§7528 Internal Revenue Service User Fees

Summary

The Secretary must create a program that makes people pay user fees for asking the IRS for ruling letters, opinion letters, determination letters, and similar requests. Fees will be grouped into categories set by the Secretary. The amounts will be based on how long and how hard each type of request usually is. Fees must be paid in advance. The Secretary can allow exemptions or lower fees when appropriate. No fee is required for requests asking whether a pension benefit plan (pension, profit-sharing, stock bonus, annuity, or employee stock ownership plan) maintained only by one or more eligible employers is qualified, or for any trust that is part of that plan, except if the request is made after the later of the plan’s fifth year or the end of a remedial amendment period that began in the first five years, or if the request is from a sponsor who plans to market a prototype plan. An eligible employer is one with at least one worker who is not highly compensated and who is in the plan. Exempt requests are not counted when figuring average fees. Minimum average fees must be at least: employee plan ruling/opinion $250, exempt organization ruling $350, employee plan determination $300, exempt organization determination $275, chief counsel ruling $200. Certification fees for professional employer organizations must be an annual fee of no more than $1,000 per year.