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EMPLOYEE PLANS
he ofce of Employee Plans (EP) under the Tax Exempt Shutting down abusive transactions or schemes involving EPCRS includes:
T & Government Entities (TE/GE) operating division of retirement plans. Such abuses usually involve ways to shelter • a program under which you may self-correct a failure to
the Internal Revenue Service conducts examinations as all or most of the employer’s business income from tax or satisfy the pension law without pre-approval from the IRS
part of an ongoing, robust enforcement program. EP also take excessively large deductions. and without paying the government any fee or sanction;
offers various programs (such as the Determination Letter • a program that provides correction with IRS approval,
Program and Voluntary Correction Program) and services Examining plans with the highest risk for noncompliance. under which an employer pays a limited fee; and
to help the retirement plans community comply with Risk assessments are conducted to determine the level of
• a program that applies on audit, under which an employer
applicable law. The retirement plans community includes risk of specic plan types involving various business/industry
corrects and pays a reasonable sanction.
plan sponsors/employers, plan participants/employees and groups.
benets practitioners. You can access a detailed description of these programs at
Monitoring pension funding in conjunction with the U.S. www.irs.gov/retirement.
Retirement plan law provides signicant tax benets for Department of Labor and the Pension Benet Guaranty
sponsors of certain retirement plans (such as 401(k) plans) Corporation. Determination letters — Through our Determination
and the employees who participate in them. EP’s programs Letter Program, you may get advance assurance that the
and services help conserve plan benets until an employee’s Increasing compliance contacts via specialized initiatives terms of your retirement plan satisfy the qualication
retirement, and help preserve the tax benets associated and through the Employee Plans Compliance Unit (EPCU). requirements of applicable law. Instructions for ling a
with these plans. EPCU identies returns for compliance activities and uses determination letter application are found on the Forms
This brochure highlights EP’s unique programs and services of: soft contact approaches to question return items, which may 5300, 5307 and 5310. You can avoid the need to le for a
resolve issues without a full examination. determination letter if you use a pre-approved plan (stan-
Examinations dardized master or prototype plan). A description of our
You can access information on EP’s examination/enforce- master and prototype programs and determination letter
Rulings and Agreements – voluntary compliance, determination ment results at www.irs.gov/retirement. Plus, the website has an procedures can be accessed at www.irs.gov/retirement.
letter program, and technical guidance (IRS regulations, Examination Process Guide that gives plan sponsors/employ-
revenue rulings, revenue procedures, notices, announcements, ers and benets practitioners a better understanding of our Technical guidance — EP provides guidance that explains
private letter rulings). examination process from start to nish. This guide includes how certain laws may apply to you. Guidance items of
Customer Education & Outreach sections on resolving issues, communications, and the appeals general application are published in the weekly Internal Revenue
process. Bulletin, such as regulations, revenue rulings, revenue
TE/GE Customer Services procedures, notices and announcements. Please go to
www.irs.gov/retirement for useful guidance and access to the
Internal Revenue Bulletin.
RULINGS AND AGREEMENTS
EXAMINATIONS EP’s Rulings and Agreements offers three types of services to
EP has a strong and effective Examinations Program which help you understand retirement plan law: voluntary compli-
is vital in combating noncompliance in retirement plans. ance; determination letters; and technical guidance. CUSTOMER EDUCATION & OUTREACH
This prominent enforcement presence in the retirement Through our partnership efforts with government and private
plans community encourages voluntary compliance in plan Voluntary compliance - If you sponsor a qualied retire- industry, EP works to meet your changing needs. We want
operations. Examinations uses a centralized case selec- ment plan and you fail to satisfy the requirements of appli- to keep you informed and promote a better understanding
tion process to identify plans to analyze their books and cable law, our system of correction programs – the Employee of retirement plans for easier compliance with applicable law.
records relating to the plans’ operational features. If plan Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS) – may enable
mistakes are identied during an examination, help may be you to correct a problem, ensure that proper benets are
available through the Audit Closing Agreement Program. provided to your employees, and preserve the tax benets
Examples of EP Examinations’ critical areas of focus include: of your plan.
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