December 20, 2016 The IRS has provided guidance on the circumstances under which the IRS will treat an application for a determination letter as being filed within a qualifying open remedial amendment period. The guidance reflects changes made to the determination letter program and remedial amendment period rules in Rev. Proc. 2016-37, I.R.B. 2016-29, 136.
The IRS will treat an application for a determination letter as being filed within a qualifying open remedial amendment period if the plan was first in existence no earlier than January 1 of the tenth calendar year preceding the year in which the application is filed (10-year rule). Further, an application that satisfies the requirements for the user fee exemption, but does not meet the requirements for the 10-year rule, may be filed without a user fee; however, the application must include a statement describing how the application satisfies the exemption under Code Sec. 7528(b)(2)(B).