Beginning September 1, 2019, the IRS is expanding its retirement
plan determination letter program to apply to certain individually
designed statutory hybrid and merged plans. Employers sponsoring
hybrid plans not previously reviewed by the IRS for required (or
other) plan changes, and employers that have or will merge two or
more of their plans together in connection with a corporate
transaction, should consider taking advantage of this expanded
determination letter program.
In 2016, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) eliminated its
five-year determination letter filing cycle for tax-qualified
retirement plans and announced that plan sponsors would only be
allowed to request determination letters for new and terminating
plans. However, the IRS left open the possibility of expanding the
determination letter program in future guidance. Earlier this year,
the IRS announced its plan to do just that—by reopening its
determination letter program to certain statutory hybrid
