sued to the sponsor. .08 M&P Mass Submitter — An “M&P mass submitter” is any person that (1) has an established place of business in the United States where it is accessible during every business day and (2) submits opin- ion letter applications on behalf of at least 30 unaffiliated sponsors each of which is sponsoring, on a word-for-word identi- cal basis, the same basic plan document. A flexible plan (as defined in section 12.03(1)) that is adopted by a sponsor will be considered a word-for-word identical plan. An M&P mass submitter may sub- mit an opinion letter application on its own behalf as one of the 30 unaffiliated sponsors. For purposes of this definition, affiliation is determined under § 414(b) and (c). Additionally, the following will be considered to be affiliated: any law, accounting, consulting firm, etc., with its partners, members, associates, etc.An M&P mass submitter will be treated as an M&P mass submitter with respect to all its M&P plans provided the 30 unaffiliated sponsor requirement is met with respect to at least one basic plan document. Notwithstanding the above, any person that received a favorable TRA ’86 opinion letter for a plan as an M&P mass submitter under Rev. Proc. 89–9, 1989–1 C.B. 780, will continue to be treated as an M&P mass submitter with respect to all its M&P plans if it submits applications on behalf of at least 10 sponsors (regardless of af- filiation) each of which is sponsoring, on a word-for-word identical basis, the same basic plan document. .09 National Sponsor — A “national sponsor” is a sponsor that has either (a) 30 or more adopting employers in each of 30 or more states (treating, for this pur- pose, the District of Columbia as a state) or (b) 3000 or more adopting employers. The determination as to whether there are 3000 or more adopting employers or 30 or more adopting employers in each of 30 or more states may be made on any one date during the 12 month period end- ing on the date that is 60 days after the effective date of this revenue procedure. For this purpose, an adopting employer is any employer that has adopted any plan of the sponsor that has a GUST opinion let- ter. GUST is an acronym for the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (GATT), the Uni- formed Services Employment and Reem- ployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA), the Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996 (SBJPA), the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 (TRA ’97), the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (RRA ’98), and the Community Re- newal Tax Relief Act of 2000 (CRA) .10 Standardized Plan — A “standard- ized plan” is an M&P plan that meets the following requirements: (1) The provisions governing eligibil- ity and participation are such that the plan by its terms must benefit all employees describedinsection5.13(regardlessof whether any employer is treated as op- erating separate lines of business under § 414(r)) except those that may be ex- cluded under § 410(a)(1) or (b)(3). The adoption agreement may provide options as to whether some or all of the employ- ees described in § 410(a)(1) or (b)(3) are to be excluded, provided that the crite- ria for excluding employees described in §410(a)(1)or(b)(3)appliesuniformlyto all employees. A standardized plan gen- erally may not deny an accrual or alloca- tion to an employee eligible to participate merely because the employee is not an ac- tive employee on the last day of the plan year or has failed to complete a specified number of hours of service during the year. However, the plan may deny an allocation or accrual to an employee who is eligible to participate if the employee terminates service during the plan year with not more than 500 hours of service and is not an ac- tive employee on the last day of the plan year. (2) The eligibility requirements under the plan are not more favorable for highly compensated employees (as defined in § 414(q)) than for other employees. (3) Under the plan, allocations, in the case of a defined contribution plan (other than any cash or deferred arrangement part of the plan), or benefits, in the case of a defined benefit plan, are determined on the basis of total compensation. For this purpose, total compensation means a definition of compensation that includes all compensation within the meaning of § 415(c)(3) and excludes all other compen- sation or that otherwise satisfies § 414(s) under § 1.414(s)–1(c) of the Income Tax Regulations. (4) Unless the plan is a target bene- fit plan or a § 401(k) and/or § 401(m) plan, the plan must, by its terms, satisfy one of the design-based safe harbors de- scribed in § 1.401(a)(4)–2(b)(2) (taking into account § 1.401(a)(4)–2(b)(4)) or in § 1.401(a)(4)–3(b)(3), (4), or (5) (taking into account § 1.401(a)(4)–3(b)(6)). (5) All benefits, rights, and features un- der the plan (other than those, if any, that have been prospectively eliminated) are currently available to all employees ben- efiting under the plan. (6) Any past service credit under the plan must meet the safe harbor in § 1.401(a)(4)–5(a)(3). A plan will not fail to satisfy the cov- erage requirement for standardized plans merely because the plan provides, either as the result of an elective provision or by default in the absence of an election to the contrary, that individuals who become employees, within the meaning of section 5.13, as the result of a “§ 410(b)(6)(C) transaction” will be excluded from eligi- March 7, 20056782005–10 I.R.B. bility to participate in the plan during the period beginning on the date of the trans- action and ending on a date that is not later than the last day of the first plan year be- ginning after the date of the transaction. A “§ 410(b)(6)(C) transaction” is an asset or stock acquisition, merger, or other similar transaction involving a change in the em- ployer of the employees of a trade or busi- ness. .11 Nonstandardized Plan — A “non- standardized plan” is an M&P plan that is not a standardized plan. SECTION 5. PROVISIONS REQUIRED IN EVERY M&P PLAN .01 Sponsor Amendments — M&P plans must provide a procedure for sponsor amendment, so that changes in the Code, regulations, revenuerulings, other state- ments published by the Internal Revenue Service, or corrections of prior approved plans may be applied to all employers who have adopted the plan.Sponsors must make reasonable and diligent ef- forts to ensure that adopting employers of the sponsor’s M&P plan have actually received and are aware of all plan amend- ments and that such employers complete and sign new adoption agreements when necessary. See section 5.11. Failure to comply with this requirement may result in the loss of eligibility to sponsor M&P plans and the revocation of opinion letters that have been issued to the sponsor. .02 Employer Amendments — An em- ployer that amends any provision of an ap- proved M&P plan including its adoption agreement (other than to change the choice of options, if the plan permits or contem- plates such a change) or an employer that chooses to discontinue participation in a plan as amended by its sponsor and does not substitute another approved M&P plan is considered to have adopted an individ- ually designed plan. However, this rule does not apply in the case of amendments permitted under sections 5.06 and 5.09 and sample or model amendments published by the Service (or other required good faith amendments) that specifically provide that their adoption by an adopter of an M&P plan will not cause such plan to be treated as individually designed. Also see sec- tion 19.03 regarding the effect of employer amendments on an employer’s ability to rely on an opinion letter and section 24 with respect to applicable remedial amend- ment periods. An employer that amends an M&P plan because of a waiver of the min- imum funding requirement under § 412(d) will also be considered to have an individ- ually designed plan. The procedures stated in Rev. Proc. 2005–6 relating to the is- suance of determination letters for individ- ually designed plans will then apply to the plan as adopted by the employer. .03 Compensation Requirements in Nonstandardized Plans — Each nonstan- dardized M&P plan must give the adopting employer the option to select total com- pensation as the compensation to be used in determining allocations or benefits. For this purpose, total compensation means a definition that includes all compensa- tion within the meaning of § 415(c)(3) and excludes all other compensation or that otherwise satisfies § 414(s) under § 1.414(s)–1(c). .04 Automatic or Optional Safe Har- bor Provisions in Nonstandardized Plans — Each nonstandardized M&P plan must automatically or by option al- low the adopting employer to satisfy one of the design-based safe harbors described in § 1.401(a)(4)–2(b)(2) or § 1.401(a)(4)–3(b)(3), (4), and (5).A nonstandardized defined contribution plan is permitted to include allocation formu- las which must be general tested under § 1.401(a)(4)–2(c) or cross-tested under § 1.401(a)(4)–8. A nonstandardized de- fined benefit plan is permitted to include benefit formulas that must be general tested under § 1.401(a)(4)–3(c). .05 Anti-Cutback Provisions — M&P plans must specifically provide for the pro- tection provided under § 411(a)(10) and (d)(6), to the extent required, in the event that the employer amends the plan in any manner such as by revising the options selected in the adoption agreement or by adopting a new M&P plan. An M&P spon- sor may not amend its plan in a manner that could result in the elimination of a bene- fit to the extent the benefit is required to be protected under § 411(d)(6) with respect to the plan of any adopting employer, un- less permitted to do so under §§ 1.401(a)–4 and 1.411(d)–4. In addition, an M&P plan that does not contain vesting for all years that is at least as favorable to participants as that provided in § 416(b), must specif- ically provide that any vesting that occurs while the plan is top-heavy, will not be cut back if the plan ceases to be top-heavy. .06 Adopting Employer Modification to Satisfy §§ 415 and 416 — M&P plans must provide that the plan provisions may beamendedbyoverridingplanlanguage completed by the employer in the adoption agreement where such language is neces- sary to satisfy § 415 or 416 because of the required aggregation of multiple plans under these sections. Generally, a space should be provided in the adoption agree- ment with instructions for the employer to add such language as necessary to satisfy §§ 415 and 416. In addition, a space must be provided in the adoption agreement for the employer to specify the interest rate and mortality tables used for purposes of establishing the present value of accrued benefits in order to compute the top-heavy ratio under § 416. Such a space must be in- cluded in both defined contribution plans and defined benefit plans. .07 Defined Contribution § 415 Aggre- gation — Plan language must be incorpo- rated that aggregates all defined contribu- tion M&P plans to satisfy § 415(c) and (f). Sample language provided in the Listing of Required Modifications may be down- loaded from the Internet at the following address:http://www.irs.gov. .08 Top-heavy Requirements — Each plan must either provide that all the additional requirements applicable to top-heavy plans (described in § 416) apply at all times or provide that such require- ments apply automatically if the plan is top-heavy regardless of how the adop- tion agreement is completed. In any case where the latter option is chosen, all the requirements for determining whether the plan is top-heavy must be included in the plan. (See Questions T–35 and T–36 of § 1.416–1.) .09 Adopting Employer Modification of Trust or Custodial Account Document — An employer that adopts a nonstan- dardized M&P plan will not be consid- ered to have an individually designed plan merely because the employer amends ad- ministrative provisions of the trust or cus- todial account document (such as provi- sions relating to investments and the duties of trustees), provided the amended provi- sions are not in conflict with any other pro- vision of the plan and do not cause the plan to fail to qualify under § 401(a). For this purpose, an amendment includes modifi- 2005–10 I.R.B.679March 7, 2005 cation of the language of the trust or cus- todial account document and the addition of overriding language. An employer that adopts a standardized M&P plan may amend the trust or cus- todial account document provided such amendment merely involves the specifi- cation of the names of the plan, employer, trustee or custodian, plan administrator and other fiduciaries, the trust year, or the name of any pooled trust in which the plan’s trust will participate. .10 Provisions Required in Adoption Agreements Regarding Reliance — The adoption agreement of every nonstandard- ized M&P plan must include, in close proximity to the signature blank, a state- ment that describes the limitations on employer reliance on an opinion letter without a determination letter and the circumstances under which an employer will have no reliance without a determina- tion letter. See section 19.02 and section 19.03. Standardized plans must also in- clude a similar statement in the adoption agreement that the adopting employer may not rely on the opinion letter issued by the Service but must apply for a determination letter to have reliance under the circum- stances described in section 19.01. .11 Other Provisions Required in Adop- tion Agreements — Each M&P plan must contain a dated employer signature line. The employer must sign the adoption agreement when it first adopts the plan and must complete and sign a new adoption agreement if the plan has been restated. In addition, the employer must complete a new signature page if it modifies any prior elections or makes new elections in its adoption agreement. The signature requirement may be satisfied by an elec- tronic signature that reliably authenticates and verifies the adoption of the adoption agreement, or restatement, amendment or modification thereof, by the employer. The adoption agreement must state that it is to be used with one and only one specific basic plan document. In addition, the adoption agreement must contain a cautionary statement to the effect that the failure to properly fill out the adoption agreement may result in failure of the plan to qualify. The adoption agreement must also contain a statement that provides that the sponsor will inform the adopting em- ployer of any amendments made to the plan or of the discontinuance or abandon- ment of the plan. .12 Sponsor Telephone Numbers — M&P plan adoption agreements must in- clude the sponsor’s name, address and telephone number (or a space for the address and telephone number of the sponsor’s authorized representative) for inquiries by adopting employers regarding the adoption of the plan, the meaning of plan provisions, or the effect of the opin- ion letter. .13 Definition of Employee / § 414(b), (c), (m), (n) and (o) — Each M&P plan must include a definition of employee as any employee of the employer maintain- ing the plan or any other employer aggre- gated under § 414(b), (c), (m) or (o) and the regulations thereunder. The definition of employee shall also include any individ- ual deemed under § 414(n) (or under regu- lations under § 414(o)) to be an employee of any employer described in the previous sentence. .14 Definition of Service / § 414(b), (c), (m), (n), and (o) — Each M&P plan must specifically credit all service with any em- ployer aggregated under § 414(b), (c), (m) or (o) and the regulations thereunder as service with the employer maintaining the plan. In addition, in the case of an individ- ual deemed under § 414(n) (or under regu- lations under § 414(o)) to be the employee of any employer described in the previous sentence, service with such employer must be credited to such individual. SECTION 6. OPINION LETTERS — SCOPE .01 General Limits on Opinion Letters — Opinion letters will be issued only to sponsors or M&P mass submitters. Opin- ion letters constitute determinations as to the qualification of the plans as adopted by particular employers only under the cir- cumstances, and to the extent, described in section 19. In the case of prototype plans, opinion letters do not constitute rulings or determinations as to the exempt status of related trusts or custodial accounts. .02 Nonapplicability of the Procedure to IRAs and SEPs — Opinion letters will not be issued under this revenue procedure for prototype plans intended to meet the requirements for individual savings pro- grams or simplified employee pension pro- grams under § 408 (see Rev. Proc. 87–50, 1987–2 C.B. 647, Rev.Proc.97–29, 1997–1 C.B. 698, and Rev. Proc. 98–59, 1998–2 C.B. 727). .03 Areas Not Covered by Opinion Let- ters — Opinion letters will not be issued for: (1) Multiemployer plans and multiple employer plans; (2) Union plans (This does not preclude an M&P plan from covering employees of the employer who are included in a unit covered by a collective bargaining agree- ment or the adoption of an M&P plan pur- suant to such agreement as a single em- ployer plan that covers only employees of the employer.); (3) Stock bonus plans; (4) Employee stock ownership plans; (5) Pooled fund arrangements contem- plated by Rev. Rul. 81–100, 1981–1 C.B. 326 (as modified by Rev. Rul. 2004–67, 2004–28 I.R.B. 28); (6) Annuity contracts under § 403(b); (7) All cash balance plans and any other defined benefit plans (regardless of whether they are cash balance plans) un- der which the test for nondiscrimination under § 401(a)(4) is made by reference to contributions rather than benefits; (8) Plans described in § 414(k) (relat- ing to a defined benefit plan that provides a benefit derived from employer contribu- tions that is based partly on the balance of the separate account of a participant); (9) Target benefit plans, other than plans which, by their terms, satisfy each of the safe harbor requirements described in § 1.401(a)(4)–8(b)(3)(i), as well as the ad- ditional rules in § 1.401(a)(4)–8(b)(3)(ii) through (vii); (10) Defined benefit plans that provide for employee contributions; (11) Plans that would not satisfy the qualification requirements except as gov- ernmental plans as described in § 414(d); (12) Church plans described in § 414(e) that have not made the election provided by § 410(d); (13) Plans under which the § 415 limi- tations are incorporated by reference; (14) Plans that incorporate the ADP test under § 401(k)(3) or the ACP test under § 401(m)(2) by reference; (15) Section 401(k) plans (standard- ized and nonstandardized) that provide for hardship distributions under circum- stances other than those described in the March 7, 20056802005–10 I.R.B. safe harbor standards in the regulations under § 401(k); (16) Fully-insured § 412(i) plans, other than plans that, by their terms, satisfy the safe harbor for § 412(i) plans in § 1.401(a)(4)–3(b)(5); (17) Plans that fail to contain a pro- vision reflecting the requirements of § 414(u) (see Rev. Proc. 96–49, 1996–2 C.B. 369); (18) Plans that include so-called fail- safe provisions for § 401(a)(4) or the av- erage benefit test under § 410(b); (19) Plans that include blanks or fill-in provisions for the employer to complete unless the provisions have parameters that preclude the employer from completing the provisions in a manner that could vi- olate the qualification requirements. (20) Plans designed to satisfy the provi- sions of § 105. The Service may, in its discretion, decline to issue opinion letters for other types of plans not described in this section 6.03. SECTION 7. OPINION LETTERS — INSTRUCTIONS TO SPONSORS .01 Employee Plans Rulings and Agree- ments Issues