On August 12, 2011, the IRS published new Form 5316: Application for Group or Pooled Trust Ruling. A group or pooled trust is generally a trust where unrelated employers may pool their trust assets to invest their retirement plan funds.

Group or pooled trust sponsors must file this form to request an IRS determination letter (see Practice Note, Applying for an IRS Determination Letter) stating that the trust is a tax-qualified group trust arrangement. A determination letter provides assurances from the IRS that the trust qualifies for favorable tax treatment. Before the IRS developed this form, group or pooled trust sponsors submitted a letter to the IRS when requesting a determination letter.