ERISA Benefits Law Desk ReferenceERISA Benefits Tech, LLC

Part 2 · Chapter 4

Pre-Approved Plans, Opinion Letters, and the Six-Year Cycles

Law stated as of October 3, 2026 · Plan Documents, Amendments, Mergers, and Terminations

Scope and status

This chapter covers the pre-approved plan program — the provider/adopting-employer architecture, standardized versus nonstandardized documents, the recurring six-year remedial amendment cycles for defined contribution, defined benefit, and §403(b) plans, the Cumulative List review standard, the opinion letter and the reliance an adopting employer actually gets from it, the employer restatement window, what causes a pre-approved plan to be treated as individually designed, and the interim/discretionary amendment allocation between provider and employer. Cycle dates move and are the most perishable content in this chapter — confirm every date against the IRS six-year-cycle page and the governing revenue procedure. Related questions are treated elsewhere: the determination-letter program (including Form 5307 mechanics and user fees) in The Determination Letter Program; remedial amendment periods, the Required Amendments List, and amendment deadlines generally in Remedial Amendment Periods, the Required Amendments List, and Amendment Deadlines; 403(b) plan substance in Part 8 (403(b) Plans); and MEP/PEP document questions in Part 11 (Multiple-Employer and Small-Employer Arrangements).

Sections

Part A is shown in full. The other sections are listed by title; their text is available to subscribers.

Part A — Program Architecture

A1.The two parties and the two documents

Part 2, ch. 4, § A1

A pre-approved plan is a plan document written and maintained by a provider (a document sponsor — typically a recordkeeper, TPA, insurer, or law firm), submitted to the IRS for an opinion letter, and then adopted by an unrelated adopting employer. The document is usually structured as a basic plan document plus an adoption agreement, though a single-document format is permitted. Rev. Proc.: Rev. Proc. 2023-37 (the current governing procedure); Rev. Proc. 2017-41 (which established the unified program).

A2.Rev. Proc. 2017-41 unified the program; Rev. Proc. 2023-37 now governs

Part 2, ch. 4, § A2

Rev. Proc. 2017-41 eliminated the historic distinction between master and prototype (M&P) and volume submitter (VS) documents, merging them into a single "pre-approved plan" program with a single opinion-letter instrument. Rev. Proc.: Rev. Proc. 2017-41 (as modified by Rev. Proc. 2018-21). Rev. Proc. 2023-37, effective November 21, 2023, then consolidated into one procedure the rules on remedial amendment periods, plan amendment deadlines, opinion letter applications, and determination letters for both qualified and §403(b) pre-approved plans, superseding or modifying the prior patchwork (Rev. Proc. 2016-37 in relevant part, Rev. Proc. 2017-41, Rev. Proc. 2019-39, Rev. Proc. 2020-40, and Rev. Proc. 2021-37). Its opinion-letter procedures apply beginning with Cycle 4 for qualified pre-approved plans and Cycle 3 for §403(b) pre-approved plans. Rev. Proc.: Rev. Proc. 2023-37.

A3.Standardized versus nonstandardized

Part 2, ch. 4, § A3

A standardized pre-approved plan is drafted so that, if adopted as written, it satisfies the coverage and nondiscrimination requirements by design (through mandatory eligibility and allocation terms), which is why it carries the broadest reliance. A nonstandardized plan offers wider elective flexibility, and the price of that flexibility is narrower reliance and, for some provisions, no reliance at all. Rev. Proc.: Rev. Proc. 2023-37; Rev. Proc. 2017-41.

A4.Which plan types can use a pre-approved document

Part 2, ch. 4, § A4

The program accommodates defined contribution plans (including 401(k) plans and ESOPs), defined benefit plans (including cash balance plans), and §403(b) plans, on separate cycles. Rev. Proc.: Rev. Proc. 2017-41 (extending pre-approved status to ESOPs and cash balance plans); Rev. Proc. 2023-37.

Part B — The Six-Year Cycles

  1. B1The cycle mechanismSubscribers
  2. B2The current cycle position (as of October 2026)Subscribers
  3. B3The Cumulative List as the review standardSubscribers
  4. B4The employer adoption window and the restatement ruleSubscribers
  5. B5Where an employer may still file for its own determination letterSubscribers

Part C — Adopting Employer Reliance

  1. C1What the opinion letter buysSubscribers
  2. C2What reliance never reachesSubscribers
  3. C3What breaks reliance entirelySubscribers
  4. C4Correcting a plan that has fallen out of the programSubscribers

Part D — Amendments Within a Pre-Approved Plan

  1. D1Interim amendments — the provider's job, on the RA List clockSubscribers
  2. D2Discretionary amendments — the employer's job, on the plan-year clockSubscribers
  3. D3The anti-cutback constraint runs alongsideSubscribers
  4. D4Governmental plansSubscribers

Part E — Choosing Between Pre-Approved and Individually Designed

  1. E1The trade-offSubscribers
  2. E2When individually designed is still the right answerSubscribers
  3. E3Moving between the twoSubscribers

The first Part of each chapter is open to everyone. The remaining sections, with their authority and practice points, are available to subscribers and to clients of ERISA Benefits Law Group, PLLC whose engagement includes access.

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