ASPPA Makes EPCRS Recommendations

In response to the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) call for comments in Revenue Procedure 2013-12 (see “IRS Updates Compliance Resolution System”), which updated the agency’s Employee Plans Compliance Resolutions System (EPCRS), Ronald J. Triche, Esq., assistant general counsel and director of Government Affairs at ASPPA, said in order to assist the agency in improving the system for retirement plan professionals who must keep employer-sponsored retirement plans in compliance with federal law, ASPPA has recommended a host of changes.

ASPPA recommends that the IRS update the EPCRS to:

• Provide that non-elective contributions made to correct missed matching contributions be permitted to retain all plan characteristics associated with matching contributions;
• Provide that no penalty will be imposed for a failure to timely provide certain notices provided that such notices meet certain requirements;
• Provide that the missed opportunity for making a designated Roth contribution is 50% of either the employee’s missed designated Roth contribution (if known) or the average deferral percentage for the employee’s group (either highly or non-highly compensated);
• Include a correction that would provide participants with the option of having missed contributions treated as either designated Roth contributions or pre-tax contributions, and having such missed contributions corrected through an in-plan Roth conversion;
• Update the voluntary correction program submission rules for situations involving more than one plan of a plan sponsor;
• Clarify that individually designed Code Section 403(b) plans will be treated as having a determination letter for purposes of EPCRS, even if such plans do not have a determination letter after the implementation of the pre-approved plan program;
• Provide a universal $100 or less de minimis threshold, without regard to the costs of correction, which would apply to corrective contributions, forfeitures and distributions; and
• Provide for correction by retroactive plan amendment under self-correction where the plan, in operation, covers a broader class of employees than is permitted in the plan document. 

ASPPA’s letter is here.