HomeMy WebLinkAboutDocumentation_Pension General_Tab 20_08/04/2008HANSON~ PERRY S~ JENSEN~ P.A.
4OO EXECUTIVE CENTEIa DRIVE, SUITE 2O7 -WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA 33401-2922
JILL HANSON*
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N H. PERRY
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BONNI SPATARA JENSEN
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MEMORANDUM
'Aso ADMITTED w N.Y.
To: Board of Trustees
Tequesta Public Safety Officers' Pension Plan
From: Bonni S. Jensen
Hanson, Perry & Jensen, P.A.
Subject: IRS Determination Letters
Date: July 15, 2008
TELEPHONE (561)686-6550
FACSIMILE (561) 686-2802
At the end of June, 2008, I attended the National Association of Public Pension
Attorney's Conference in Boston, Massachusetts. One of the sessions was a presentation
by the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") regarding their efforts toward education, outreach
and compliance for the Governmental Plans Community. According to the IRS, their
"initiative is designed to assist governmental plans to satisfy the tax qualification
requirements through education, compliance, and enforcement." For your information, I
have attached a copy of the IRS "employee plans news" from May 9, 2008 discussing the
IRS's April 22, 2008 roundtable on governmental plans.
Essentially, the IRS is encouraging governmental plans to file for an IRS
determination letter as to the tax qualification of the retirement plan. A tax qualification
letter provides for a plan's reliance that a plan is tax exempt (if the plan is operated in
accordance with the plan provisions). The IRS presentation indicates the reasons for
getting a Determination letter as follows:
• The Determination Letter lets the plan sponsor know that the plan provisions
meet the requirements of the tax law.
• Once the IRS approves a plan, the plan can rely on the letter -even if a
defective provision is found at a later time.
• Filing a timely request gives the plan sponsor additional time to correct an
improper plan provision.
• the IRS self correction program requires a current determination letter.
The representatives from the IRS also discussed the IRS's plans to send out a
survey to governmental plans. This is in an initial effort to obtain information about the
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Board of Trustees
IRS Determination Letters
July 15, 2008
current status of governmental plans, because the IRS believes that the "governmental
plans have not receives the same attention as plans in the private sector and that the IRS
has not had a meaningful presence in this area."
The IRS is accepting applications for governmental sector pension plans from now
through January 31, 2009.
Please place this item on your agenda for the next meeting so that we may discuss
whether to file for an IRS determination letter for your Plan.
H:WII MiscellaneousWLL BOARDS\Memo Determination Letters.wpd
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