Rev. Proc. 79-50

Section 1. Purpose

This Revenue Procedure provides approval to any defined benefit plan to change the date as of which the assets and liabilities are valued to the first day of the plan year, provided that, for the plan year in which the change takes effect, there is no other change in the funding method, other than a change for which approval has been granted by a revenue procedure or a class ruling.

Sec. 2. Background

Section 412(c)(5) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended, and section 302(c) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) [Pub. L. 93-406, 1974-3 C.B. 1, 40] state that if the funding method of a plan is changed, the new funding method shall become effective only if the change is approved by the Secretary.

Sec. 3. Approval

.01 Except as provided in subsection 3.02, automatic approval is granted pursuant to section 412(c)(5) of the Code and section 302(c)(5) of ERISA for any defined benefit plan to change the valuation date for valuing assets and liabilities to the first day of the plan year. For any plan year commencing after December 31, 1978, approval to change the valuation date is not granted after the date by which Schedule B of Form 5500 is required to be filed for such plan year. A statement which describes the change and refers to this procedure should be attached to Schedule B of Form 5500 for the plan year with respect to which this change is made. For plan years commencing before January 1, 1979 approval to change the valuation date is granted for a year if the Schedule B filed for that year used the new valuation date. However, an amended Schedule B may not be filed to change the valuation date. For these plan years, a statement which describes the change should be attached to Schedule B of Form 5500 for the first year ending after October 9, 1979.

.02 This Revenue Procedure does not apply if the valuation date is being changed to a day other than the first date of the plan year, or if there is any other change in the funding method, except for a change for which approval is granted by a revenue procedure (such as Revenue Procedure 78-17, 1978-2 C.B. 490, relating to ancillary benefits) or a class ruling.

.03 This Revenue Procedure will not fail to be applicable merely because a change in plan year is granted by an individual ruling or a revenue procedure.

Sec. 4. Effective Date

This Revenue Procedure is effective for plan years after the first plan year in which a plan is subject to section 412 of the Code or section 302 of ERISA.