Form 4461-B Form 4461-B Application for Approval of Master or Prototype or Volum

4461-B

Form
(Rev. January 2012)

Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service

Application for Approval of Master or
Prototype or Volume Submitter Plans

OMB No. 1545-0169

Mass Submitter Adopting Sponsor or Practitioner

This Form Is Open to Public Inspection

For IRS Use Only

File This Form With the Internal Revenue Service
Section references are to the Internal Revenue Code unless otherwise noted.
Complete every applicable item on this form.
1

Enter amount of user fee submitted

2a

Name of applicant

$

2b Employer identification number
of applicant

Address (number, street, room or suite no.) (If a P.O. box, see the instructions.)
2c Applicant’s telephone no.
City

State

ZIP code
3b Telephone number

3a

Name of person to be contacted

3c

If a power of attorney is attached, check the box ▶

4a

Basic plan document number

5

This plan is:

6

Name of mass submitter

7

Enter the following information for the mass submitter’s plan on which this plan is based (if this application is submitted
simultaneously with the mass submitter’s application, see instructions).
File folder number
Letter serial number
Date of letter

8

Type of plan:
Money purchase
Profit-sharing

9

b Adoption agreement number

Word-for-word identical to an M&P plan or volume submitter plan
A minor modification to an M&P plan only (see instructions to line 5 for
specific requirements)

Target benefit
Defined benefit (with permitted disparity)

Profit-sharing/401(k)
Defined benefit (without permitted disparity)

Filing status of plan (see General Instructions)
Standardized plan
Nonstandardized plan
Volume submitter governmental plan (i.e., described in section 414(d))
Volume submitter nongovernmental plan

For Master or Prototype: Under penalties of perjury, I declare that the sponsor has adopted a master or prototype plan that is word-for-word identical to, or a minor
modification of the mass submitter plan indicated in items 6 and 7 above.

For Volume Submitter: Under penalties of perjury, I declare that the practitioner has adopted a volume submitter plan that is word-for-word identical to the mass submitter
plan indicated in items 6 and 7 above.
(Sponsor or Practitioner)
Signature ▶

Title ▶

Date ▶

(Mass Submitter)
Signature ▶

Title ▶

Date ▶

For Paperwork Reduction Act Notice, see the instructions.

Cat. No. 10235P

Form 4461-B (Rev. 1-2012)

Form 4461-B (Rev. 1-2012)

General Instructions
Purpose of Form
Use Form 4461-B to apply for approval
of a plan submitted by a mass submitter
on behalf of an adopting sponsor or
practitioner, which is based on a plan
submitted by the mass submitter.

Completing Form 4461-B
Be sure to submit a complete and
accurate application. Complete every
applicable line on the application. If your
application is not complete, we will
return it without processing it. The
application must be typed.
User fee. All applications must be
accompanied by the appropriate user
fee from the schedule set forth in Rev.
Proc. 2012-8, 2012-1 I.R.B. 235, (or the
most recent version, updated annually);
and Form 8717, User Fee for Employee
Plan Determination Letter Request.
Applications submitted without the
proper user fee will not be processed
and will be returned to the applicant.
Do not submit a copy of the plan,
except as provided under the
instructions to line 5 later.

Who May File
Only mass submitters may file this form.

Where To File
Send applications for opinion and
advisory letters to:
Internal Revenue Service
P.O. Box 2508, Room 5106
Cincinnati, OH 45201
Add “Attn: Pre-approved Plans
Coordinator.”
Applications shipped by Express Mail
or delivery service should be sent to the
attention of the Pre-approved Plans
Coordinator to:
Internal Revenue Service
550 Main Street, Room 5106
P.O. Box 2508
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Signature. The application must be
signed by the mass submitter and
sponsor or practitioner. If a power of
attorney authorizes the mass submitter
to sign the form on behalf of the
sponsor or practitioner, attach the power
of attorney to Form 4461-B.
Disclosure requested by taxpayer. A
taxpayer may request the IRS to
disclose and discuss the return or return
information with any person or persons
whom the taxpayer designates in a
written request. If you want to designate
a person(s) to assist in an application for

Page

approval, you must provide the IRS
office of jurisdiction with a written
request that contains:
• The taxpayer’s name, address,
employer identification number, and plan
number(s).
• The name, address, social security
number, and telephone number(s) of the
person or persons whom you are
authorizing to receive return information.
• A paragraph that clearly describes the
return or return information that you
authorize the IRS to disclose.
• An authorized signature (see Signature
above).
As an alternative to providing the
above statement, Form 2848, Power of
Attorney and Declaration of
Representative, may be submitted.

