IRS amends EPCRS, significantly affecting 403(b)
plans, and issues guidance to assist 403(b) plan sponsors in
identifying and correcting defects.
On December 31, 2012, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued
its updated Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System
(EPCRS),1 which expands and updates existing compliance
corrections programs available to retirement plans generally and
also now provides 403(b) plan sponsors with expanded opportunities
to correct a wide range of retirement plan defects. These new EPCRS
provisions were available to 403(b) plan sponsors on a voluntary
basis prior to April 1, 2013, but they are mandatory effective
April 1, 2013. In addition, to help 403(b) plan sponsors identify
and correct possible defects, the IRS issued a plain-English 403(b)
plan "fix it" guide on February 21, 2013. Lastly, on
March 28, 2013, the IRS issued Revenue Procedure
2013-22,2 which provides new IRS procedures for issuing
opinion and advisory letters for
