Form 4461-B

(Rev. January 2012)

Department of the Treasury 

Internal Revenue Service 

Application for Approval of Master or 

 Prototype or Volume Submitter Plans 

Mass Submitter Adopting Sponsor or Practitioner 

OMB No. 1545-0169 

This Form Is Open to Public Inspection 

File This Form With the Internal Revenue Service For IRS Use Only 

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 

$ 

2 a Name of applicant 

Address (number, street, room or suite no.) (If a P.O. box, see the instructions.) 

City State ZIP code 

2 b Employer identification number 

of applicant 

2 c Applicant’s telephone no. 

3a Name of person to be contacted 3 b Telephone number 

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

4 a Basic plan document number b Adoption agreement number 

5 This plan is: 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) 

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 Target benefit Profit-sharing/401(k) 

Profit-sharing Defined benefit (with permitted disparity) Defined benefit (without permitted disparity) 

9 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) Page 2 

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

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 

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) Page 3 

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.

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. 

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 . . . . . . 52 min.

Preparing the form . . 1 hr., 56 min.

Copying, assembling, and 

sending the form to the IRS . 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.