Definitions
Mass submitter. As set forth in Rev.
Proc. 2011-49, 2011-44 I.R.B. 608, any
entity that submits applications on
behalf of at least 30 unaffiliated
sponsors or practitioners each of which
is sponsoring, on a word-for-word
identical basis, the same basic plan
document and one or more of the
adoption agreements associated with
that basic plan document or in the case
of VS plans, one or more of the same
lead specimen plans. For a mass
submitter of a Master or Prototype (M&P)
plan, once the mass submitter has
submitted applications on behalf of 30
unaffiliated sponsors for any basic plan
document, it will be treated as a mass
submitter for all the other basic plan
documents and associated adoption
agreements for which it requests opinion
letters, regardless of the number of
identical adopters of such other plans. A
mass submitter of a Volume Submitter
(VS) plan will be treated as such for each
specimen plan for which the 30
unaffiliated practitioner requirement is
separately met.
Notwithstanding the above, for an
M&P plan, any entity that received a
favorable Tax Reform Act of 1986
opinion letter for a plan as an M&P mass
submitter under Rev. Proc. 89-9, 1989-1
C.B. 780, will continue to be treated as a
mass submitter if it submits applications
on behalf of at least 10 sponsors
(regardless of affiliation) each of which is
sponsoring, on a word-for-word identical
basis, the same basic plan document
and one or more of the adoption
agreements associated with that basic
plan document. Once the mass
submitter has submitted applications on
behalf of 10 sponsors for any basic plan
document, it will be treated as a mass
submitter for all the other basic

2

plan documents and associated
adoption agreements for which it
requests opinion letters, regardless of
the number of identical adopters of such
other plans.
Affiliation is determined under sections
414(b) and (c). Additionally, the following
will be considered to be affiliated: any
law, accounting, consulting firm, etc.
with its partners, members, associates,
etc.
For purposes of determining whether
30 (or 10, if applicable) unaffiliated
sponsors or practitioners sponsor on a
word-for-word identical basis the same
basic plan document or the same
specimen plan, the mass submitter is
treated as an unaffiliated sponsor or
practitioner.
Sponsor. Any person that has an
established place of business in the
United States where it is accessible
during every business day and
represents to the IRS that it has at least
30 employer-clients each of which is
reasonably expected to adopt the
sponsor’s basic plan document and one
or more of the adoption agreements
associated with that basic plan
document. Once a person represents to
the IRS that at least 30 employers are
reasonably expected to adopt its basic
plan document, it will be treated as a
sponsor for all the basic plan documents
and associated adoption agreements for
which it requests opinion letters,
regardless of the number of employers
that are expected to adopt such other
plans.
Notwithstanding the above, any
person that has an established place of
business in the United States where it is
accessible during every business day
and is a word-for-word identical adopter
or minor modifier adopter of an M&P
plan of a mass submitter will be treated
as a sponsor for such plan, regardless of
the number of employers that are
expected to adopt such plan.
Practitioner. Any person that has an
established place of business in the
United States where it is accessible
during every business day and
represents to the IRS that it has at least
30 employer-clients each of which is
reasonably expected to adopt a plan
that is substantially similar to the VS
practitioner’s specimen plan.
The required number of employerclients is reduced to 10 for a money
purchase pension specimen plan in the
case of a VS practitioner that has
specimen plans for two or more separate
categories of plans (profit sharing,
money purchase, target benefit, defined
benefit), one of which is a money
purchase plan, and the 30 employerclients requirement has been satisfied for
the other specimen plan.

