Benefits & ERISA Law

IRS Releases Cumulative List for Cycle D Plans

By Suzanne Wynn

The IRS has released Notice 2008-108, which contains the 2008 Cumulative List of Change in Plan Qualification Requirements, also known as the Cycle D Cumulative List. Cycle D plans are: (1) individually designed single employer qualified plans where the last digit of the plan sponsor’s EIN ends in 4 or 9; or (2) multiemployer plans under Code section 414(f). Cycle D plans are required to restate onto an updated plan document which incorporates the provisions contained in this Cumulative List and submit for a determination letter between Feb. 1, 2009, and Jan. 31, 2010.

This Cumulative List states that the IRS, when reviewing determination letter applications for Cycle D plans, will not consider any:

“(1) guidance issued after October 1, 2008;
(2) statutes enacted after October 1, 2008;
(3) qualification requirements first effective in 2010 or later; or
(4) statutory provisions that are first effective in 2009, for which there is not guidance identified in this notice.”

This restriction is important to note because it clarifies how to treat the overlap between many of the Pension Protection Act provisions which become first effective on January 1, 2010, and the submission deadline of January 31, 2010. The IRS included a number of PPA provisions on this Cumulative List, and Notice 2008-108 states that all plans submitted in Cycle D will receive a determination letter which covers PPA ‘06, even if the deadline for amending under section 11007 of PPA ‘06 is after January 31, 2010.

The other interesting provision contained in Notice 2008-108 is that it provides an alternative submission date for Cycle D plans. For Cycle D plans whose first plan year begins on or after January 1, 2009, and ends on or after February 1, 2010, the plan sponsor can defer submission of the plan until Cycle E, which runs from Feb. 1, 2010 to Jan. 31, 2011. The IRS states that this is a one-time-only deferral and all subsequent submissions of Cycle D plans will take place within Cycle D.

Full post as published by Pension Protection Act Blog on December 02, 2008 (boomark / email).