Opinion Letters — Employee Plans Rulings and Agreements will, upon the request of a sponsor, issue an opinion letter as to the acceptability of the form of the sponsor’s M&P plan and any related trust or custodial account under §§ 401(a), 403(a), and 501(a). .02 Procedure for Requesting Opinion Letters — A request for an opinion letter relating to an M&P plan must be submit- ted on the current version of Form 4461, Application for Approval of Master or Pro- totype Defined Contribution Plan,Form 4461–A,Application for Approval of Mas- terorPrototypeDefinedBenefitPlan,or Form 4461–B,Application for Approval of Master or Prototype Plan Mass Submit- ter Adopting Sponsor, as appropriate. The forms (and instructions) specify what to in- clude with the application. These forms may be downloaded from the Internet at the following address:http://www.irs.gov. All information on the first page of the ap- plication must be typed. The request must be sent to the address in section 20. The Service intends to revise Form 8717,User Fee for Employee Plan Determination Let- ter Request,sothatitappliestoarequest for an opinion letter under the M&P pro- gram. Until the form has been revised, an M&P request should continue to include the applicable user fee with the submis- sion. .03 Expediting Review of Substantially Identical Plans — The Service reserves the right to review applications in any order that will expedite the processing of opin- ion letter applications, subject to section 21.03. To expedite the review of substan- tially identical plans that are not mass sub- mitter plans, the Service encourages plan drafters and sponsorsto include with each opinion letter application, where it is ap- propriate, a cover letter setting forth the following information: (1) The name and file folder number (if available) of the plan that, for review purposes, the plan drafter designates as the “lead plan” (including the name and EIN of the sponsor); (2) A list of all plans written by the plan drafter that are substantially identical to the lead plan (including the information described in (1) above); (3) A description of each place where the plan for which the application is being submitted is not word-for-word identical to the language of the lead plan, including an explanation of the purpose and effect of each such difference; and (4) A certification, made under penalty of perjury by the plan drafter, that the infor- mation described in (3) above is true and complete. If the sponsor or plan drafter is aware that a lead plan or any substantially identical plan has been assigned for review to a spe- cialist, the cover letter should also indi- cate the name of specialist, if possible. To the extent feasible, lead plans and substan- tially identical plans should be submitted together. The Service will regard the in- formation and certification described in (3) and (4) above as a material representation for purposes of issuing an opinion letter. .04 Separate Applications Required for Different Categories of M&P Plans / Use of Same Basic Plan Document by Multiple Plans — An M&P plan shall not contain any combination of profit-sharing, money purchase (other than target benefit), target benefit, non-integrated defined benefit, or integrated defined benefit plan features. However, separate defined contribution plans may have the same basic plan doc- ument and separate defined benefit plans may have the same basic plan document, but the provisions of the basic plan docu- ment must be identical for all plans using that document (that is, no elective or op- tional features). For example, a sponsor may submit four plans with respect to a given defined benefit basic plan document: integrated standardized and nonstandard- ized; and nonintegrated standardized and nonstandardized plans.A sponsor may also use one defined contribution basic plan document for a money purchase plan, a target benefit plan, and a profit-shar- ing plan. One basic plan document may not be used with respect to both defined benefit and defined contribution plans. A separate adoption agreement and com- pleted application form must be submitted with respect to each defined benefit plan and each defined contribution plan.In the case of a simultaneous submission of plans using the same basic plan document, only one copy of the basic plan document should be provided. If the requests are not simultaneous, the sponsor must submit a copy of the basic plan document with each submission and include a cover letter identifying the original submission. The number of such basic plan document must remain the same as in the prior submis- sion. .05 Sample Language — A Listing of Required Modifications (LRM) contain- ing sample language to be used in drafting M&P plans is available from Employee Plans Rulings and Agreements.Such language is not automatically required in M&P plans but should be used as a guide in drafting such plans. To expedite the review of their plans, sponsors are encour- aged to use LRM language and to identify where such language is being used in their plan documents. LRMs may be down- loaded from the Internet at the following address:http://www.irs.gov. .06 Material Furnished to Adopting Employers — A sponsor must furnish each adopting employer with a copy of the approved plan, copies of any subsequent amendments, and the most recently issued Internal Revenue Service opinion letter. .07 Timing of Issuance of Opinion Let- ters — The Service intends to issue opin- ion letters to M&P mass submitters and sponsors (as well as advisory letters to VS mass submitters and practitioners) at ap- proximately the same time within the ap- 2005–10 I.R.B.681March 7, 2005 plicable 6-year cycle. In the interim, the Service will send an email to the appli- cable M&P or VS mass submitter, spon- sor, or practitioner, if the Service deter- mines that the plan appears to be in full compliance with the applicable qualifica- tion requirements, based on the submis- sions and the completed review. Notwith- standing the above, this email only pro- vides assurance that the Service believes the plan appears to meet the applicable qualification requirements under review as of the date of the email. This email corre- spondence is for the convenience of the ap- plicable sponsor, practitioner or mass sub- mitter, but does not constitute an official opinion or advisory letter. Until issuance of the official opinion or advisory letter no reliance exists. In addition, the Service re- serves the right to require changes after the email is sent, in its sole discretion. SECTION 8. APPROVED PLANS — MAINTENANCE OF APPROVED STATUS .01 Cumulative List in Six-Year Cycle — Future guidance described in section 3.05 of this revenue procedure will pro- vide that sponsors of pre-approved M&P plans must submit requests for opinion let- ters by a specified time period within a six-year cycle in order to continue to rely on their opinion letters. Sponsors may ap- ply for opinion letters at other times, but these filings will be “off-cycle” filings as described in section 21.03. The Service will review the plans that have been sub- mitted by the specified time period within a six-year cycle taking into account the applicable CumulativeList that identifies changes in the qualification requirements of the Code as well as items of published guidance relating to the plan qualification requirements, such as regulations and rev- enue rulings. However, in order to be qual- ified, a plan must comply with all relevant qualification requirements, not just those on the applicable Cumulative List. The let- ter will not take into account, and a sponsor may not rely on opinion letters with respect to, statutory changes enacted, and/or any guidance issued, after the issuance of the applicable Cumulative List, unless those changes and/or guidance are listed on the applicable Cumulative List. .02 Subsequent Required Amendments — Except as otherwise provided in future guidance, in the event of changes in qual- ification requirements resulting from fu- ture guidance, or other regulatory or statu- tory changes that were not taken into ac- count in issuing the opinion letter, an ap- proved M&P plan must be amended by the sponsor and, if necessary, the employer, to retain its approved status if any provi- sions therein fail to meet the requirements of law, regulations, or other issuances and guidelines affecting qualification. Failure to so amend could result in the loss of a plan’s qualified status. However, this does not change the applicable period during the six-year cycle when sponsors must re- quest opinion letters, which will still oc- cur only once every six years. Sponsors are required to make reasonable and dili- gent efforts to ensure that each employer which, to the best of the sponsor’s knowl- edge, continues to maintain the plan as an M&P plan, amends its plan when neces- sary. Even if future guidance provides that the plan need not be amended during a six year cycle to reflect a change in the qualifi- cation requirements, the plan must opera- tionally comply with any changes in qual- ification requirements and the terms of the plan as ultimately amended to reflect the change. Failure to comply with this or any other requirement imposed on sponsors by this revenue procedure may result in the loss of eligibility to sponsor M&P plans and the revocation of opinion letters that have been issued to the sponsor. .03 Amendments Following Revenue Rulings — If an approved M&P plan is re- quired to be amended to retain its approved status as a result of publication by the Ser- vice of a revenue ruling, notice or simi- lar statement in the Internal Revenue Bul- letin (I.R.B.), with changes that were not taken into account in issuing the opinion letter then, unless specifically stated oth- erwise in the revenue ruling, etc., the time by which the sponsor must amend its M&P plan to conform to the requirements of the revenue ruling, etc., shall be the end of the one-year period after its publication in the I.R.B., and with respect to any adopting employer’s plan the effective date of such amendment shall be the first day of the first plan year beginning within such one-year period. As noted in section 8.02, this does not change the applicable period during the six-year cycle when sponsors must request opinion letters, which will still only oc- cur once every six years. Further, spon- sors must make reasonable and diligent ef- forts to ensure that each employer amends its plan when necessary as noted in section 8.02. .04 Adopting Employers — The Ser- vice will announce when adopting em- ployers must adopt amendments to comply with new guidance issued by the Service. Regardless of when amendments are re- quired to be made, adopting employers must operationally comply as of the appli- cable effective date of the new guidance. .05 Loss of Qualified Status — If a sponsor reasonably concludes that an em- ployer’s M&P plan may no longer be a qualified plan and the sponsor does not or cannot submit a request to correct the qual- ification failure under the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS), it is incumbent on the sponsor to notify the employer that the plan may no longer be qualified, advise the employer that adverse tax consequences may result from loss of the plan’s qualified status, and inform the employer about the availability of EPCRS. See Rev. Proc. 2003–44, 2003–1 C.B. 1051. SECTION 9. WITHDRAWAL OF REQUESTS .01 Notification and Effect — A spon- sor may withdraw its request for an opin- ion letter at any time prior to the issuance of such letter by notifying EP Rulings and Agreements in writingofsuchwithdrawal. The sponsor must also notify each em- ployer who adopted the plan that the re- quest has been withdrawn. Such an em- ployer will be deemed to have an individ- ually designed plan. .02 Service Retains Information — Even though a request is withdrawn, EP Rulings and Agreements will retain all correspondence and documents associated with that request and will not return them to the sponsor. EP Rulings and Agree- ments may furnish its views concerning the qualified status of the plan to EP Ex- aminations, which has audit jurisdiction over the returns of the employers that have adopted the plan. SECTION 10. ABANDONED PLANS .01 Notification to the Service — A sponsor should notify EP Rulings and March 7, 20056822005–10 I.R.B. Agreements in writing of an approved M&P plan that is no longer used by any employer and which the sponsor no longer intends to offer for adoption. Such written notification should be sent to the address in section 20 and should refer to the file folder number appearing on the latest opinion letter issued. .02 Notification to Employers — A sponsor that intends to abandon an ap- proved M&P plan that is in use by any adopting employer must inform each adopting employer that the form of the plan has been terminated, that the em- ployer’s plan will become an individually designed plan (unless the employer adopts another approved M&P plan), and that any employer reliance will not continue if there is a change in law or other change in the qualification requirements. After so informing all adopting employers, the sponsor should notify EP Rulings and Agreements in accordance with subsec- tion .01 above. SECTION 11. RECORD KEEPING REQUIREMENTS .01 Filing of Opinion Letter Applica- tion Constitutes Agreement to Comply with Record Keeping Requirements — By submitting an application for an opinion letter under this revenue procedure (or by having an application filed on its behalf by an M&P mass submitter), an M&P plan sponsor agrees, as provided in sec- tion 4.07, to comply with the requirements imposed on the sponsor by this revenue procedure, including the record keeping requirements of this section. Failure to comply with the requirements imposed on the sponsor by this revenue procedure may result in the loss of eligibility to sponsor M&P plans and the revocation of opinion letters that have been issued to the sponsor. .02 Maintenance and Availability of Records of Adopting Employers — An M&P plan sponsor must maintain, or have maintained on its behalf, for each of its plans, a record of the names, busi- ness addresses, and taxpayer identifica- tion numbers of all employers that have adopted the plan.However, a sponsor need not maintain records with respect to employers that, to the best of the sponsor’s knowledge, ceased to maintain the plan as an M&P plan more than three years earlier. Upon written request, a sponsor mustprovidetotheServicealistofsuch adopting employers that indicates, to the best of the sponsor’s knowledge, which of such employers continue to maintain the plan as an M&P plan and which of such employers have ceased to maintain the plan as an M&P plan within the preceding three years. SECTION 12. M&P MASS SUBMITTERS .01 Opinion Letters Issued to M&P Mass Submitters — (1) EP Rulings and Agreements will, upon request by an M&P mass submit- ter, as defined in section 4.08, issue an opinion letter as to the acceptability of the form of the mass submitter’s M&P plan and any related trust or custodial account under §§ 401(a), 403(a), and 501(a). With respect to its plan, the M&P mass submit- ter must submit a completed Form 4461 or 4461-A, as applicable, to the address in section 20. The first page of the Form 4461 or 4461-A must be typed. The application must include a copy of the plan (adoption agreement and basic plan document) and any separate trust or custodial account doc- ument(s). In the case of an initial submis- sion of a basic plan document under this revenue procedure, the M&P mass submit- ter’s application must also be accompanied by applications for opinion letters filed on behalf of the requisite number of identi- cal adopters (as determined under section 4.08), unless the M&P mass submitter has already satisfied this requirement in con- nection with a previous application under this revenue procedure involving another basic plan document. The Service intends to revise Form 8717,User Fee for Em- ployee Plan Determination Letter Request, so that it applies to such a request. Until the form has been revised, an M&P request should continue to include the applicable user fee with the submission. An M&P mass submitter may submit an application on its own behalf as one of the requisite number of adopting sponsors. (2) After satisfying the requisite num- ber of adopting sponsors requirement, the M&P mass submitter may submit addi- tional applications on behalf of other spon- sors that wish to adopt a word-for-word identical plan or a plan that contains minor modifications from the mass submitter plan, as provided in section 12.03(2). In addition, the M&P mass submitter may then submit requests for opinion letters under this section 12.01 for its other plans, regardless of the number of identical adopters of such other plans. (3) The Service intends to send opinion letters to M&P mass submitters and spon- sors (as well as advisory letters to VS mass submitters and practitioners) at approxi- mately the same time within the applicable six-year cycle. In the interim, the Service will send an email to the applicable M&P or VS mass submitter, sponsor, or practi- tioner, if the Service determines that the plan appears to be in full compliance with the applicable qualification requirements based on the submissions and the com- pleted review. Notwithstanding the above, this email only provides assurance that the Service believes the plan appears to meet the applicable qualification requirements under review as of the date of this email. This email correspondence is for the con- venience of the applicable sponsor, practi- tioner or mass submitter, but does not con- stitute an official opinion or advisory let- ter. Until issuance of the official opinion or advisory letter no reliance exists. The Ser- vice reserves the right to require changes after the email is sent, in its sole discretion. .02 Reduced Procedural Requirements for Sponsors That Use Mass Submitter Plans — A sponsor of an M&P plan of a mass submitter must obtain an opinion letter. For initial qualification, or where the sponsor’s plan includes modifications, the M&P mass submitter on behalf of the sponsor must submit to EP Rulings and Agreements a completed Form 4461-B which contains a declaration by the M&P mass submitter under penalty of perjury that the sponsor has adopted an M&P plan that is word-for-word identical, within the meaning of this section, to a plan of the M&P mass submitter, or an M&P plan that is a minor modification of the mass submitter’s plan. The Form 4461-B must be typed. If the sponsor is sponsoring a word-for-word identical plan (including a flexible plan), a copy of the plan need not be submitted. If the M&P mass submitter submits a plan with minor modifications, it must comply with the requirements of section 12.03(2). The application submit- ted on behalf of the sponsor must include the required user fee. Upon receipt of the request for an opinion letter, described above, the Service will, as soon as cleri- 2005–10 I.R.B.683March 7, 2005 cally feasible, issue an opinion letter to the sponsor. .03 Definitions — (1) Flexible Plan — (a) In general — A “flexible plan” is a plan submitted by an M&P mass submitter that contains optional provisions (as de- fined in (b), below). Sponsors that adopt the flexible plan may include or delete any optional provision that is designated as such in the M&P mass submitter’s plan, provided the inclusion or deletion of specific optional provisions conforms to the M&P mass submitter’s written rep- resentation to the Service concerning the choices available to sponsors and the coor- dination of optional provisions. An M&P mass submitter must bracket and identify the optional provisions