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Abstract
The Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS) encourages voluntary correction of tax-qualified retirement plans through a system of known, graduated, and limited correction fees, which are a fraction of the penalties that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) could impose upon disqualifying a plan. EPCRS provides incentives to identify and correct qualification failures sooner rather than later. SCP is a viable alternative for clearly insignificant operational failures corrected by the end of the second plan year following the plan year in which the failure occurred. For other failures, VCP is a better alternative. Employers concerned about the cost of correction can submit the VCP application anonymously. Audit CAP is not an alternative; it is the consequence of not taking advantage of SCP or VCP. Relying on the statute of limitations to protect an employer from Audit CAP also is not an alterative, unless the employer corrects the qualification failure to start the statute of limitations.