Employee Plans News - Form 5300 Applications for Employee Stock Ownership Plans
EP Determinations has taken numerous steps to expedite and improve our determination letter application processing for Employee Stock Ownership Plans, including forming a cadre of determination letter specialists dedicated to review these plans. We are changing some procedures for reviewing ESOPs submitted on Form 5300, Application for Determination for Employee Benefit Plan, during Cycles C-E:
- Practitioners who have submitted applications for multiple ESOPs, and who receive a letter from a determination specialist requesting plan amendments to a particular plan, may determine the applicability of that request to all other plans filed by the practitioner's firm and submit a single response that would apply to some or all of the amendments to the firm’s pending ESOP Form 5300 applications. Include the letter from the determination specialist requesting the amendment(s) and provide a separate copy of the amendment to each affected plan, identifying the plans to which the proposed amendments apply.
- EP Determinations developed a revised, streamlined worksheet (rev. 08/11) to review ESOPs in their initial review stage. Plan sponsors and practitioners may use the worksheet as a tool to design ESOP plan documents.
Plan sponsors are reminded that if all the requested information is not received by the date stated in the letter, the application may be closed and returned to the sponsor without further review.
Page Last Reviewed or Updated: 2012-08-04