when submitting such plan to EP Rulings and Agreements and must also provide the Service a writ- ten representation describing the choices available to sponsors and the coordina- tion of optional provisions. Thus, such a representation must indicate whether a sponsor’s plan may contain only one of a certain group of optional provisions, may contain only a specific combination of provisions, or may exclude the provisions entirely.Similarly, if the inclusion (or deletion) of a specific optional provision in a sponsor’s plan will automatically result in the inclusion (or deletion) of any other optional provision, this must be set forth in the M&P mass submitter’s representation. A flexible plan may contain only optional provisions which meet the requirements of (b), below, and must be drafted so that the qualification of any sponsor’s plan will not be affected by the inclusion or deletion of optional provisions. For ex- ample, if a sponsor’s defined contribution plan contains an optional provision which allows a portion of a participant’s account to be invested in life insurance, then un- der the terms of the sponsor’s plan, the application of the proceeds must meet the requirements of §§ 401(a)(11) and 417. A flexible plan adopted by a sponsor which differs from the M&P mass submitter plan only because the sponsor has deleted cer- tain optional provisions from its plan in conformance with the M&P mass submit- ter’s representation described above will be treated as a word-for-word identical plan to the M&P mass submitter plan. The Service encourages M&P mass submitters to limit the number of optional provisions described in (b)(i) and (ii), below, which they provide under a flexible plan to six investment provisions and six administra- tive provisions. (b) Optional Provisions — A flexible plan may contain only optional provisions that comply with the requirements set forth below. The optional provisions may be arranged as separate optional articles or as separate optional provisions within a single article. A flexible plan may also contain optional provisions in the adop- tion agreement. For example, if an M&P mass submitter flexible plan basic plan document contains an optional provision that would allow for loans under a spon- sor’s M&P plan, the adoption agreement could also include an optional provision that would enable an adopting employer to elect whether loans will be available under the plan it adopts. If the sponsor does not wish to enable adopting employ- ers to make loans available under their plans, both the basic plan document op- tional provision and the adoption agree- ment optional provision would be deleted from the sponsor’s M&P plan. Sponsors may include or delete optional provisions of M&P mass submitter plans, but once the sponsor has decided to include an optional provision, it must offer that provision to all adopting employers. Any optional provi- sion that the Service determines does not meet the requirements of this section will have to be changed to a non-optional pro- vision or deleted from the M&P mass sub- mitter’s plan. The following is an exclu- sive list of the allowable optional provi- sions that a flexible plan may contain: (i) Investment Provisions — An M&P masssubmittermayofferavarietyofin- vestment provisions in its plan for spon- sors to include or delete from their version of the plan. However, the plan as adopted by the sponsor must provide some method for investing trust assets. Investment pro- visions are those provisions that describe the plan’s methods of investing the trust or custodial funds, including provisions such as the availability of loans and investments in insurance contracts or other funding me- dia, and self-directedinvestments. (Also see 4.05 and 5.09 regarding flexibility per- mitted in trust or custodial account docu- ments.) (ii) Administrative Provisions — An M&P mass submitter may offer a variety of administrative provisions in its plan for sponsors to include or delete from their version of the plan. However, the plan as adopted by the sponsor must describe how the plan will be administered. Adminis- trative provisions are those provisions that describe the administration of the plan, including the powers, duties, and respon- sibilities of a plan’s custodian, trustee, administrator, employer, and other fidu- ciaries. Administrative provisions include the allocation of responsibilities among fiduciaries, the resignation or replacement of fiduciaries, claims procedures under the plan, and record-keeping requirements. However, procedural provisions that are required for plan qualification are not administrative provisions under this sec- tion. For example, provisions that provide for the notice to participants required by § 417 and record-keepingrequiredbyreg- ulations under § 401(k) and (m) are not administrative provisions for purposes of this revenue procedure, and may not be optional provisions. (iii) Cash or Deferred Arrangement — An M&P mass submitter may include a self-contained cash or deferred arrange- ment (as defined in § 401(k)) for sponsors to include or delete. (c) Addition of Optional Provisions by the M&P Mass Submitter — An M&P mass submitter may add additional op- tional provisions to its plan after a favor- able opinion letter is issued. Generally, the addition of such optional provisions will not be treated as a plan amendment for purposes of this revenue procedure, Rev.Proc.2005–6, and Rev.Proc. 2005–8, 2005–1 I.R.B. 243, and spon- sors and adopting employers will not be requiredtoobtainnewopinionandde- termination letters in order to preserve reliance. (However, the addition of a cash or deferred arrangement or any change to the language of the adoption agreement subsequent to the issuance of an opinion letter will be treated as a plan amendment to the M&P mass submitter’s plan and the requirements of subsection .04 will then apply.) The M&P mass submitter must submit such additional optional provisions to the Service, along with a completed Form 4461 or 4461-A, as applicable, and a check or money order in the amount specified in section 6.04(6) of Rev. Proc. 2005–8. No opinion letter will be issued to the M&P mass submitter or any adopt- ing sponsor with respect to the addition of March 7, 20056842005–10 I.R.B. these optional provisions. Instead, a letter will be issued to the M&P mass submitter notifying it that the addition of such op- tional provisions will not affect the status of favorable opinion and determination letters issued to sponsors and adopting employers. (d) Notification to Employer — If an M&P mass submitter adds optional provi- sions, as described in (c), above, all adopt- ing sponsors who wish to include the ad- ditional optional provisions must furnish each adopting employer with a copy of the plan that includes such additional provi- sions. If a sponsor decides to include or delete an optional provision after it ini- tially adopted the plan, it must also fur- nish each adopting employer with a copy of the new plan. However, if such inclu- sion or deletion results in a change to the language of the adoption agreement, such change will be treated as a plan amend- ment and the sponsor and its adopting em- ployers may not continue to rely on previ- ously issued opinion or determination let- ters. (2) Minor Modifications — (a) A “minor modification” is a mi- nor change to an otherwise word-for-word identical plan of the M&P mass submitter that does not require an in-depth techni- cal review. For example, a change from 5 year 100% vesting to 3 year 100% vest- ing is a minor modification. On the other hand, a change in the method of accrual of benefits in a defined benefit plan would not be considered a minor modification. A minor modification must be submitted by theM&Pmasssubmitteronbehalfofthe sponsor that will adopt the modified plan. Subject to sections 12.05 and 21.03 and the provisions of this section, submissions with respect to minor modifications will be reviewed on an expedited basis and opin- ion letters will be issued to the sponsor as soon as possible. (b) The Service reserves the right to de- termine if such changes are actually mi- nor. If it is determined that the changes are extensive or require an in-depth tech- nical review, the plan submitted under sec- tion (c) below will not be entitled to expe- dited review and will otherwise be treated as a non-mass submitter plan. (In the event the plan is treated as a non-mass submit- ter plan, the Service will notify the M&P mass submitter in writing of its determi- nation. Within 30 days following the date of such communication, either the M&P mass submitter may revise the plan so that the modifications are minor and resubmit the revised plan, or the sponsor may sub- mit Form 4461 or 4461-A, whichever is applicable, and an additional user fee in an amount equal to the difference between a non-mass submitter plan application user fee and a minor modifier application user fee. If, after such 30 day period neither ac- tion has been taken, the application may be considered withdrawn.) (c) The M&P mass submitter must ini- tially submit the first page of the applicable Form 4461-B, as a placeholder. Such form must be typed. When the lead plan has been approved, the M&P mass submitter must submit a copy of the M&P mass sub- mitter’s plan with the modifications high- lighted, as well as a statement indicating the location and effect of each change. The M&P mass submitter must certify under penalty of perjury that the plan of the spon- sor, except for the delineated changes, is word-for-word identical, within the mean- ing of this section, to the plan for which the M&P mass submitter received a favorable opinion letter. If an M&P mass submit- ter fails to identify each modification, such failure will be considered a material mis- representation and an employer may not rely on any opinion or determination let- ter that may be issued with respect to the plan. If an M&P mass submitter repeat- edly fails to identify such modifications, the Service may deny permission to that M&P mass submitter to submit additional modifications. .04 Amendments of M&P Mass Sub- mitter Plans — Any plan submitted by an M&P mass submitter must include language designating the M&P mass sub- mitter as agent for the sponsor for purposes of making plan amendments (see section 12.02). Any sponsor that does not wish to make the amendments made by an M&P mass submitter may switch to another M&P mass submitter or may submit an application for an opinion letter on its own behalf. If the M&P mass submitter makes any change to the plan, other than the addition of optional provisions pursuant to section 12.03(1)(c), an amendment de- scribed in section 21.02, or a sample or model amendment required by the Service, it must comply with the requirements of section 21.01 of this revenue procedure. In addition, prior to submitting an amend- ment to EP Rulings and Agreements, the M&P mass submitter must notify the Ser- vice of its intention to amend the plan. Such notification should be submitted, in writing, to the address in section 20. The Service will then mail a list to the M&P mass submitter showing all sponsors that have adopted plans that are identical to the M&P mass submitter’s plans, as well as the specific plans adopted by each spon- sor. The M&P mass submitter must then submit the amended plan to EP Rulings and Agreements for approval (regardless of whether it is an off-cycle or on-cycle filing under section 21.03), along with a list identifying all adopting sponsors’ plans that will be amended, a user fee form for each such sponsor, and the appro- priate user fee required under section 6.04 of Rev. Proc. 2005–8. All sponsors that have adopted the M&P mass submitter’s plan, are identified on the list submitted to the Service, and for which a user fee has been submitted, will be considered to have made such amendments and will be issued opinion letters. In the case of modified plans, separate Form 4461 applications must be filed along with copies of the plans as amended, user fee forms, and the user fee required by section 6.04 of Rev. Proc. 2005–8. Copies of the amended plan must be sent to adopting employers. Any adopting sponsor that is not included on the list submitted to the Service (or in the case of a minor modifier, for which a Form 4461-B application has not been filed) or which notifies the Service of its desire not to adopt such amendment will no longer participate as an M&P mass sub- mitter plan but must apply for an opinion letter on its own behalf to retain its status as an M&P plan. .05 Expeditious Processing Accorded M&P Mass Submitter Plans — Subject to section 21.03, all M&P mass submitter plans, including the adoption of approved M&P mass submitter plans by sponsors, will be accorded more expeditious pro- cessing than M&P plans submitted by non- mass submitters, to the extent administra- tively feasible. 2005–10 I.R.B.685March 7, 2005 PA RT I I — V O L U M E SUBMITTER PLANS SECTION 13. DEFINITIONS .01 Volume Submitter Plan — A “vol- ume submitter plan” or “VS plan” refers to either a specimen plan of a VS practitioner or a plan of a client of the VS practitioner that is substantially similar to the VS prac- titioner’s approved specimen plan. .02 Specimen Plan — A “specimen plan” is a sample plan of a VS practi- tioner (rather than the actual plan of an employer). A specimen plan may include an adoption agreement. .03 Advisory Letter — An “advisory letter” is a written statement issued by the Service to a VS practitioner or VS mass submitter as to the acceptability of the form of a specimen plan and any related trust or custodial account under § 401(a) or § 403(a). .04 VS Practitioner — A “VS prac- titioner” is any person that (1) has an established place of business in the United States where it is accessible during every business day and (2) represents to the Ser- vice that it has at least 30 employer-clients each of which is reasonably expected to timely adopt a plan that is substantially similar to the VS practitioner’s speci- men plan.Notwithstanding the above, the required number of employer-clients reasonably expected to timely adopt a sub- stantially similar money purchase pension specimen plan is reduced to 10 in the case of a VS practitioner that has specimen plans for two or more separate categories described in section 17.03, one of which is a money purchase pension plan. For example, if a VS practitioner has a money purchase pension specimen plan and no other types of plans, or if a VS practi- tioner has plans described in two or more categories, none of which is a money pur- chase pension plan, the employer-client requirement remains at 30. The deadline for timely adoption will be announced by the Service in future guidance. A VS practitioner may submit any number of specimen plans for advisory letters pro- vided the 30 employer requirement (or 10, if applicable) is separately satisfied with respect to each specimen plan. The Ser- vice reserves the right at any time to re- quest from the VS practitioner a list of the employers that have adopted or are ex- pected to adopt the VS practitioner’s spec- imen plans, including the employers’ busi- ness addresses and employer identification numbers. Notwithstanding the above, any person that has an established place of business in the United States where it is accessible during every business day may sponsor a specimenplanasaword-for-wordidenti- cal adopter of a specimen plan of an VS mass submitter, regardless of the number of employers that are expected to adopt the plan. A VS practitioner is also a practitioner that has either (a) 30 or more adopting employ- ers in each of 30 or more states (treating, for this purpose, the District of Colum- bia as a state) or (b) 3000 or more adopt- ing employers. The determination as to whether there are 3000 or more adopting employers or 30 or more adopting employ- ers in each of 30 or more states may be made on any one date during the 12 month period ending on the date that is 60 days after the effective date of this revenue pro- cedure. For this purpose, an adopting em- ployer is any employer that has adopted any plan of the sponsor that has a GUST opinion letter. By submitting an application for an advi- sory letter for a specimen plan under this revenue procedure (or by having an appli- cation filed on its behalf by a VS mass submitter), a person represents to the Ser- vice that it is a VS practitioner, as de- fined above. If the VS practitioner’s spec- imen plan permits the VS practitioner to amend the VS plan on behalf of adopt- ing employers, as permitted by section 15, the VS practitioner also agrees to comply with any requirements imposed on spon- sors of M&P plans by this procedure. Fail- uretocomplywiththeserequirementsmay result in the loss of eligibility to sponsor specimen plans and the revocation of ad- visory letters that have been issued to the VS practitioner. .05 VS Mass Submitter — A “VS mass submitter” is any person that (1) has an es- tablished place of business in the United States where it is accessible during every business day and (2) submits advisory let- ter applications on behalf of at least 30 unaffiliated practitioners each of which is sponsoring, on a word-for-word identical basis, the same specimen plan. A VS mass submitter may submit an advisory letter application on its own behalf as one of the 30 unaffiliated practitioners. For pur- poses of this definition, affiliation is deter- mined under § 414(b) and (c). Addition- ally, the following will be considered to be affiliated: any law, accounting, consulting firm, etc., with its partners, members, as- sociates, etc. A VS mass submitter will be treated as a VS mass submitter with respect to each specimen plan for which the 30 un- affiliated practitioner requirement is sepa- rately met. SECTION 14. PROVISIONS REQUIRED IN EVERY VS PLAN .01 Anti-Cutback Provisions — VS plans must specifically provide for the protection provided under § 411(a)(10) and (d)(6), to the extent required, in the event that the employer amends the plan in any manner. If a VS plan authorizes the VS practitioner to amend the plan on behalf of employers, the VS practitioner may not amend the plan in a manner that could result in the elimination of a benefit to the extent the benefit is required to be protected under § 411(d)(6) with respect to the plan of any adopting employer, unless permitted to do so under §§ 1.401(a)–4 and 1.411(d)–4. In addition, a VS plan that is not exempt from the top-heavy requirements and that does not contain vesting for all years which is at least as favorable to participants as that provided in § 416(b), must specifically provide that any vesting that occurs while the plan is top-heavy will not be cut back if the plan ceases to be top-heavy. .02 Definition of Employee / § 414(b), (c), (m), (n) and (o) — Each VS plan must include a definition of employee as any employee of the employer maintaining the plan or any other employer aggregated un- der § 414(b), (c), (m) or (o) and the regu- lations thereunder. The definition of em- ployee shall also include any individual deemed under § 414(n) (or under regula- tions under § 414(o)) to be an employee of any employer described in the previous sentence. .03 Definition of Service / § 414(b), (c), (m), (n), and (o) — Each VS plan must specifically credit all service with any em- ployer aggregated under § 414(b), (c), (m) March 7, 20056862005–10 I.R.B. or (o) and the regulations thereunder as service with the employer maintaining the plan. In addition, in the case of an individ- ual deemed under § 414(n) (or under regu- lations under § 414(o)) to be the employee of any employer described in the previous sentence, service with such employer must be credited