26 U.S.C. § 7528 — Internal Revenue Service user fees

(a) The Secretary^* must establish a program requiring user fees for (1) requests to the Internal Revenue Service for ruling, opinion, and determination letters and (2) similar requests.

(b)(1) Fees under the program (A) must vary by categories or subcategories set by the Secretary; (B) must be set after considering the average time and difficulty of answering requests in each category or subcategory; and (C) must be paid in advance. (2)(A) The Secretary must provide whatever exemptions and reduced fees the Secretary considers appropriate. (B) The Secretary may not require a fee for a determination-letter request about the qualified status of a pension benefit plan maintained only by one or more eligible employers, or of a trust that is part of the plan. This exemption does not apply to a request (i) made after the later of (I) the fifth plan year in which the plan exists or (II) the end of a remedial amendment period concerning the plan that begins during its first 5 plan years, or (ii) made by the sponsor of a prototype or similar plan intended for marketing to participating employers. (C) For this rule, (i) a "pension benefit plan" means a pension, profit-sharing, stock^*-bonus, annuity, or employee^* stock-ownership plan; (ii) an "eligible employer" means an employer described in section 408(p)(2)(C)(i)(I) that has at least one participating employee who is not highly compensated under section 414(q), determined when the request is made; and (iii) exempt requests are left out when average fees are calculated. (3) Average fees may not be less than: employee-plan ruling or opinion, $250; exempt-organization ruling, $350; employee-plan determination, $300; exempt-organization determination, $275; and Chief Counsel ruling, $200. (4) The fee for the Secretary's certification of a professional employer organization under section 7705 is an annual fee of no more than $1,000.