Listed below are Employee Plans Alert Guidelines (Worksheets), Explanations and Plan Deficiency Paragraphs (Checksheets). These forms and documents are tools used by Employee Plans Specialists during their review of retirement plans. These forms and documents are available to plan sponsors to use before submitting a determination letter application to the Service.

The Alert Guidelines (Worksheets) are designed to facilitate the review of retirement plans. They are broken down by subject matter; as such, not all worksheets are relevant to all plans. Generally, a "Yes" answer to a question indicates a plan is in compliance with applicable law.

Each worksheet is accompanied by an Explanation package. These explanations provide guidance in the applicable law and provide citations to the applicable Code and Regulation sections.

The Plan Deficiency Paragraphs (Checksheets) are pre-approved wording that, if used by plan sponsors, will satisfy the applicable Code requirements. While use of the exact wording is not mandatory, the pre-approved language provides an easy and reliable method for assuring plan qualification.

The freely available Adobe Acrobat Reader software is required to view, print, and search the questions and answers listed below.