to such individual. .04 Adopting Employer Modification of Trust or Custodial Account Document — An employer will not be considered to have an individually designed plan merely because the employer amends adminis- trative provisions of the trust or custodial account document (such as provisions relating to investments and the duties of trustees), provided the amended provi- sions are not in conflict with any other provision of the plan and do not cause the plan to fail to qualify under § 401(a). For this purpose, an amendment includes modification of the language of the trust or custodial account document and the addition of overriding language. .05 Other Required Provisions — Re- quirements similar to those under sections 5.11 and 5.12 relating to M&P plans apply with respect to VS plans, except as other- wise provided in this revenue procedure. SECTION 15. APPROVED PLANS — MAINTENANCE OF APPROVED STATUS .01 Cumulative List in Six-Year Cycle — Future guidance described in section 3.05 of this revenue procedure will pro- vide that practitioners of pre-approved VS plans must submit requests for advisory letters by a specified time period within a six-year cycle in order to continue to rely on their advisory letters. Practitioners may apply for advisory letters at other times, but these filings will be “off-cycle” filings, asdescribedinsection21.03. TheService will review the plans that have been sub- mitted by the specified time period within a six-year cycle taking into account the applicable CumulativeList that identifies changes in the qualification requirements of the Code as well as items of published guidance relating to the plan qualification requirements, such as regulations and rev- enue rulings. However, in order to be qual- ified, a plan must comply with all relevant qualification requirements, not just those on the applicable Cumulative List. The let- ter will not take into account, and a prac- titioner may not rely on advisory letters with respect to, statutory changes enacted, and/or any guidance issued, after the is- suance of the applicable Cumulative List, unless those changes and/or guidance are listed on the applicable Cumulative List. .02 Subsequent Required Amendments — Except as otherwise provided in future guidance, in the event of changes in quali- fication requirements resulting from future guidance, or other regulatory or statutory changes that were not taken into account in issuing the advisory letter, an approved VS plan must be amended by the prac- titioner and, if necessary, the employer, to retain its approved status if any provi- sions therein fail to meet the requirements of law, regulations, or other issuances and guidelines affecting qualification. Failure to so amend could result in the loss of a plan’s qualified status. However, this does not change the applicable period dur- ing the six-year cycle when practitioners must request advisory letters, which will still occur only once every six years. Prac- titioners are required to make reasonable and diligent efforts to ensure that each em- ployer which, to the best of the practi- tioner’s knowledge, continues to maintain the plan as a VS plan, amends its plan when necessary. Even if future guidance provides that the plan need not be amended during a six-year cycle to reflect a change in the qualification requirements, the plan must operationally comply with any changes in qualification requirements and the terms of the plan as ultimately amended to reflect the change. Failure to comply with this or any other requirement imposed on practi- tioners by this revenue procedure may re- sult in the loss of eligibility to sponsor VS plans and the revocation of advisory letters that have been issued to the practitioner. .03 Amendments Following Revenue Rulings — If an approved VS plan is re- quired to be amended to retain its approved status as a result of publication by the Ser- vice of a revenue ruling, notice or simi- lar statement in the Internal Revenue Bul- letin (I.R.B.), with changes that were not taken into account in issuing the advisory letter then, unless specifically stated oth- erwise in the revenue ruling, etc., the time by which the practitioner must amend its VS plan to conform to the requirements of the revenue ruling, etc., shall be the end of the one-year period after its publication in the I.R.B., and with respect to any adopting employer’s plan the effective date of such amendment shall be the first day of the first plan year beginning within such one-year period. As noted in section 15.02, this does not change the applicable period during the six-year cycle when practitioners must re- quest advisory letters, which will still only occur once every six years. Further, prac- titioners must make reasonable and dili- gent efforts to ensure that each employer amends its plan when necessary as noted in section 15.02. .04 Adopting Employers — The Ser- vice will announce when adopting em- ployers must adopt amendments to comply with new guidance issued by the Service. Regardless of when amendments are re- quired to be made, adopting employers must operationally comply as of the appli- cable effective date of the new guidance. .05OptiontoPermit Practitioner Amendment — A VS practitioner may amend its specimen plan and request a new advisory letter with respect to the amended plan.Ordinarily, the amend- ments will apply only to the plans of employers who adopt the plan after it has been amended and will not apply to plans of employers who adopted the plan prior to the amendment. However, a VS plan may, but is not required to, include a pro- vision that authorizes the VS practitioner to amend the plan on behalf of employers who have previously adopted the plan, so that changes in the Code, regulations, rev- enue rulings, other statements published by the Internal Revenue Service (including model, sample or other required good faith amendments that specifically provide that their adoption will not cause such plan to be individually designed), or corrections of prior approved plans may be applied to all employers who have adopted the plan. The provision must state that the practi- tioner will no longer have the authority to amend the plan on behalf of the adopting employer as of the date the Service re- quires the employer to file Form 5300 as an individually designed plan as a result of an employer amendment to the plan to incorporate a type of plan not allowable in the VS program (e.g., the addition of an ESOP) or as a result of amendments described in section 24.03. The provision must also state that if the employer is required to obtain a determination letter in order to have reliance (for example, 2005–10 I.R.B.687March 7, 2005 because the employer has modified the specimen plan), the practitioner’s author- itytoamendtheplanonbehalfofthe adopting employer is conditioned on the plan being covered by a favorable deter- mination letter. .06 Responsibilities of Practitioner — A VS practitioner who is authorized to adopt plan amendments on behalf of adopting employers must comply with the requirements in this section 15 as well as sections 7.06 and 9 through 11 that apply to M&P sponsors. Failure to do so may result in the loss of eligibility to sponsor VS plans and the revocation of advisory letters that have been issued to the VS practitioner.Thus, the VS practitioner must maintain, or have maintained on its behalf, a record of the employers that have adopted the plan, and the VS practitioner must make reasonable and diligent efforts to ensure that adopting employers have actually received and are aware of all plan amendments and that such employers adopt new documents when necessary. .07 Loss of Qualified Status — If a practitioner reasonably concludes that an employer’s VS plan may no longer be a qualified plan and the practitioner does not or cannot submit a request to correct the qualification failure under the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS), it is incumbent on the practitioner to notify the employer that the plan may no longer be qualified, advise the employer that adverse tax consequences may result from loss of the plan’s quali- fied status, and inform the employer about the availability of EPCRS. See Rev. Proc. 2003–44. SECTION 16. ADVISORY LETTERS —SCOPE .01 General Limits on Advisory Let- ters — Advisory letters will be issued only to VS practitioners or VS mass submit- ters. Advisory letters constitute determi- nations as to the qualification of the plans as adopted by particular employers only under the circumstances, and to the extent, described in section 19. Advisory letters do not constitute rulings or determinations as to the exempt status of related trusts or custodial accounts. .02 Areas Not Covered by Advisory Letters — Advisory letters will not be is- sued for: (1) Multiemployer plans; (2) Union plans (This does not preclude a VS plan from covering employees of the employer who are included in a unit cov- ered by a collective bargaining agreement or the adoption of a VS plan pursuant to such agreement as a single employer plan which covers only employees of the em- ployer.); (3) Stock bonus plans; (4) Employee stock ownership plans; (5) Pooled fund arrangements contem- plated by Rev. Rul. 81–100 (as modified by Rev. Rul. 2004–67) (6) Annuity contracts under § 403(b); (7) All cash balance plans and any other defined benefit plans (regardless of whether they are cash balance plans) un- der which the test for nondiscrimination under § 401(a)(4) is made by reference to contributions rather than benefits; (8) Plans described in § 414(k) (relating to a defined benefit plan which provides a benefit derived from employer contribu- tions which is based partly on the balance of the separate account of a participant); (9) Target benefit plans, other than plans which, by their terms, satisfy each of the safe harbor requirements described in § 1.401(a)(4)–8(b)(3)(i), as well as the ad- ditional rules in § 1.401(a)(4)–8(b)(3)(ii) through (vii); (10) Church plans described in § 414(e) that have not made the election provided by § 410(d); (11) Governmental plans that include so-called “DROP” provisions or similar provisions; (12) Plans under which the § 415 limi- tations are incorporated by reference; (13) Plans that incorporate the ADP test under § 401(k)(3) or the ACP test under § 401(m)(2) by reference; (14) Section 401(k) plans that provide for hardship distributions under circum- stances other than those described in the safe harbor standards in the regulations un- der § 401(k), unless these distributions are subject to nondiscriminatory and objective criteria contained in the plan; (15) Fully-insured § 412(i) plans, other than plans that, by their terms, satisfy thesafeharborfor§412(i)plansin § 1.401(a)(4)–3(b)(5); (16) Plans that fail to contain a pro- vision reflecting the requirements of § 414(u) (see Rev. Proc. 96–49); (17) Plans that include so-called fail- safe provisions for § 401(a)(4) or the av- erage benefit test under § 410(b); (18) Plans that include blanks or fill-in provisions for the employer to complete unless the provisions have parameters that preclude the employer from completing the provisions in a manner that could vi- olate the qualification requirements. (19) Plans designed to satisfy the provi- sions of § 105. The Service may, in its discretion, decline to issue advisory letters for other types of plans not described in this section 16.02. SECTION 17. ADVISORY LETTERS — INSTRUCTIONS TO VS PRACTITIONERS .01 Employee Plans Rulings and Agree- ments Issues Advisory Letters — Em- ployee Plans Rulings and Agreements will, upon the request of a VS practitioner, issue an advisory letter as to the accept- ability of the form of the VS practitioner’s specimen plan under § 401(a) or § 403(a). .02 Procedure for Requesting Advisory Letters — A request for an advisory let- terrelatingtoaspecimenplanmustbe submitted in accordance with the proce- dures described in this section.Forms 4461, 4461–A, and 4461–B, currently ap- plicable to M&P plans, are being revised to incorporate VS submissions. The Ser- vice expects to announce revised proce- dures for requesting advisory letters that include submission on these forms in the near future. When Forms 4461, 4461–A and 4461–B are published, the following requirements will be incorporated into the instructions to the forms. Until then, VS submissions should include: (1) a cover letter requesting approval of VS submissions, indicating the type of plan for which approval is requested. The request must include a certification that the VS practitioner meets the requirements, in- cluding that it has at least 30 employer- clients (or 10, if applicable) each of which is reasonably expected to timely adopt a plan that is substantially similar to the VS practitioner’s specimen plan, as described in section 13.04. (2) a copy of the specimen plan, includ- ing adoption agreement, if applicable, and any related specimen trust instrument; March 7, 20056882005–10 I.R.B. (3) the required user fee submitted with Form 8717,User Fee for Employee Plan Determination Letter Request;and (4) an index/table of contents listing the location of all variable sections. See section 20 for the address to file the application. .03 Separate Specimen Plans and Ap- plications Required for Different Cate- gories of Plans — A separate specimen plan and application is required for the fol- lowing categories of plans: a profit-shar- ingplan(withorwithouta§401(k) arrangement), a money purchase pension plan (other than a target benefit plan), a target benefit plan, and a defined bene- fit plan. Different categories may not be combined in a single specimen plan or application. .04 Sample Language — A Listing of Required Modifications (LRM) contain- ing sample plan language is available from Employee Plans Rulings and Agreements. Although the sample language is designed for use in M&P plans, which use an adop- tion agreement format, VS practitioners should refer to the sample language as a guide in drafting VS plans. To expedite the review of their plans, VS practition- ers are encouraged to use LRM language where appropriate and to identify where such language is being used in their plan documents. LRMs may be downloaded from the Internet at the following address: http://www.irs.gov. .05 Timing of Issuance of Advisory Let- ters — The Service intends to issue advi- sory letters to practitioners and VS mass submitters (as well as opinion letters to M&P mass submitters and sponsors) at ap- proximately the same time within the ap- plicable 6-year cycle. In the interim, the Service will send an email to the applica- ble M&P or VS mass submitter, sponsor, or practitioner if the Service determines thattheplanappearstobeinfullcompli- ance with the applicable qualification re- quirements, based on the submissions and the completed review. Notwithstanding the above, this email only provides assur- ance that the Service believes the plan ap- pears to meet the applicable qualification requirements under review as of the date of the email. This email correspondence is for the convenience of the applicable spon- sor, practitioner or mass submitter but does not constitute an official opinion or advi- sory letter. Until issuance of the official opinion or advisory letter no reliance ex- ists. The Service reserves the right to re- quire changes after the email is sent, in its sole discretion. SECTION 18. VS MASS SUBMITTERS .01 Advisory Letters Issued to VS Mass Submitters — EP Rulings and Agreements will, upon request by an VS mass submit- ter,asdefinedinsection13.05,issueanad- visory letter as to the acceptability of the form of the VS mass submitter’s specimen plan under § 401(a) or § 403(a). See sec- tion 20 for the address to file the applica- tion. The provisions of section 17.05 on the timing of the issuance of advisory let- ters and an interim email notification by the Service also apply to this section. .02 As noted in section 17.02, Forms 4461, 4461-A and 4461-B are being re- vised. Until these revisions are completed, the requirements for the VS mass submit- ter’s application are as follows: (1) The application must include the plan and trust and all the other information required by section 17. The application must include a cover letter that states that at least 30 VS practitioners are submitting applications for advisory letters for iden- tical specimen plans and must certify that each such plan is word-for-word identical to the VS mass submitter specimen plan. The cover letter must provide the name, address, and EIN of each of the VS practi- tioners. (2) The application for the VS mass submitter specimen plan must include the required user fee under Rev. Proc. 2005–8. (3) The application must be accompa- nied by separate advisory letter applica- tions filed by each of the VS practitioners listed in the cover letter. (4) The required user fee for an identi- cal adopter application under Rev. Proc. 2005–8 must also be submitted. (5) After the initial submission of advi- sory letter applications for at least 30 VS practitioners, applications may be filed by other VS practitioners who will sponsor the word-for-word identical plan. A copy of the plan should not be submitted. PART III — ALL PRE-APPROVED PLANS SECTION 19. EMPLOYER RELIANCE .01 Standardized M&P Plans — An employer adopting a standardized M&P plan may rely on that plan’s opinion let- ter, except as provided in (1) through (3) and section 19.03 below, if the sponsor of such plan or plans has a currently valid favorable opinion letter, the employer has followed the terms of the plan(s), and the coverage and contributions or benefits under the plan(s) are not more favorable for highly compensated employees (as defined in § 414(q)) than for other em- ployees. (1)Anemployermaynotrelyonan opinion letter for a standardized plan with respect to the requirements of §§ 415 and 416, without obtaining a determination let- ter, if the employer maintains at any time, or has maintained at any time, another plan, including a standardized plan, that was qualified or determined to be qual- ified covering some of the same partici- pants. For this purpose, a plan that has been properly replaced by the adoption of a standardized plan is not considered an- other plan. The plan that has been re- placed and the standardized plan must be ofthesametype(e.g., both defined bene- fit plans) in order for the employer to be able to rely on the standardized plan with respect to the requirements of §§ 415 and 416 without obtaining a determination let- ter. In addition, an employer that adopts a standardized defined contribution plan will not be considered to have maintained another plan merely because the employer has maintained another defined contribu- tion plan(s), provided such other plan(s) has been terminated prior to the effective date of the standardized plan and no an- nual additions have been credited to the ac- count of any participant under such other plan(s) as of any date within a limitation year of the standardized plan. Likewise, an employer that adopts a standardized de- fined contribution plan that is first effec- tive on or after the effective date of the re- peal of § 415(e) will not be considered to have maintained another plan merely be- cause the employer has maintained a de- fined benefit plan(s),provided the defined benefit plan(s) has been terminated prior to 2005–10 I.R.B.689March 7, 2005 the effective date of the standardized de- fined contribution plan. (2) An employer that has adopted a standardized defined benefit plan may rely on an opinion letter with respect to the re- quirements of § 401(a)(26) only if the plan satisfies the requirements of § 401(a)(26) with respect to its prior benefit structure or is deemed to satisfy § 401(a)(26) under the regulations. However, an employer may request a determination letter if the employer wishes to have reliance as to whether the plan satisfies § 401(a)(26) with respect to its prior benefit structure. (3) An employer that adopts a standard- ized plan may not rely on an opinion letter with respect to: (a) whether the timing of any amendment to the plan (or series of amendments) satisfies the nondiscrimina- tion requirements of § 1.401(a)(4)–5(a), except with respect to plan amendments granting past servicethat meet the safe harbor described in § 1.401(a)(4)–5(a)(3) and are not part of a pattern of amend- ments that significantly discriminates in favor of highly compensated employ- ees; or (b) whether the plan satisfies the effective availability requirement of § 1.401(a)(4)–4(c) with respect to any ben- efit, right, or feature. An employer that adopts a standardized plan as an amend- ment to a plan other than a standardized plan may not rely on an opinion letter with respect to whether a benefit, right, or feature that is prospectively eliminated sat- isfies the current availability requirements of § 1.401(a)(4)–4 of the regulations. Such an employer may request a determination letter if the employer wishes to have re- liance as to whether the prospectively eliminated benefit, right, or feature satis- fies the current availability requirements. .02 Nonstandardized M&P Plans and Volume Submitter Plans — An employer adopting a nonstandardized M&P or vol- ume submitter plan may rely on that plan’s opinion or advisory letter as described be- low if the employer’s plan is identical to an approved M&P or specimen plan with a currently valid favorable opinion or advi- sory letter, the employer has chosen only options permitted under the terms of the approved plan, and the employer has fol- lowed the terms of the plan. Also see sec- tion 19.03(3) below. These employers can forego filing Form 5307 and rely on the plan’s favorable opinion or advisory letter with respect to the qualification require- ments, except as provided in section (1) through (4) and section 19.03 below. (1) Except as provided in section 19.03(2), (3) and (4), adopting employers of nonstandardized M&P plans and vol- ume submitter plans may not rely on a favorable opinion or advisory letter with respect to the requirements of: (a) §§ 401(a)(4), 401(a)(26), 401(l), 410(b) or 414(s); or (b) if the employer maintains or has ever maintained another plan covering some of the same participants, §§ 415 or 416. For this purpose, whether an employer maintains or has ever maintained another plan will be determined using principles consistent with section 19.01 above. (2) Adopting employers of nonstan- dardized M&P plans and volume submitter plans may rely on the opinion or advisory letter with respect to the requirements of §§ 410(b) and 401(a)(26) (other than the § 401(a)(26) requirements that apply to a prior benefit structure) if 100 percent of all nonexcludable employees benefit under the plan. (3) Nonstandardized M&P plans must give adopting employers the option to elect a safe harbor allocation or benefit formula and a safe harbor compensation definition. Adopting employers of non- standardized M&P plans that elect a safe harbor allocation or benefit formula and a safe harbor compensation definition may rely on an opinion letter with respect to the nondiscriminatory amounts requirement under § 401(a)(4). Adopting employers of nonstandardized M&P plans that are § 401(k) and/or § 401(m) plans may rely on an opinion letter with respect to whether the form of the plan satisfies the actual de- ferral percentage test of § 401(k)(3) or the actual contribution percentage test of § 401(m)(2) if the employer elects to use a safe harbor definition of compen- sation in the test.Adopting employers of nonstandardized M&P plans described in § 401(k)(11) and/or § 401(m)(12) may rely on an opinion letter with respect to whether the form of the plan satisfies these requirements unless the plan provides for the safe harbor contribution to be made under another plan. (4) A VS plan may give an adopt- ing employer the ability to select an allocation formula for the employer non-elective contribution which satisfies one of the design-based safe harbors in § 1.401(a)(4)–2(b)(2) or a benefit formula which satisfies one of the design-based safe harbors under § 1.401(a)(4)–3(b)(3), (4), or (5), and the ability to select a safe harbor compensation definition for such formula which satisfies § 1.414(s)–1(c). If the adopting employer selects (utilizes) such formula and compensation defini- tion, then the adopting employer may rely on an advisory letter with respect to the nondiscriminatory amounts requirement under § 401(a)(4). .03 Other Limitations and Conditions on Reliance — The following conditions and limitations apply with respect to both M&P and VS plans: (1) An adopting employer can rely on a favorable opinion or advisory letter for a plan that amends or restates a plan of the employer only if the plan that is being amended or restated was qualified. (2) An adopting employer has no re- liance if the employer’s adoption of the plan precedes the issuance of an opinion or advisory letter for the plan. (3) An adopting employer can rely on an opinion or advisory letter only if the re- quirements of this section 19 are met, and the employer’s plan is identical to an ap- proved M&P or specimen plan with a cur- rently valid favorable opinion or advisory letter; that is, the employer has not added any terms to the approved M&P or VS plan and has not modified or deleted any terms of the plan other than choosing options per- mitted under the plan or, in the case of an M&P plan, amended the document as per- mitted under section 5.06 or 5.09 or, in the case of a VS plan, modified the doc- ument as permitted under sections 14 and 15. Thus, for example, in the case of a VS plan, the employer’s plan must be identi- cal to the approved specimen plan except as the result of the employer’s selection among options that are permitted under the terms of the approved specimen plan and modifications permitted under sections 14 and 15. (4) An employer’s plan will not fail to be identical to an approved M&P or spec- imen plan merely because the employer modifies or amends the plan to: (a) Add or change a provision and/or to specify or change the effective date of a provision, provided the employer is permitted to make the modification or March 7, 20056902005–10 I.R.B. amendment under the terms of the ap- proved M&P or specimen plan as well as under § 401(a), and, except for the ef- fective date, the provision is identical to a provision in the approved plan. Thus, an employer is not required to restate its M&P or volume submitter plan in order to change options under the plan or to specify different effective dates. Also see section 5.02, which limits an employer’s ability to amend an M&P plan without causing the plan to be treated as an individually designed plan, and section 5.11, which requires the employer to complete a new signature page when the employer changes options in an M&P adoption agreement. (b) Correct obvious and unambiguous typographical errors and/or cross-refer- ences that merely correct a reference but that do not in any way change the original intended meaning of the provisions. No such changes may affect any qualification requirements of the plan. The Service in its discretion may determine that any such changes are not considered identical. (c) Adopt model, sample or other re- quired good faith amendments that specif- ically provide that their adoption by an adopter of a VS and or M&P plan will not cause the plan to be treated as an individu- ally designed plan or cause the plan to fail to be “identical” to the approved M&P or specimen plan within the meaning of this section. (5) An adopting employer cannot rely on an opinion or advisory letter if the adopting employer has modified the terms of the plan’s approved trust in a manner that would cause the plan to fail to be qualified. .04 Reliance Equivalent to Determina- tion Letter — If an employer can rely on a favorable opinion or advisory letter pur- suant to this section, the opinion or ad- visory letter shall be equivalent to a fa- vorable determination letter. For exam- ple, the favorable opinion or advisory let- ter shall be treated as a favorable determi- nation letter for purposes of section 21 of Rev. Proc. 2005–6, regarding the effect of a determination letter, and section 5.01(4) of Rev. Proc. 2003–44, regarding the def- inition of “favorable letter” for purposes of the Employee Plans Compliance Res- olution System. Of course, the extent of the employer’s reliance may be limited, as provided above. SECTION20. WHERETOFILEAND OTHER RULES FOR APPLICATIONS AND LETTERS .01 Opinion Letters — Applications for opinion letters, including applications filed by M&P mass submitters, should be sent to the attention of: Internal Revenue Service P.O. Box 2508 Cincinnati, OH 45201 Attn: M&P Coordinator Room 5106 .02 Advisory Letters — Applications for advisory letters, including applications filed by VS mass submitters, should be sent to: Internal Revenue Service P.O. Box 2508 Cincinnati, OH 45201 Attn: VSC Coordinator Room 5106 .03 In both .01 and .02 above, a request shipped by Express Mail or a delivery ser- vice should be sent to the attention of the VSC Coordinator or the M&P Coordina- tor, whichever is applicable, to: Internal Revenue Service 550 Main Street P.O. Box 2508 Cincinnati, OH 45202 Room 5106 .04 Effect of Failure to Disclose Mate- rial Fact or to Accurately Provide Informa- tion — The Service may determine, based on the application, the extent of review of the pre-approved plan. A failure to dis- close a material fact ormisrepresentation of a material fact in the application may ad- versely affect the reliance that would oth- erwise be obtained through issuance by the Service of a favorable opinion or advisory letter. Similarly, failure to accurately pro- vide any of the information called for on any form required by this revenue proce- dure may result in no reliance. .05 Additional Information May Be Re- quested — The Service may, at its dis- cretion, require any additional informa- tion that it deems necessary, including a demonstration of how the variables (op- tions or alternatives) in the M&P or spec- imen plan interrelate to satisfy the qualifi- cation requirements of the Code. If a let- ter, requesting changes to plan documents, is sent to the sponsor or VS practitioner or an authorized representative, the changes must be received no later than 30 days fromthedateoftheletter,andtheresponse must include either a copy of the plan with the changes highlighted or, if the changes are not extensive, replacement pages. If the changes are not received within 30 days, the application may be considered withdrawn. An extension of the 30-day time limit will only be granted for good cause. .06 Inadequate Submissions — The Service will return, without further action, plans that are not in substantial compli- ance with the qualification requirements or plans that are so deficient that they can- not be reviewed in a reasonable amount of time. A plan may be considered not to be in substantial compliance if, for example, it omits or merely incorporates qualification requirements by reference to the applicable Code section. The Service will not consider these plans until after they are revised, and they will be treated as new requests as of the date they are resubmitted. No additional user fee will be charged if an inadequate submission is amended to be in substantial compliance and is resubmitted to the Service within 30 days following the date the sponsor or VS practitioner is notified of such inadequacy. .07 Nonidentification of Questionable Issues May Cause Delay — If the plan doc- ument submitted as part of an opinion or advisory letter request contains a provision that gives rise to an issue for which con- trary published authorities exist, failure to disclose and address significant contrary authorities may result in requests for addi- tional information, which will delay action on the request. .08 DOL Participant Loan Regulations not Addressed by Opinion or Advisory Letter — Pre-approved plans may adopt procedures to comply with the Department of Labor’s (DOL) participant loan regula- tions under § 408(b)(1) of ERISA in the plan or in a separate document. The adop- tion of procedures outside of the plan doc- ument that are intended to comply with these regulations will not cause a pre-ap- proved plan to be considered an individu- ally designed plan. The Service will not review loan program procedures (whether in the plan or in a separate written docu- 2005–10 I.R.B.691March 7, 2005 ment) to determine whether they comply with the requirements of the DOL regula- tions. Also, any opinion or advisory let- ter issued for a pre-approved plan will not consider whether loan program procedures may, in the operation of the plan, have an adverse effect on the qualified status of the plan. However, the loan program proce- dures under the plan may not be inconsis- tent with the qualification requirements of § 401(a) of the Code. .09 Nontransferability of Opinion and Advisory Letters — An opinion or advi- sory letter issued to a sponsor or VS prac- titioner is not transferable to any other en- tity. For this purpose, a change of em- ployer identification number is deemed to be a change of entity. SECTION 21. AMENDMENTS .01 Opinion or Advisory Letters for SponsororVSPractitionerAmendments — A sponsor or VS practitioner may amend or restate its previously approved plan and the Service will entertain a re- quest for an opinion or advisory letter as to the acceptability, for purposes of § 401(a) or § 403(a), of the form of the plan as amended, during the specified time pe- riod within the six-year cycle, as provided in section 8.01 and section 15.01. If the sponsor or VS practitioner is amending its plan, it must, except as provided in section 12 or section 18, submit an appli- cation under the procedures in section 7 or section 17, together with a copy of the amendment(s), a cover letter summarizing the changes to the plan that are effected by such amendment(s), and a copy of the plan which is being amended. If the spon- sor or practitioner is restating its plan, it must,exceptasprovidedinsection12or section 18, submit the restated plan along with the application. No more than four consecutive amendments may be submit- ted without restating the plan. In addition, the Service may, at its discretion, require plan restatement at any time that it deems necessary to adequately review a plan. .02 No Opinion or Advisory Letters for Certain Amendments — A pre-approved plan will not lose its qualified status and, except as provided in (4) below, no opinion or advisory letter will be issued merely be- cause amendments are made which solely cover the following: (1) Amendments to conform a plan to the requirements of § 402(a) of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), Pub. L. 93–406, 1974–3 C.B. 1, relating to named fiducia- ries. (2) Amendments to conform a plan to the requirements of § 503 of ERISA, relat- ing to claims procedures. (3) Amendments that merely adjust the limitations under §§ 415, 402(g), 401(a)(17), and 414(q)(1)(B) of the Code to reflect annual cost-of-living increases, other than amendments that add an auto- matic cost-of-living adjustment provisions to the plan. (4) Amendments that merely reflect a change of a sponsor’s or VS practitioner’s name. However, the sponsor or VS practi- tioner must notify the Service, in writing, ofthechangeinnameandcertifythatit still meets the conditions for sponsorship describedinsection4.07or13.04. No opinion or advisory letter will be issued and no user fee will be required for a mere change in name. However, if the spon- sor or VS practitioner wants a new opin- ion or advisory letter, it will have to sub- mit a new application and pay the appro- priate user fee. (Also see section 20 re- garding changes in employer identification numbers.) . .03 Off-Cycle Filing — If a pre-ap- proved plan requests an opinion or advi- sory letter that is not submitted during the specified period within the six-year cycle, the application will not be reviewed un- til all on-cycle plans (including applica- tions for determination letters for individ- ually designed plans within their staggered 5-year cycle) have been reviewed and pro- cessed.However, the Service may, in its discretion, determine whether the pro- cessing of off-cycle filings may be priori- tized and accelerated under certain circum- stances. SECTION 22. REVOCATION Revocation of Opinion or Advisory Letter by the Service — An opinion or advisory letter found to be in error or not in accord with the current views of the Service may be revoked. However, except in rare or unusual circumstances, such re- vocation will not be applied retroactively if the conditions set forth in section 13 and 14 of Rev. Proc. 2005–4, 2005–1 I.R.B. 128, are met. For this purpose, opinion and advisory letters will be given the same effect as rulings. Revocation may be ef- fected by a notice to the sponsor or VS practitioner to which the letter was orig- inally issued, or by a regulation, revenue ruling or other statement published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin. The sponsor or VS practitioner should then notify each adopting employer ofthe revocation as soon as possible. The content of the noti- fication to each adopting employer must explain how the revocation affects any reliance an adopting employer has on the applicable advisory or opinion letter and on any determination letter issued. SECTION 23. EGTRRA This revenue procedure announces the opening of the pre-approved plan pro- grams. The Service will begin accepting applications for opinion and advisory let- ters for defined contribution pre-approved plans that take into account the require- ments of the EGTRRA as well as other changes in qualification requirements and guidance beginning February 17, 2005. The submission period for these pre-ap- proved plans will end January 31, 2006. The Service will announce the deadline for timely adoption by employers after the pre-approved documents have been reviewed. In addition, the Service intends to accept applicationsfor determination letters for individually designed plans beginning on or after February 1, 2006, in accordance with a five-year staggered cycle, and applications for pre-approved defined benefit plans beginning Febru- ary 1, 2007. The opening of these pro- grams for individually designed plans and pre-approved defined benefit plans will be officially announced at a future date. As noted in section 2.06, the Service published the 2004 Cumulative List in No- tice 2004–84. The 2004 Cumulative List reflects law changes under EGTRRA with technical corrections made by JCWAA, as well as regulations and guidance published by the Service that are effective after De- cember 31, 2001. (Prior law changes, as well as regulations and guidance, effective on or before December 31, 2001, should generally have been taken into account in the GUST opinion or advisory letters is- sued to pre-approved plans that were in existence prior to January 1, 2002.) The March 7, 20056922005–10 I.R.B. changes identified on the 2004 Cumula- tive List will be considered by the Service in its review of pre-approved defined con- tribution plans that must be submitted by January 31, 2006. However, a plan must comply with all relevant qualification re- quirements, not just those on the 2004 Cu- mulative List. The Service will not re- view plan language for statutory changes enacted, or guidance issued, after Decem- ber 14, 2004, unless it