Form 4461-B (Rev. 1-2012)

A VS practitioner may submit any
number of specimen plans for advisory
letters provided that the 30 employerclients requirement (or 10, if applicable)
is separately satisfied for each specimen
plan. For this purpose, where an
adoption format is used, each adoption
agreement is treated as one specimen
plan. Notwithstanding the above, any
person that has an established place of
business in the United States where it is
accessible during every business day
may sponsor a specimen plan as a
word-for-word identical adopter of a
specimen plan of a VS mass submitter,
regardless of the number of employers
that are expected to adopt the plan.

Specific Instructions
Line 2a. Enter the name and address of
the applicant. If the Post Office does not
deliver mail to the street address and the
applicant has a P.O. box number, show
the box number instead of the street
address.
Line 3a. The person to contact must be
an employee or an authorized
representative of the mass submitter. If
the person to be contacted is other than
an employee of the applicant, please
enclose an authorized power of attorney.
See Disclosure requested by taxpayer
earlier.
Line 4a. Enter the two-digit basic plan
document number you have assigned to
the specimen plan or basic plan
document that accompanies (if
applicable) the adoption agreement for
which you are requesting approval. All
basic or specimen plan documents from
one sponsor or practitioner which are the
same (word-for-word) should use the
same two-digit number on all
applications. The first basic plan
document submitted should be
numbered as “01,” the second as “02,”
etc. The first specimen plan document
submitted should be numbered as “01,”
the second as “02,” etc.

Page

Line 4b. Enter the three-digit number
you have assigned to the adoption
agreement, if applicable, for which this
application is submitted. In the case of
an M&P submission, each different
adoption agreement designed to
accompany a single basic plan
document should be given a different
three-digit number beginning with “001.”
For example, if the first basic plan
document of a sponsor has four
separate adoption agreements, they
should be numbered “001” through
“004” and the sponsor should submit
four separate Forms 4461. Adoption
agreements submitted with the second
or any subsequent basic plan
documents (that are not word-for-word
identical to a previously submitted basic
plan document) should be similarly
numbered beginning with “001.”
Line 5. In the case of an M&P sponsor
adopting a word-for-word identical plan
(including a flexible plan) to a plan of the
M&P mass submitter, or a VS
practitioner adopting a word-for-word
identical plan of a VS mass submitter, a
copy of the plan does not have to be
submitted. For the sponsor of an M&P
plan of a mass submitter, if the plan is a
minor modification, the M&P mass
submitter should submit Form 4461-B,
typed as a “placeholder.” When the lead
plan receives its email of preliminary
approval, submit a copy of the mass
submitter plan with the minor
modifications underlined in red, or
otherwise highlighted, as well as a
statement indicating the location and
effect of each change.
Line 7. If this application is based on an
application submitted by a mass
submitter and simultaneously filed with
the mass submitter’s application or filed
before the information under line 7 is
available, enter in the brackets
designated for the file folder number the
basic plan document number and the
adoption agreement number (if
applicable) of the mass submitter’s plan
on which this plan is based. Do not
complete the rest of line 7.

3

Paperwork Reduction Act Notice. We
ask for the information on this form to
carry out the Internal Revenue laws of
the United States. You are required to
give us this information. We need it to
determine whether you meet the legal
requirements for plan approval.
You are not required to provide the
information requested on a form that is
subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act
unless the form displays a valid OMB
control number. Books or records
relating to a form or its instructions must
be retained as long as their content may
become material in the administration of
any Internal Revenue law. Generally, tax
return and return information are
confidential, as required by Code section
6103.
The time needed to complete and file
this form will vary depending on
individual circumstances. The estimated
average time is:
Recordkeeping .

.

.

. 5 hr., 58 min.

Learning about the
law or the form . .

.

.

Preparing the form

.

. 1 hr., 56 min.

.

Copying, assembling, and
sending the form to the IRS

. 52 min.

. 16 min.

If you have comments concerning the
accuracy of these time estimates or
suggestions for making this form
simpler, we would be happy to hear
from you. You can write to the Internal
Revenue Service, Tax Products
Coordinating Committee,
SE:W:CAR:MP:M:T:S, 1111 Constitution
Ave. NW, IR-6526, Washington, DC
20224. Do not send this form to this
office. Instead, see Where To File earlier.