Pension Advocates Raise Questions About IRS Rulings on Church Plan Status

Pension Advocates Raise Questions About IRS Rulings on Church Plan Status

In the months since the Internal Revenue Service lifted a moratorium in 2011 on issuing private letter rulings on church plans, IRS has issued at least 13 rulings granting church plan status, including one conferring church plan status on a defined benefit pension plan sponsored by a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) unincorporated religious organization that had been paying pension insurance premiums to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation since Jan. 1, 1974, practitioners said in interviews with BNA in June and July.