is on the 2004 Cu- mulative List. Thus, sponsors of defined contribution pre-approved plans submit- ting applications during the submission pe- riod that will end January 31, 2006, may not rely on opinion or advisory letters with respect to statutory changes enacted, or any guidance issued, after December 14, 2004, unless that guidance is listed on the 2004 Cumulative List. SECTION 24. REMEDIAL AMENDMENT PERIOD .01 Announcement 2004–71, 2004–40 I.R.B. 569, contained a draft revenue procedure with the Service’s procedures for issuing letters for pre-approved plans under a regular, six-year remedial amend- ment cycle and individually designed plans under a staggered five-year remedial amendment cycle. That revenue proce- dure is expected to be finalized in the near future. It will extend a plan’s EGTRRA remedial amendment period to the end of the applicable cycle.It will also explain the conditions under which an adopting employer who timely adopts the pre-ap- proved plan will be treated as having adopted the plan within the employer’s six-year remedial amendment cycle, and which Cumulative List will apply in the case of plans that become individually de- signed under the circumstances described in 24.02 below. The Service will announce the deadline for timely adoption after the pre-approved documents have been re- viewed, but it is expected that employers will generally have two years in which to adopt. .02 An employer that has adopted an M&PplanoraVSspecimenplanmay havemodifiedtheplaninsuchaway that the plan, as adopted by the employer, would not be considered an M&P plan or a VS plan. Nevertheless, such a plan will generally be treated as an M&P or VS plan and will be allowed to remain within the six-year remedial amendment cycle. Not- withstanding the above, if the employer has amended the plan to incorporate a type of plan not allowable in the VS or M&P program, whichever is applicable, (for example, to incorporate an ESOP, which is not allowed in either the M&P or VS program) the employer’s plan will be con- sideredtobeanindividuallydesignedplan for purposes of this revenue procedure. In that case, the remedial amendment cy- cle in which the employer impermissibly amends the VS or M&P plan will remain the six-year remedial amendment cycle until that cycle expires. However, the sub- sequent remedial amendment period is the five-year remedial amendment cycle. .03 Notwithstanding any of the above provisions in .02, the Service may in its discretion determine that such a plan is an individually designed plan that will not receive an extended remedial amendment cycle, due to the nature and extent of the amendments. SECTION 25. EFFECT ON OTHER DOCUMENTS Rev. Proc. 2000–20 is modified and su- perseded. Rev. Proc. 2005–6, Rev. Proc. 2005–8, and Announcement 2001–77, 2001–2 C.B. 83, are modified. SECTION 26. EFFECTIVE DATE This revenue procedure is effective February 17, 2005. SECTION 27. PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT The collection of information con- tained in this revenue procedure has been reviewed and approved by the Office of Management and Budget in accor- dance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3507) under control number 1545–1674. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless the collection of information displays a valid OMB control number. The collection of information in this revenue procedure is in sections 5.11, 8.02, 11.02, 12, 14.05, 15.02, 18 and 24. Thisinformationisrequiredtoenable the Commissioner, Tax Exempt and Gov- ernment Entities Division of the Internal Revenue Service to make determinations in connection with plan qualification. This information will be used to determine whether a plan is entitled to favorable tax treatment.The likely respondents are banks, insurance companies, other financial institutions, law, actuarial and consulting firms, employee benefit practi- tioners and employers. The estimated total annual reporting and/or recordkeeping burden is 1,058,850 hours. The estimated annual burden per re- spondent/recordkeeper varies from 1 /2to 2,000 hours, depending on individual cir- cumstances, with an estimated average of 3.56 hours.The estimated number of respondents and/or recordkeepers is 297,750. The estimated frequency of responses is occasional. Books or records relating to a collection of information must be retained as long as their contents may become material in the administration of any internal revenue law. Generally, tax returns and tax return information are confidential, as required by 26 U.S.C. § 6103. DRAFTING INFORMATION The principal author of this revenue procedure is Ingrid Grinde of the Em- ployee Plans, Tax Exempt and Govern- ment Entities Division.For further in- formation concerning this revenue proce- dure, please contact the Employee Plans’ taxpayer assistance telephone service at 1–877–829–5500 between 8:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (a toll-free number). Ms. Grinde may be reached at (202) 283–9888 (not a toll-free number). 2005–10 I.R.B.693March 7, 2005 Part IV. Items of General Interest Notice of Proposed Rulemaking by Cross-Reference to Temporary Regulations and Notice of Public Hearing Returns Required on Magnetic Media REG–130671–04 AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Treasury. ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking by cross-reference to temporary regula- tions and notice of public hearing. SUMMARY: In this issue of the Bulletin, the IRS is issuing temporary regulations (T.D. 9175) relating to the requirements for filing corporate income tax returns, S cor- poration returns, and returns of organiza- tions required under section 6033 on mag- netic media under section 6011(e) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code). The text of those regulations also serves as the text of these proposed regulations. This docu- ment also provides notice of a public hear- ing on these proposed regulations. DATES: Written or electronic comments must be received by February 28, 2005. Requests to speak (with outlines of top- ics to be discussed) at the public hearing scheduled for March 16, 2005, must be re- ceived by February 28, 2005. ADDRESSES: Send submissions to: CC:PA:LPD:PR(REG–130671–04), Room 5203, Internal Revenue Service, POB 7604, Ben Franklin Station, Wash- ington, DC 20044. Submissions may be hand delivered Monday through Friday between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. to: CC:PA:LPD:PR (REG–130671–04), Courier’s Desk, Internal Revenue Ser- vice, 1111 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington,DC. Alternatively,tax- payers may submit comments electron- ically via the IRS internet website at www.irs.gov/regs, or via the Federal eRulemaking Portal,www.regulations.gov (IRS-REG–130671–04). The public hear- ing will be held in the auditorium of the Internal Revenue Building, 1111 Constitu- tion Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20224. FORFURTHERINFORMATION CONTACT: Concerning the proposed reg- ulations, Michael E. Hara, (202) 622–4910 concerning submissions of comments, the hearing, and/or to beplaced on the build- ing access list to attend the hearing, Robin Jones at (202) 622–7180 (not toll-free numbers). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background Temporary regulations in this issue of the Bulletin amend the Regulations on Pro- cedure and Administration (26 CFR part 301) relating to the filing of corporate in- come tax returns, S corporation returns, and returns of organizations required under section 6033 on magnetic media under sec- tion 6011(e). The temporary regulations require corporations and certain organiza- tions to file their Form 1120, “U.S. Corpo- ration Income Tax Return,” Form 1120S, “U.S. Income Tax Return for an S Corpo- ration,” Form 990, “Return of Organiza- tion Exempt From Income Tax,” and Form 990-PF, “Return of Private Foundation or Section 4947(a)(1) Nonexempt Charitable Trust Treated as a Private Foundation,” electronically if they are required to file at least 250 returns during the calendar year ending with or within their taxable year. The text of those regulations also serves as the text of these proposed regulations. The preamble to the temporary regulations ex- plains the amendments. Special Analyses It has been determined that these pro- posed regulations arenot a significant reg- ulatory action as defined in Executive Or- der 12866. Therefore, a regulatory assess- ment is not required. It also has been deter- mined that section 553(b) of the Adminis- trative Procedure Act(5 U.S.C. chapter 5) does not apply to these regulations. Be- cause these regulations do not impose a collection of information on small entities, the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. chapter 6) does not apply. The IRS and Treasury Department note that these reg- ulations only prescribe the method of fil- ing returns that are already required to be filed. Further, these regulations are con- sistent with the requirements imposed by statute. Section 6011(e)(2)(A) provides that, in prescribing regulations providing stan- dards for determining which returns must befiledonmagneticmediaorinotherma- chine-readable form, the Secretary shall not require any person to file returns on magnetic media unless the person is re- quired to file at least 250 returns during the calendar year.Consistent with the statutory provision, these regulations do not require Forms 1120, Forms 1120S, Forms 990, or Forms 990-PF to be filed electronically unless 250 or more returns are required to be filed. Further, if a taxpayer’s operations are computerized, reporting in accordance with the regulations should be less costly than filing on paper. If the taxpayer’s op- erations are not computerized, the incre- mental cost of filing Forms 1120, Forms 1120S, Forms 990, and Forms 990-PF electronically should be minimal in most cases because of the availability of com- puter service bureaus.In addition, the proposed regulations provide that the IRS may waive the electronic filing require- ments upon a showing of hardship. Pursuant to section 7805(f) of the Code, these proposed regulations will be submit- ted to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration for comment on their impact on small busi- ness. Comments and Public Hearing Before these proposed regulations are adopted as final regulations, consideration will be given to any written (a signed origi- nal and eight (8) copies)orelectroniccom- ments that are submitted timely to the IRS. The IRS and Treasury Department request comments on the clarity of the proposed regulations and how they can be made easier to understand. The IRS and Trea- sury Department also request comments on the procedures and criteria for hardship waivers from the electronic filing require- ments. The IRS and Treasury Department also request comments on the accuracy of the certification that the regulations in this document will not have a significant eco- March 7, 20056942005–10 I.R.B. nomic impact on a substantial number of small entities. All comments will be avail- able for public inspection and copying. A public hearing has been scheduled for March 16, 2005, at 10 a.m. in the audi- torium of the Internal Revenue Building, 1111 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washing- ton, DC. Due to building security proce- dures, visitors must enter at the Consti- tution Avenue entrance. In addition, all visitors must presentphoto identification to enter the building. Because of access restrictions, visitors will not be admitted beyond the immediate entrance area more than 30 minutes before the hearing starts. For information about having your name placed on the building access list to attend the hearing, see the “FOR FURTHER IN- FORMATION CONTACT” section of this preamble. The rules of 26 CFR 601.601(a)(3) ap- ply to the hearing. Persons who wish to present oral comments at the hearing must submit comments and an outline of the top- icstobediscussedandthetimetobede- voted to each topic by February 28, 2005. A period of 10 minutes will be allot- ted to each person for making comments. An agenda showing the scheduling of the speakers will be prepared after the deadline for receiving outlines has passed. Copies of the agenda will be available free of charge at the hearing. Drafting Information The principal author of these proposed regulations is Michael E. Hara, Office of the Assistant ChiefCounsel (Procedure and Administration). ***** Proposed Amendments to the Regulations Accordingly, 26 CFR parts 1 and 301 are proposed to be amended as follows: PART 1—INCOME TAXES Paragraph 1. The authority citation for part 1 continues to read, in part, as follows: Authority: 26 U.S.C. 7805 * * * Par. 2. Section 1.6011–5 is added to read as follows: §1.6011–5 Required use of magnetic media for corporate income tax returns. [The text of proposed §1.6011–5 is the same as the text of §1.6011–5T published elsewhere in this issue of the Bulletin]. Par. 3. Section 1.6033–4 is added to read as follows: §1.6033–4 Required use of magnetic media for returns by organizations required to file returns under section 6033. [The text of proposed §1.6033–4 is the same as the text of §1.6033–4T published elsewhere in this issue of the Bulletin]. Par. 4. Section 1.6037–2 is added to read as follows: §1.6037–2 Required use of magnetic media for income tax returns of electing small business corporations. [The text of proposed §1.6037–2 is the same as the text of §1.6037–2T published elsewhere in this issue of the Bulletin]. PART 301—PROCEDURE AND ADMINISTRATION Par. 5. The authority citation for part 301 is amended by adding entries, in nu- merical order, to read as follows: Authority: 26 U.S.C. 7805 * * * Section 301.6011–5 also issued under 26 U.S.C. 6011. * * * Section 301.6033–4 also issued under 26 U.S.C. 6033. * * * Section 301.6037–2 also issued under 26 U.S.C. 6037. * * * Par. 6. Section 301.6011–5 is added to read as follows: §301.6011–5 Required use of magnetic media for corporate income tax returns. [The text of proposed §301.6011–5 is the same as the text of §301.6011–5T pub- lished elsewhere in this issue of the Bul- letin]. Par. 7. Section 301.6033–4 is added to read as follows: §301.6033–4 Required use of magnetic media for returns by organizations required to file returns under section 6033. [The text of proposed §301.6033–4 is the same as the text of §301.6033–4T pub- lished elsewhere in this issue of the Bul- letin]. Par. 8. Section 301.6037–2 is added to read as follows: §301.6037–2 Required use of magnetic mediaforreturnsofelectingsmall business corporation. [The text of proposed §301.6037–2 is the same as the text of §301.6037–2T pub- lished elsewhere in this issue of the Bul- letin]. Mark E. Matthews, Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement. (Filed by the Office of the Federal Register on January 11, 2005, 8:45 a.m., and published in the issue of the Federal Register for January 12, 2005, 70 F.R. 2075) 2005–10 I.R.B.695March 7, 2005 Announcement of Disciplinary Actions Involving Attorneys, Certified Public Accountants, Enrolled Agents, and Enrolled Actuaries — Suspensions, Censures, Disbarments, and Resignations Announcement 2005-15 Under Title 31, Code of Federal Regu- lations, Part 10, attorneys, certified public accountants, enrolled agents, and enrolled actuaries may not accept assistance from, or assist, any person who is under disbar- ment or suspension from practice before the Internal Revenue Service if the assis- tance relates to a matter constituting prac- tice before the Internal Revenue Service and may not knowingly aid or abet another person to practice before the Internal Rev- enue Service during a period of suspen- sion, disbarment, or ineligibility of such other person. To enable attorneys, certified public accountants, enrolled agents, and enrolled actuaries to identify persons to whom these restrictions apply, the Director, Of- fice of Professional Responsibility, will announce in the Internal Revenue Bulletin their names, their city and state, their pro- fessional designation, the effective date of disciplinary action, and the period of suspension. This announcement will ap- pear in the weekly Bulletin at the earliest practicable date after such action and will continue to appear in the weekly Bulletins for five successive weeks. Consent Disbarments From Practice Before the Internal Revenue Service Under Title 31, Code of Federal Regu- lations, Part 10, an attorney, certified pub- lic accountant, enrolled agent, or enrolled actuary, in order to avoid institution or con- clusion of a proceeding for his or her dis- barment or suspension from practice be- fore the Internal Revenue Service, may of- fer his or her consent to disbarment from such practice. The Director, Office of Pro- fessional Responsibility, in his discretion, may disbar an attorney, certified public ac- countant, enrolled agent or enrolled actu- ary in accordance with the consent offered. The following individuals have been placed under consent disbarment from practice before the Internal Revenue Ser- vice: NameAddressDesignationDate of Disbarment O’Connell, Anthony G.Revere, MACPAIndefinite from January 5, 2005 March 7, 20056962005–10 I.R.B. Suspensions From Practice Before the Internal Revenue Service After Notice and an Opportunity for a Proceeding Under Title 31, Code of Federal Reg- ulations, Part 10, after notice and an op- portunity for a proceeding before an ad- ministrative law judge, the following indi- viduals have been placed under suspension from practice before the Internal Revenue Service: NameAddressDesignationEffective Date McCarthy III, William P.Sacramento, CAEnrolled AgentSeptember 12, 2004 to March 10, 2006 Deen, Mae T.Salinas, CAEnrolled AgentOctober 18, 2004 to April 16, 2006 Adams Jr., Joseph T.Philadelphia,PAEnrolled AgentDecember 1, 2004 to May 29, 2006 Consent Suspensions From Practice Before the Internal Revenue Service Under Title 31, Code of Federal Regu- lations, Part 10, an attorney, certified pub- lic accountant, enrolled agent, or enrolled actuary, in order to avoid institution or con- clusion of a proceeding for his or her dis- barment or suspension from practice be- fore the Internal Revenue Service, may of- fer his or her consent to suspension from such practice. The Director, Office of Pro- fessional Responsibility, in his discretion, may suspend an attorney, certified public accountant, enrolled agent or enrolled ac- tuary in accordance with the consent of- fered. The following individuals have been placed under consent suspension from practice before the Internal Revenue Ser- vice: NameAddressDesignationDate of Suspension Cornelius, Gerald K.Ventura,CAEnrolled AgentIndefinite from September 15, 2004 Janus, Stephen E.Michigan City, INCPAIndefinite from October 25, 2004 Arotsky, Marvin A.New Haven, CTCPAIndefinite from December 1, 2004 Penta, RichardHamilton, MACPAIndefinite from January 1, 2005 2005–10 I.R.B.697March 7, 2005 NameAddressDesignationDate of Suspension Bedell, Michael F.Ridge, NYCPAIndefinite from January 7, 2005 Nussbaum, JerroldAnnapolis, MDAttorneyIndefinite from April 15, 2005 Expedited Suspensions From Practice Before the Internal Revenue Service Under Title 31, Code of Federal Regu- lations, Part 10, the Director, Office of Pro- fessional Responsibility, is authorized to immediately suspend from practice before the Internal RevenueService any practi- tioner who, within five years from the date the expedited proceeding is instituted (1) has had a license to practice as an attor- ney, certified public accountant, or actuary suspended or revoked for cause or (2) has been convicted of certain crimes. The following individuals have been placed under suspension from practice be- fore the Internal Revenue Service by virtue of the expedited proceeding provisions: NameAddressDesignationDate of Suspension Whitworth, Douglas D.Houston, TXCPAIndefinite from October 28, 2004 Lindberg, William D.Costa Mesa, CACPAIndefinite from November 4, 2004 Tompkins, Thomas M.Chickasaw, ALAttorneyIndefinite from November 4, 2004 Peterson Jr., Theodore ECharlotte, NCCPAIndefinite from November 4, 2004 Gassiott, William E.Cypress, TXCPAIndefinite from November 4, 2004 Wagar Jr., John E.Lafayette, LAAttorneyIndefinite from November 9, 2004 Fiore, Owen G.Kooskia, IDAttorneyIndefinite from November 30, 2004 O’Keefe, Michael H.Beaumont, TXAttorneyIndefinite from November 30, 2004 Ivker, Richard N.Waltham, MAAttorneyIndefinite from November 30, 2004 March 7, 20056982005–10 I.R.B. NameAddressDesignationDate of Suspension Jones, Edwin A.Robards,KYAttorneyIndefinite from November 30, 2004 Landis, John C.Drexel Hill, PAAttorneyIndefinite from November 30, 2004 Cushman, Christopher A.Kansas City, MOAttorneyIndefinite from November 30, 2004 Weiner, Alan S.Rockville, MDAttorneyIndefinite from November 30, 2004 Virdone, Peter P.Kailua, HICPAIndefinite from November 30, 2004 Doherty, Paul M.N. Billerica, MAAttorneyIndefinite from December 3, 2004 Carney, Kevin F.Woburn, MAAttorneyIndefinite from December 3, 2004 Greiner, ThomasCleveland, OHAttorneyIndefinite from December 8, 2004 Wertis, Richard L.Garden City, NYAttorneyIndefinite from December 10, 2004 Southerland, Harry L.Raeford, NCAttorneyIndefinite from December 10, 2004 Chestnutt, A. JohnsonFayetteville, NCCPAIndefinite from December 13, 2004 Heald, Arthur A.Saint Albans, VTAttorneyIndefinite from December 10, 2004 Culliton, James M.Santa Clarita, CAAttorneyIndefinite from December 15, 2004 Juarez, Michael G.Douglas,AZAttorneyIndefinite from December 15, 2004 Clark, Carroll A.Mesa, AZAttorneyIndefinite from December 15, 2004 2005–10 I.R.B.699March 7, 2005 NameAddressDesignationDate of Suspension Creque, George AWillow Springs, CAAttorneyIndefinite from December 15, 2004 Younts, Roger W.Lexington, NCCPAIndefinite from December 15, 2004 Kluge, David R.Sheridan, ORAttorneyIndefinite from December 15, 2004 Fanaras, Andrew R.Haverhill, MAAttorneyIndefinite from December 15, 2004 Murphy, Patrick B.Alhambra, CAAttorneyIndefinite from December 20, 2004 Mills, Stuart B.Pender, NEAttorneyIndefinite from December 20, 2004 North, Gerald D.W.Chicago, ILAttorneyIndefinite from December 20, 2004 Nickel, Warren J.Tinley Park, ILAttorneyIndefinite from December 20, 2004 Gray, Douglas C.Dover, NHAttorneyIndefinite from December 20, 2004 Emmons, Kyle D.Columbia, MOAttorneyIndefinite from December 20, 2004 Velella, Guy J.Bronx, NYAttorneyIndefinite from December 30, 2004 Ginn, Jeffrey S.Lexington, KYCPAIndefinite from January 25, 2005 Grenrood Jr., BernardWest Monroe, LAAttorneyIndefinite from January 25, 2005 Tehin Jr., NikolaiSan Francisco, CAAttorneyIndefinite from January 25, 2005 Kemper, Morris B.Alameda, CAAttorneyIndefinite from January 25, 2005 Harrison, John S.Oakland, CAAttorneyIndefinite from January 25, 2005 March 7, 20057002005–10 I.R.B. NameAddressDesignationDate of Suspension Mangurten, Irvin B.Buffalo Grove, ILCPAIndefinite from January 27, 2005 Zivin, Mitchell W.Long Grove, ILAttorneyIndefinite from February 7, 2005 Zdon, John N.Chicago, ILAttorneyIndefinite from February 7, 2005 Lokietz, David S.Mount Dora, FLCPAIndefinite from February 7, 2005 Heldrich Jr., Gerard C.Lincolnshire, ILAttorneyIndefinite from February 7, 2005 Whitaker, Paul M.Albany,NYAttorneyIndefinite from February 18, 2005 Blake, Linda D.Bellvale,NYAttorneyIndefinite from February 18, 2005 Smith, H. PaulSan Antonio, TXAttorneyIndefinite from February 18, 2005 Atwood, Adina A.Ardmore, OKAttorneyIndefinite from February 18, 2005 Sablone Jr., Francis R.Old Lyme, CTAttorneyIndefinite from February 18, 2005 Phelps, S. DonOlympia, WAAttorneyIndefinite from February 18, 2005 Davidson, FrazierBronx, NYAttorneyIndefinite from February 18, 2005 2005–10 I.R.B.701March 7, 2005 Censure Issued by Consent Under Title 31, Code of Federal Reg- ulations, Part 10, in lieu of a proceeding being instituted or continued, an attorney, certified public accountant, enrolled agent, or enrolled actuary, may offer his or her consent to the issuance of a censure. Cen- sure is a public reprimand. The following individuals have con- sented to the issuance of a Censure: NameAddressDesignationDate of Censure Dorris, Virginia A.Bradenton, FLEnrolled AgentDecember 14, 2004 Mackey, Glen N.Roanoke, VAAttorneyDecember 21, 2004 Foundations Status of Certain Organizations Announcement 2005–16 The following organizations have failed to establish or have been unable to main- tain their status as public charities or as op- erating foundations. Accordingly, grantors and contributors may not, after this date, rely on previous rulings or designations in the Cumulative List of Organizations (Publication 78), or on the presumption arising from the filing of notices under sec- tion 508(b) of the Code. This listing does notindicate that the organizations have lost their status as organizations described in section 501(c)(3), eligible to receive de- ductible contributions. Former Public Charities.The follow- ing organizations (which have been treated as organizations thatare not private foun- dations described in section 509(a) of the Code) are now classified as private foun- dations: Abounding Love Christian Ministries, Inc., Brown Deer, WI Abundant Life International, Seatac, WA Academic Achievement Academy, Compton, CA Academic Affairs, Inc., White Plains, NY Academy of Arts and Science Education, Hobart, IN Action Counseling Services, Inc., Denver, CO Action Evaluation Research Institute, Yellow Spring, OH Adobe Southwest Community Land Trust, Silver City, NM Advocates for the Integration of Recovery and Methadone, Inc., Long Beach, CA Ae tep International Education Foundation, Fr amingham, MA Ag ricultural Education Foundation, Inc., Sp ringfield, IL Ai ds Ministry Ecumenical Network, Se attle, WA Al amogordo-Otero County Centennial Ce lebration, Inc., Alamogordo, NM Al aska Cold Water Divers, Inc., An chorage, AK Al aska Inventor’s Alliance, Inc., An chorage, AK Al liance to Rebuild LA, Santa Monica, CA Al ternative Sentencing Program, Inc., Lo s Angeles, CA Al viso/San Jose Foundation, Fo ster City, CA Am anecer, Tucson, AZ Am erican Center for Law and Justice of Te xas, Inc., Irving, TX Am erican Friends of Israelis fo r Constitutional Democracy, Li vingston, NJ Am erican Head Trauma Foundation of Ar izona,Tempe,AZ Am erican Institute for Regeneration, Si mi Valley, CA Am erican Library for Photographic Hi story of Aviation, Catskill, NY Am erican Mission, Fife, WA An gel Ministries, Monroe, LA An gels for the Children Foundation, Sa lt Lake City, UT An imal Safety Center, Inc., Meeker, OK An na R. King Community Development, In c., Aventura, FL Ap artments of Casa Mesa Corporation, Ph oenix, AZ Ar c of Cibola County, Grants, NM Ar izona Harlem, Phoenix, AZ Asc ent Foundation, Seattle, WA Asi an American Womens Alliance, San Francisco, CA At chison County Industrial Development Au thority, Rock Port, MO At falati Recreational District, Tu alatin, OR At letas De Cristo-International, Po rtland, OR Au burn Noon Lions Building Fund, Inc., Au burn, WA Au dubon Housing Development Fund Co rporation, New York, NY BS R Memorial Trust, Brooklyn, NY Ba ckcountry Horsemen Education Fo undation of America, Redding, CA Ba ckcountry Horsemen Education Fo undation of Washington, Re dmond, WA Ba inbridge Boys & Girls Club, Ba inbridge Island, WA Ba inbridge Pee Wee Association, Ba inbridge Island, WA Ba rry’s Boxing, Las Vegas, NV Ba scom Volunteer Fire Department, Ba scom, FL Ba yAreaChineseOperaCenter, Sa nFrancisco,CA Be acon Club, Inc., Denver, CO Be lievers Life of Faith Ministries, He mpstead, NY Be rryville Charity Horse Show, Inc., Be rryville, VA Bi ochemical Research Foundation, Inc., As pen, CO Bi rthday Fairy, Tigard, OR Bl ue Ribbon Pin Program of Mohave Co unty, Bullhead City, AZ Bo dy of Christ, Florence, OR Bo nny Lake Youth Center Association, Bo nny Lake, WA BO OC, South Holland, IL Bo snian Refugee Education Center, Sa nFrancisco,CA Bo tanic Society of Vancouver, WA, Va ncouver, WA March 7, 20057022005–10 I.R.B. Boulder Community Foundation, Inc., Boulder, UT Boys & Girls Clubs of the Blackfeet Nation, Browning, MT Bridge City Productions, Portland, OR Bridget Evans Foundation, Inc., Creek, IL Bringing Resources and Action into Nature Brain Foundation, Inc., Sandia Park, NM Broadway Meadows, Mukilteo, WA Broward County Archaeological Society, Inc., Dania Beach, FL Broward Trust for Historic Preservation, Inc., Fort Lauderdale, FL Burlington Downtown Revitalization Coalition, Burlington, WA California Community Health Advocates, Rocklin, CA Cambridge MHA Education & Charitable Corporation, Cambridge, OH Camelback Business & Professional Association Scholarship Fund, Phoenix, AZ Capital Area Convention, Trenton, NJ Carbondale Public Education Foundation, Glenwood Springs, CO Care Foundation, Chadds Ford, PA Casa Feliz Corporation, Phoenix, AZ Center for Political Reform, Seattle, WA Center, Inc., Portland, OR CenterPoint Foundation, Inc., North Quincy, MA Central City Development Committee, Inc., Las Vegas, NV Central Washington Disabled Sports, Ya k i m a , WA Chaffee County Citizens Forum, Salida, CO Charity Golf Classic, Inc., Kenai, AK Charles & Kay Hanson Junior Golf Foundation, Kansas City, MO Chemical Injury Council, Bellevue, WA Children Are Hope, Inc., Portsmouth, VA Childrens Home Society Services of Miami Dade Florida, Inc., Miami, FL Children’s Safety Campaign, Stateline, NV China Nature Protection, Inc., Rego Park, NY Christian Choral Arts Ensemble, Inc., Lakeland, FL Christian School Resource Net, Vancouver, WA Christian Voters Connection, Inc., Boulder, CO Church of God Community Development Corporation, Nashville, TN Citizens for Responsive Research, Littleton, CO City Watch, Inc., Albuquerque, NM Clear Creek County Educational Foundation, Inc., Idaho Springs, CO Club Twenty-Four-Seven, Palm Springs, CA Coalition Against Domestic Abuse, Inc., Lakewood, CO Coalition for Senior Progress, Inc., Albuquerque, NM Cole Spur Community Center, Tuskahoma, OK College Station Business Development Corp., Inc., College Station, TX Colorado Fraternal Order of Police Safety Awareness Foundation, We s tm ins te r, C O Community Development Health Management Corporation, Ellenwood, GA Community Enrichment Association, Powell Music Boosters, WY Community Humanitarian Association, Inc., Monsey, NY Community Intervention and Assistance Foundation, Clovis, CA Community Partners Corporation, Las Vegas, NV Community Related Opportunity System for Seniors, Inc., Reno, NV Confederated Chetco Tribe of Southern Oregon, Agness, OR Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Southern Oregon, Inc., Medford, OR Coon Rapids High School Foundation, Inc., Coon Rapids, MN Cooperative Family Assistance Fund, Federal Way, WA Cope International-USA, Alexandria, VA Creeks Advantages Boosters Club, Englewood, CO Crogans Foundation, Pleasant Hill, CA Cross Works Ministries, Kalispell, MT Cultural Diversity, Rockport, WA Cure, Inc., Miami, FL Dawn Communications & Education Project, Campbell, CA Day Star International Schools, Tucson, AZ Deer Valley Pride Foundation, Inc., Phoenix, AZ Desert Winds Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality, Las Vegas, NV Devotion Time Ministry, Cincinnati, OH Doin the Stuff, Anaheim, CA Dooly County Unified Transportation Corporation, Vienna, GA Douglas Center for the Performing Arts, Douglas, AZ Dr. Leslie Squires Foundation, Philadelphia, PA Dunnellon Organization for Recreation & Prevention, Ocala, FL Education and Training Foundation, Inc., Salem, OR Eduserc, Laurel, MD Empire of Lemans, Vista, CA Englewood Neighborhood Association, San Antonio, TX ERHKY Foundation, Fort Washington, MD Ethnic Social Services Referral, Inc., Vienna, VA Ethnics United, Columbia, SC Eugene Projects, Inc., Spokane, WA Evolvere Trangender Foundation, Tucson, AZ Expedition Research, Woodinville, WA Exposition Park West Asset Leasing Corporation, Inglewood, CA Faces of the Pacific, Salt Lake City, UT Families of Enchantment, Inc., Albuquerque, NM Family Life Ministries, West Linn, OR Family Relations Success Council, Springhouse, PA Farmington Downtown Association, Farmington, NM Farmland Reserve, Chapel Hill, NC FD Resources, Inc., Tucson, AZ Feat of Northern Nevada, Reno, NV Feather River Fine Arts Association, Inc., Lake Almanor, CA First City Council on Cancer, Ketchikan, AK First Stage, Inc., Prineville, OR Flying Turtle Foundation, Inc., Hollywood, CA For Special People, Inc., Las Vegas, NV Force for Child Protection, Inc., Tucson, AZ Foundation for Advanced Transfusion Practices, Inc., New York, NY Foundation for Research Into Ebony Economics, Inc., Huntsville, AL Foundation for Surgical Technology, Englewood, CO Franmar Manor Corporation, Phoenix, AZ Friendly Winds Community Fellowship, Portland, OR Friends for Life of Southeastern Arizona, Inc., Sierra Vista, AZ Friends International Youth Ministry, Santa Maria, CA 2005–10 I.R.B.703March 7, 2005 Friends of Columbia County Fair, St. Helens, OR Friends of Kings Hill, Wallkill, NY Friends of Nicaragua, Lodi, NJ Friends of the Nature Restoration Foundation, Miami, FL Friends of the Royal College of Art, Chicago, IL Friends of Young Public Library, Young, AZ FSR New Mexico Affordable Housing Foundation, Santa Fe, NM Galaxy Gallery, Spokane, WA Garden Spot, Inc., Las Vegas, NV Genesis Organization, Youngstown, OH Global Medilink Technology, Inc., Honolulu, HI Global Unity in Dignity & Education Foundation, Inc., Chandler, AZ Gold Rush Education Foundation, Inc., Sonora, CA Gold Trail Sports Educational and Research Foundation, Pollock Pines, CA Golden Opportunities Training Corp., Savannah, GA Grace Project, Alameda, CA Greater Basin Rural Community Development Corporation, Klamath Falls, OR Grey Fox Foundation, Inc., Greenwich, CT Guardia-Vedanta Heritage Foundation, Inc., Eugene, OR Healing Arts, Crystal Bay, NV Healing Center, Boise, ID Hearing Health International Institute, Camas, WA Heart & Soul, Longmont, CO Heart to Heart Ministries, Inc., Lakeside, AZ Her-Em-Ahket Boys Academy, Inc., Toledo, OH Herencia De Nortenos Unidos, Espanola, NM Heritage Fountain 2000, Inc., Tallahassee, FL Hindu Society of New Mexico HSNM, Albuquerque, NM Hohokam Village Worship Center, Mesa, AZ Home Management Beautification Community Services, Chicago, IL Homeless Issues Partnership, Corpus Christi, TX Homeward Foundation, Clearwater, FL Hope for the Hurting Ministry, Inc., Mesa, AZ Hospice Memorial Foundation, Inc., Albuquerque, NM Housing Alternatives for New Mexico, Inc., Albuquerque, NM Housing Ourselves Made Easy, Aurora, CO How to Spiritually Heal, Inc., Harwichport, MA Howard-HOPE Foundation, We s t M on roe , L A Iglesia Cristiana Espiritu Y Verdad, Anchorage, AK Inner Vision Institute, Rohnert Park, CA Innermission, Inc., Peoria, AZ Institute for Environmental Solutions, Denver, CO Institute for Media Literacy, Houston, TX Institute for PEER Development, Inc., Stockbridge, GA Insurance Information Service of Oregon & Idaho, Portland, OR International Morning Star Ministries, Los Angeles, CA International Muslims Organization, Inc., Albany, NY International Youth Development Foundation, Inc., Miami Beach, FL Iosepa Historical Association, Holladay, UT J C Squared, Inc., Myrtle Creek, OR Jasper County Historical Society, Bay Springs, MS Jet Aviation Historical Society, Inc., Phoenix, AZ Jogging For Jesus, Inc., Desoto, TX John H. Gatlin Memorial Scholarship Foundation, Detroit, MI Justin Fox Ministries, Costa Mesa, CA Katylyn Feline Foundation, Lake Oswego, OR Kids Eat Here, Tucson, AZ Kids First, Denver, CO Kids on Stage Foundation of Maury County Tennessee, Inc., Mt. Pleasant, TN Kingdome Childrens Foundation, Seattle, WA Kisn Cares for Kids, Salt Lake City, UT Klimionok Ministries, Inc., Corpus Christie, TX Komputer Enthusiasts of Greater Seattle, Woodinville, WA Korean War Memorial of WNY, Buffalo, NY La Vieja Institute for Healers, Los Angeles, CA Land-Water Steward Association, Seattle, WA Lao Senior Association Incorporation, Richmond, CA Larry Williams Ministries, Dacula, GA Last Patrol, Inc., Los Angeles, CA Latino Chamber Development Corporation, Inc., Pueblo, CO Laughing Crow Productions, Olympia, WA Lawyers for Getting Offenders Off Drugs Good, Inc., Alexandria, VA Learning Network Foundation, Washington, DC Legacy Project, Inc., New York, NY Legends West Foundation, Lynnwood, WA Leonard J. Arrington Lecture & Archives Foundation, Salt Lake City, UT Leroy Butler Foundation, Inc., Jacksonville, FL Lew Wasserman Scholarship Foundation, Los Angeles, CA Liberty Americas Foundation, Inc., Tucson, AZ Light House Foundation, Lehi, UT Living With Lupus Foundation, Inc., Jacksonville, AR Lord’s Street Ministry, Seattle, WA Loretta Theatre, Calabasas, CA Love and Forgiveness Institute, Orem, UT Love Begins at Home, Fontana, CA Love Charity, Seattle, WA Love, Inc., of Albuquerque, Albuquerque, NM Love Power, Inc., Phoenix, AZ Lutheran Knolls South, Inc., Boothwyn, PA M V Iris Association, Olympia, WA Machines of Mercy, Longview, WA Main Street Boxing Gym, Inc., Scottsdale, AZ Males Advocating Change for Youth, Inc., Savannah, GA Manchester Economic and Community Development Corporation, Duncanville, TX Marian Rosenthal Foundation, Inc., Trumball, CT Maryvale Stone Soup Project, Phoenix, AZ Mason-Corozal Sister County Association, Shelton, WA Masterworks of Minneapolis, Inc., Minneapolis, MN Matys Bros. Music Award Foundation, Elko, NV Meadow Mountain Foundation, Vail, CO Medical Facilities Foundation, Inc., Canton, GA March 7, 20057042005–10 I.R.B. Metro Friendship League, Colorado Springs, CO Metropolitan Performing Arts Council, Inc., Centennial, CO Mex-Ed: Mexican Educational Foundation of New York, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA Miami Carnival, Inc., Miami, FL Mid-Columbia Ministries, Inc., Whit Salmon, WA MidValleyPerformingArts, Toppenish, WA Middle East Desaland Research Center Foundation, Los Angeles, CA Mildred Barnard McRae Foundation, Wilmington, DE Mindpower, Incorporated, Owings Mills, MD Ministerio Jireh, Inc., Orlando, FL Miramonte Visual and Performing Arts Club, Orinda, CA Monsignor James A. Suddes Education Tr Fund 122898, Godfrey, IL Montecristi Foundation, Inc., Honolulu, HI Morning Star House, Inc., Albuquerque, NM Mothers Against Gangs-MAG, Flagstaff, AZ Mount Olivet Housing and Community Development Corporation, Richmond, VA Mountain of Roses, Incorporated, Roseburg, OR Mummers Theatre-Eastside, Kirkland, WA Murray Arts Council, Sandy, UT Naomi & Ruth Care Facility, Inc., Nashville, TN National Academy of Dance, Los Angeles, CA National Association of Single Parents & Blended Families, Memphis, TN National Paleolithic Society, Houston, TX Naval Sea Cadet Corps — Mayport Battalion, Jacksonville, FL Navarro Career Consulting, Citrus Heights, CA Neace Lukens Charitable Foundation, Cincinnati, OH Neighborhood Improvement and Community Education, Aliso Viejo, CA Network of Hope, Parker, CO Nevada Young Riders, Las Vegas, NV Nevada Youth Development Program, Inc., Carson City, NV New Agreement Community Development Corporation, Houston, TX New Beginnings and Enhancement Agency, Inc., Harrison, GA New England Wildlife Trust, Georgetown, ME New Mexico Affordable Housing, Inc., Albuquerque, NM New Orleans Community Enhancement, Inc., New Orleans, LA Nitro Fastpitch Club, Olympia, WA North American Kings Kids Resource Center, Everett, WA North Pacific Volcano Learning Center, Inc., Kenai, AK North Star Council for Alcohol and Drug Education, Mercer Island, WA North Valley Love, Inc., Paonia, CO Northeastern Illinois Jr., Golf Alliance, Inc., Waukegan, IL Northern California Center for African American Arts, San Francisco, CA Northern Utah Animal Rehabilitation, Ogden, UT Northwest Divorce Transition Center, Kennewick, WA Northwest Elk and Deer Feed Foundation, Longview, WA Northwest MN Dac Cooperative, Inc., Mahnomen, MN NSDG, Inc., Tucson, AZ Oberlangen Project, Provo, UT Oikonomia, Inc., Mackay, ID On a Positive Tip Productions, Inc., Union City, CA One Degree, Inc., Cedar Hill, TX Open Arms Residential Care Facility, Pasadena, CA Open House Gallery, Tucson, AZ Organization of Cultural Renaissance, San Pablo, CA Oregon Building Congress Educational Foundation, Wilsonville, OR Otero County Domvio, Inc., Alamogordo, NM Ozark Mountain Summit Foundation, Incorporated, Branson, MO Ozark Sermon Psalms, Perryville, MO P A R C – V R A M C, Hixson, TX Parent Involved With Children Association, Seattle, WA Park City Cycling Club, Park City, UT Pawleys Island Rotary Foundation, Pawleys Island, SC Peak Christian Adventures, Jackson, WY Pelican Foundation for the Arts and Neurosciences, Inc., Oklahoma City, OK Penultimate Group, Yeadon, PA People United Renewing Peoples Opportunities & Social Enrichment, Zwolle, LA Peters Road, Salem, OR Pilgrim Refuge, Mineola, TX Pinnacle Foundation, Inc., Phoenix, AZ Polaris Chapter of Texas Mental Health Consumers, Inc., El Paso, TX Potomac Athletic Foundation, Inc., Washington, DC Potter’s House in Victory, San Francisco, CA Power-Line Human Services, Inc., Hollywood, FL Pray Here Ministries, Inc., Gresham, OR Prescott College Alumni Association, Prescott, AZ Project Prevention & Intervention, St. Louis, MO Public Partnership Against Crime, Salt Lake City, UT Queen Anne Arts Academy, Seattle, WA Quilcene Fair & Parade Association, Quilcene, WA RA Foundation, Carbondale, IL Racing for Childrens Asthma, Inc., Bronx, NY R A F T a Sportz Foundation, Concord, CA Rainbow Bridge Communities, Michigan City, IN Rainbow Refuge, Inc., St. Louis, MO Rajan Pillai, Inc., Albuquerque, NM Ray Taylor Ministries, Inc., Denver, CO Reachback Project, Cleveland, OH Repairer of the Breach Ministries, Incorporated, Griffith, IN Rescue Equine Services Providing Effective Care & Treatment, Inc., Las Vegas, NV Responsible Cat Fanciers of the Northwest, Tacoma, WA Retirees and Friends, Inc., Tucson, AZ Robert E. Bobby Binion Jr. Memorial Scholarship Fund, Inc., Tierra Amarilla, NM Role Adoption, Los Angeles, CA Round to It, Inc., Pahrump, NV Royal Light Homeless Shelter, Inc., Atlanta, GA Rural Arts Center, Lorane, OR Rural Health Clinic Association of Washington, Spokane, WA Rural Health Connections, Coos Bay, OR Safe Transition, Phoenix, AZ Samaritan Housing Foundation IV, Inc., Atlanta, GA San Pedro Arts Regional Council, Lajara, NM 2005–10 I.R.B.705March 7, 2005 Santa Clara Day Care, Eugene, OR Sauvie Island School Parent Teacher Club, Portland, OR Scottsdale Museum of Natural History and Cultural Center, Phoenix, AZ Seattle Coalition for Educational Equity, Seattle, WA Second Chance Ministries, Inc., Cameron Park, CA Selmas Home for Children With HIV-AIDS, Detroit, MI Shalom Zone Urban Development Project, Pacoima, CA Shermaine Brown Ministries, Mesa, AZ Sisters in Ministry International, Inc., Roswell, NM Small-Felder-Minifield Training Center Inc., of Tuskegee, Memphis, TN Smart Educational Foundation, Inc., Carson City, NV Socratic Institute, Inc., Sausalito, CA Somar Care, Inc., Hammomton, NJ Sopori Resource Center, Amado, AZ SOS Foundation, Tigard, OR Souls Gospel Roundup Ministries, Incorporated,Phoenix,AZ Source Youth Foundation, Inc., New York, NY South Central Guardianship Program, Inc., Canon City, CO Southeast Alaska Regional Air Show, Juneau, AK Specialized Emergency Response Program, Bellingham, WA Spinal Cord Injury Research Foundation, Birmingham, AL Sportsquest, Inc., Chester, VA Stafford Sabers, Fredericksburg, VA Starfish Foundation, Holyoke, MA Step One, Inc., Houston, TX Storks Nest, Grand Junction, CO Stuart Lutton Scholarship Fund, Kodiak, AK Suisi, Incorporated, Palm Beach Gardens, FL Sustaining the Soul That Serves, Bennettsville, SC Sweet Water Farm and Camp, Inc., Ephraim, UT Synergy Foundation, Everett, WA Tacoma Architectural Foundation, Tacoma, WA Taking Responsibility, Inc., Buckeye, AZ Teen Turning Point, Inc., Chula Vista, CA Temple Outreach, Inc., Laurinburg, NC Terry Marr Ministries, Memphis, TN Texas Vision of Hope International, Jasper, TX Therapon Counseling Center of San Antonio, Inc., San Antonio, TX Tiger Foundation, Newtown Square, PA T’iis Nit’l Resident Organization, Kayenta, AZ Tillamook County Disaster Response, Inc., Tillamook, OR Timeline Community Link, Bellflower, CA Tommy McDaniel Youth Ranch, Helendale, CA Townhouse Foundation, Inc., Eugene, OR TPN Alliance for Patient Rights, Inc., Northridge, CA Triple EEE, Inc., Long Beach, CA Tucson Arizona Razorbacks, Inc., Tucson, AZ Ujima House, Inc., Phoenix, AZ Union Gospel Mission of Lewis County, Chehalis, WA United Nations Youth Organization, N. Hollywood, CA Unity Foundation, San Antonio, TX University,The,Tacoma,WA Urban Habitat for Wildlife, Santa Fe, NM Urban Threads, Portland, OR USS Ingraham Division U S Naval Sea Cadet Corps, Pomona, CA Utah Sonta Clubs Educational Foundation, Salt Lake City, UT UYI Developmental Centers for Children, Inc., Glendale, AZ Vessels of Honor Ministries, Inc., Tallahassee, FL Vietnamese Spring Festival Parade, Inc., San Jose, CA Viets Family Charitable Trust, Klamath Falls, OR Viking Club, Inc., Vernon, NJ Visionary Farm, Inc., Portland, OR Vocational Rehabilitation Equity Assistance Program, Norfolk, NE Wallachia Foundation, Inc., Mesa, AZ Wallingford Foundation, Seattle, WA Washington Foundation for Molecular Pharmacology, Seattle, WA We Dream Too, Inc., Mt. Pleasant, SC Wellness in Motion, Huntington Beach, CA West End Animal Care Center, Bedrock, CO West Las Vegas Pride Community Development Corporation, Las Vegas, NV West Side Coalition, Inc., El Mirage, AZ Western Institute for Public Policy, San Leandro, CA When in Need, Cardwell, MO White Mountain Volunteer Center, Inc., Springerville, AZ Whitestone Ranch, Bothell, WA Wild Life Preserve, Inc., Odessa, FL Williams Counceling Group, Inc., San Francisco, CA Wilton Land Conservancy, Inc., Ganesvoort, NY Winslow Apartments Corporation, Phoenix, AZ Woodland Heights Community Services, Inc., Lufkin, TX Word of Freedom Outreach Ministry, Hampton, VA Workforce, Incorporated, San Bernardino, CA Youth Opportunities, Inc., Portland, OR Zaccheus Foundation, Inc., Indianapolis, IN If an organization listed above submits information that warrants the renewal of its classification as a public charity or as a private operating foundation, the Inter- nalRevenueServicewillissuearulingor determinationletterwiththerevisedclas- sification as to foundation status. Grantors and contributors may thereafter rely upon such ruling or determination letter as pro- videdinsection1.509(a)–7oftheIncome Tax Regulations. It is not the practice of the Service to announce such revised clas- sification of foundation status in the Inter- nal Revenue Bulletin. March 7, 20057062005–10 I.R.B. Definition of Terms Revenue rulings and revenue procedures (hereinafter referred to as “rulings”) that have an effect on previous rulings use the following defined terms to describe the ef- fect: Amplifieddescribes a situation where no change is being made in a prior pub- lished position, but the prior position is be- ingextendedtoapplytoavariationofthe fact situation set forth therein. Thus, if an earlier ruling held that a principle ap- plied to A, and the new ruling holds that the same principle also applies to B, the earlier ruling is amplified. (Compare withmodi- fied,below). Clarifiedis used in those instances where the language in a prior ruling is be- ing made clear because the language has caused, or may cause, some confusion. It is not used where a position in a prior ruling is being changed. Distinguisheddescribes a situation where a ruling mentions a previously pub- lished ruling and points out an essential difference between them. Modifiedis used where the substance of a previously published position is being changed. Thus, if a prior ruling held that a principle applied to A but not to B, and the new ruling holds that it applies to both A and B, the prior ruling is modified because it corrects a published position. (Compare withamplifiedandclarified, above). Obsoleteddescribes a previously pub- lished ruling that is not considered deter- minative with respect to future transac- tions. This term is most commonly used in a ruling that lists previously published rul- ings that are obsoleted because of changes in laws or regulations. A ruling may also be obsoleted because the substance has been included in regulations subsequently adopted. Revokeddescribes situations where the position in the previously published ruling is not correct and the correct position is beingstatedinanewruling. Supersededdescribes a situation where the new ruling does nothing more than re- state the substance and situation of a previ- ously published ruling (or rulings). Thus, the term is used to republish under the 1986 Code and regulations the same po- sition published under the 1939 Code and regulations. The term is also used when it is desired to republish in a single rul- ing a series of situations, names, etc., that were previously published over a period of time in separate rulings. If the new rul- ing does more than restate the substance of a prior ruling, a combination of terms is used. For example,modifiedandsu- persededdescribes a situation where the substance of a previously published ruling is being changed in part and is continued without change in part and it is desired to restate the valid portion of the previously published ruling in a new ruling that is self contained. In this case, the previously pub- lished ruling is first modified and then, as modified, is superseded. Supplementedis used in situations in which a list, such as a list of the names of countries, is published in a ruling and that list is expanded by adding further names in subsequent rulings. After the original rul- ing has been supplemented several times, a new ruling may be published that includes the list in the original ruling and the ad- ditions, and supersedes all prior rulings in the series. Suspendedis used in rare situations to show that the previous published rul- ings will not be applied pending some future action such as the issuance of new or amended regulations, the outcome of cases in litigation, or the outcome of a Service study. Abbreviations The fol lowing abbreviations in current use and for merly used will appear in material publis hedintheBulletin. A—Individual. Acq.—A cquiescence. B—Individual. BE—Beneficiary. BK—Bank . B.T.A.—Board of Tax Appeals. C—Individual. C.B.—Cu mulative Bulletin. CFR—Code of Federal Regulations. CI—City. COOP—Coo perative. Ct.D.—Court Decision. CY—County. D—Decede nt. DC—Dummy Corporation. DE—Donee. Del. Order —Delegation Order. DISC—Domestic International Sales Corporation. DR—Donor. E—Estate. EE—Employee. E.O.—Executive Order. ER—Emp loyer. ERISA—Employee Retirement Income Security Act. EX—Executor. F—Fiduc iary. FC—Foreign Country. FICA—Federal Insurance Contributions Act. FISC—Fo reign International Sales Company. FPH—Foreign Personal Holding Company. F. R .—Federal Register. FUTA—Fed eral Unemployment Tax Act. FX—Foreign corporation. G.C.M.—Chief Counsel’s Memorandum. GE—Grante e. GP—General Partner. GR—Grantor. IC—Insura nce Company. I.R.B.—Internal Revenue Bulletin. LE—Lessee. LP—Limited Partner. LR—Lessor. M—Minor. Nonacq.—No nacquiescence. O—Organization. P—Parent Corporation. PHC—Persona l Holding Company. PO—Possession of the U.S. PR—Partner. PRS—Pa rtnership. PTE—Prohibited Transaction Exemption. Pub. L.—Public Law. REIT—Re al Estate Investment Trust. Rev. Proc.—Revenue Procedure. Rev. Rul.—Revenue Ruling. S—Subsi diary. S.P.R.—Statement of Procedural Rules. Stat.—Statutes at Large. T—Target Corporation. T.C.—Tax Court. T.D.—Treasury Decision. TFE—Trans feree. TFR—Transferor. T.I.R.—Technical Information Release. TP—Taxpay er. TR—Trust. TT—Trustee. U.S.C.—Uni ted States Code. X—Corporation. Y—Corporation. Z—Corporat ion. 2005–10 I.R.B.iMarch 7, 2005 Numerical Finding List 1 Bulletins 2005–1 through 2005–10 Announcements: 2005-1, 2005-1 I.R.B.257 2005-2, 2005-2 I.R.B.319 2005-3, 2005-2 I.R.B.270 2005-4, 2005-2 I.R.B.319 2005-5, 2005-3 I.R.B.353 2005-6, 2005-4 I.R.B.377 2005-7, 2005-4 I.R.B.377 2005-8, 2005-4 I.R.B.380 2005-9, 2005-4 I.R.B.380 2005-10, 2005-5 I.R.B.450 2005-11, 2005-5 I.R.B.451 2005-12, 2005-7 I.R.B.555 2005-13, 2005-8 I.R.B.627 2005-14, 2005-9 I.R.B.653 2005-15, 2005-9 I.R.B.654 2005-16, 2005-10 I.R.B.702 2005-17, 2005-10 I.R.B.673 2005-18, 2005-9 I.R.B.660 Notices: 2005-1, 2005-2 I.R.B.274 2005-2, 2005-3 I.R.B.337 2005-3, 2005-5 I.R.B.447 2005-4, 2005-2 I.R.B.289 2005-5, 2005-3 I.R.B.337 2005-6, 2005-5 I.R.B.448 2005-7, 2005-3 I.R.B.340 2005-8, 2005-4 I.R.B.368 2005-9, 2005-4 I.R.B.369 2005-10, 2005-6 I.R.B.474 2005-11, 2005-7 I.R.B.493 2005-12, 2005-7 I.R.B.494 2005-13, 2005-9 I.R.B.630 2005-14, 2005-7 I.R.B.498 2005-15, 2005-7 I.R.B.527 2005-16, 2005-8 I.R.B.605 2005-17, 2005-8 I.R.B.606 2005-18, 2005-9 I.R.B.634 2005-19, 2005-9 I.R.B.634 2005-20, 2005-9 I.R.B.635 Proposed Regulations: REG-117969-00, 2005-7 I.R.B.533 REG-125628-01, 2005-7 I.R.B.536 REG-129709-03, 2005-3 I.R.B.351 REG-148867-03, 2005-9 I.R.B.646 REG-130370-04, 2005-8 I.R.B.608 REG-130671-04, 2005-10 I.R.B.694 REG-139683-04, 2005-4 I.R.B.371 REG-152914-04, 2005-9 I.R.B.650 REG-152945-04, 2005-6 I.R.B.484 Proposed Regulations— Continued: REG-159824-04, 2005-4 I.R.B.372 Revenue Procedures: 2005-1, 2005-1 I.R.B.1 2005-2, 2005-1 I.R.B.86 2005-3, 2005-1 I.R.B.118 2005-4, 2005-1 I.R.B.128 2005-5, 2005-1 I.R.B.170 2005-6, 2005-1 I.R.B.200 2005-7, 2005-1 I.R.B.240 2005-8, 2005-1 I.R.B.243 2005-9, 2005-2 I.R.B.303 2005-10, 2005-3 I.R.B.341 2005-11, 2005-2 I.R.B.307 2005-12, 2005-2 I.R.B.311 2005-14, 2005-7 I.R.B.528 2005-15, 2005-9 I.R.B.638 2005-16, 2005-10 I.R.B.674 Revenue Rulings: 2005-1, 2005-2 I.R.B.258 2005-2, 2005-2 I.R.B.259 2005-3, 2005-3 I.R.B.334 2005-4, 2005-4 I.R.B.366 2005-5, 2005-5 I.R.B.445 2005-6, 2005-6 I.R.B.471 2005-7, 2005-6 I.R.B.464 2005-8, 2005-6 I.R.B.466 2005-9, 2005-6 I.R.B.470 2005-10, 2005-7 I.R.B.492 2005-12, 2005-9 I.R.B.628 2005-13, 2005-10 I.R.B.664 Tax Conventions: 2005-3, 2005-2 I.R.B.270 2005-17, 2005-10 I.R.B.673 Treasury Decisions: 9164, 2005-3 I.R.B.320 9165, 2005-4 I.R.B.357 9166, 2005-8 I.R.B.558 9167, 2005-2 I.R.B.261 9168, 2005-4 I.R.B.354 9169, 2005-5 I.R.B.381 9170, 2005-4 I.R.B.363 9171, 2005-6 I.R.B.452 9172, 2005-6 I.R.B.468 9173, 2005-8 I.R.B.557 9174, 2005-9 I.R.B.629 9175, 2005-10 I.R.B.665 9176, 2005-10 I.R.B.661 9177, 2005-10 I.R.B.671 1 A cumulative list of all revenue rulings, revenue procedures, Treasury decisions, etc., published in Internal Revenue Bulletins 2004–27 through 2004–52 is in Internal Revenue Bulletin 2004–52, dated December 27, 2004. March 7, 2005ii2005–10 I.R.B. Finding List of Current Actions on Previously Published Items 1 Bulletins 2005–1 through 2005–10 Announcements: 2001-77 Modified by Rev. Proc. 2005-16, 2005-10 I.R.B.674 Notices: 88-30 Obsoleted by Notice 2005-4, 2005-2 I.R.B.289 88-132 Obsoleted by Notice 2005-4, 2005-2 I.R.B.289 89-29 Obsoleted by Notice 2005-4, 2005-2 I.R.B.289 89-38 Obsoleted by Notice 2005-4, 2005-2 I.R.B.289 2004-80 Updated by Notice 2005-17, 2005-8 I.R.B.606 Proposed Regulations: REG-149519-03 Corrected by Ann. 2005-11, 2005-5 I.R.B.451 REG-114726-04 Corrected by Ann. 2005-10, 2005-5 I.R.B.450 Revenue Procedures: 98-16 Modified and superseded by Rev. Proc. 2005-11, 2005-2 I.R.B.307 2000-20 Modified and superseded by Rev. Proc. 2005-16, 2005-10 I.R.B.674 2001-22 Superseded by Rev. Proc. 2005-12, 2005-2 I.R.B.311 2002-9 Modified and amplified by Rev. Proc. 2005-9, 2005-2 I.R.B.303 2004-1 Superseded by Rev. Proc. 2005-1, 2005-1 I.R.B.1 Revenue Procedures— Continued: 2004-2 Superseded by Rev. Proc. 2005-2, 2005-1 I.R.B.86 2004-3 Superseded by Rev. Proc. 2005-3, 2005-1 I.R.B.118 2004-4 Superseded by Rev. Proc. 2005-4, 2005-1 I.R.B.128 2004-5 Superseded by Rev. Proc. 2005-5, 2005-1 I.R.B.170 2004-6 Superseded by Rev. Proc. 2005-6, 2005-1 I.R.B.200 2004-7 Superseded by Rev. Proc. 2005-7, 2005-1 I.R.B.240 2004-8 Superseded by Rev. Proc. 2005-8, 2005-1 I.R.B.243 2004-18 Obsoleted in part by Rev. Proc. 2005-15, 2005-9 I.R.B.638 2004-35 Corrected by Ann. 2005-4, 2005-2 I.R.B.319 2004-60 Superseded by Rev. Proc. 2005-10, 2005-3 I.R.B.341 2005-6 Modified by Rev. Proc. 2005-16, 2005-10 I.R.B.674 2005-8 Modified by Rev. Proc. 2005-16, 2005-10 I.R.B.674 Revenue Rulings: 92-63 Modified and superseded by Rev. Rul. 2005-3, 2005-3 I.R.B.334 95-63 Modified and superseded by Rev. Rul. 2005-3, 2005-3 I.R.B.334 2004-43 Revoked by Rev. Rul. 2005-10, 2005-7 I.R.B.492 2004-103 Superseded by Rev. Rul. 2005-3, 2005-3 I.R.B.334 Treasury Decisions: 9170 Corrected by Ann. 2005-13, 2005-8 I.R.B.627 1 A cumulative list of current actions on previously published items in Internal Revenue Bulletins 2004–27 through 2004–52 is in Internal Revenue Bulletin 2004–52, dated December 27, 2004. 2005–10 I.R.B.iiiMarch 7, 2005 March 7, 20052005–10 I.R.B. INTERNAL REVENUE BULLETIN The Introduction at the beginning of this issue describes the purpose and content of this publication. The weekly Internal Revenue Bulletin is sold on a yearly subscription basis by the Superintendent of Documents. Current subscribers are notified by the Superin- tendent of Documents when their subscriptions must be renewed. CUMULATIVE BULLETINS The contents of this weekly Bulletin are consolidated semiannually into a permanent, indexed, Cumulative Bulletin. These are sold on a single copy basis andare notincluded as part of the subscription to the Internal Revenue Bulletin. Subscribers to the weekly Bulletin are notified when copies of the Cumulative Bulletin are available. Certain issues of Cumulative Bulletins are out of print and are not available. Persons desiring available Cumulative Bulletins, which are listed on the reverse, may purchase them from the Superintendent of Documents. ACCESS THE INTERNAL REVENUE BULLETIN ON THE INTERNET You may view the Internal Revenue Bulletin on the Internet at www.irs.gov. Under information for: select Businesses. Under related topics, select More Topics. Then select Internal Revenue Bulletins. INTERNAL REVENUE BULLETINS ON CD-ROM Internal Revenue Bulletins are available annually as part ofPublication 1796 (Tax Products CD-ROM). The CD-ROM can be purchased from National Technical Information Service (NTIS) on the Internet at www.irs.gov/cdorders (discount for online orders) or by calling 1-877-233-6767. The first release is available in mid-December and the final release is available in late January. HOW TO ORDER Check the publications and/or subscription(s) desired on the reverse, complete the order blank, enclose the proper remittance, detach entire page, and mail to the Superintendent of Documents, P.O. Box 371954, Pittsburgh PA, 15250–7954. Please allow two to six weeks, plus mailing time, for delivery. WE WELCOME COMMENTS ABOUT THE INTERNAL REVENUE BUL LETIN If you have c omments concerning the format or production of the Internal Revenue Bulletin or suggestions for improving it, we would be p leased to hear from you. You can e-mail us your suggestions or comments through the IRS Internet Home Page (www.irs.g ov) or write to the IRS Bulletin Unit, SE:W:CAR:MP:T:T:SP, Washington, DC 20224 Internal Revenue Service W ashington,DC20224 Official B usiness Penalty for Private Use, $300
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