On September 12, the IRS reminded plan sponsors to review and comply with IRS Notice 2024-02 (the “Notice”), which extended and consolidated deadlines for employers and others sponsoring 401(k), 403(b), 457(b) and other retirement plans to amend their plan documents as required by the SECURE Act of 2019, the CARES Act, the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2021, and the Secure 2.0 Act (the “Acts”). 

Plan sponsors of 401(k), 403(b), 457(b) and other employer-sponsored retirement plans must amend their plan documents by the below dates.

December 31, 2026

• Qualified plans (not governmental plan or collectively-bargained plan)
• 403(b) plans that are not sponsored by a public school

December 31, 2028

• Applicable collectively-bargained (union) plans

December 31, 2029

• Governmental plans[1]
• 403(b) plans sponsored by a public school
• 457(b) plans sponsored by a state or local government

While plans do not generally have to be amended until the deadlines listed above, it is important for plan sponsors to recognize that their plans must still operate in accordance with the required provisions of the Acts as of their statutory effective dates. Additionally, if a plan sponsor wishes to implement discretionary amendments permitted under the Acts, then it must amend the plan prior to the date it wants to implement the discretionary changes. Further, if a retirement plan terminates prior to the above deadlines, then that terminated plan must be amended to comply with the Acts at the time of or prior to its termination.

Note that recent and upcoming mandatory amendments that are impacted by these deadline extensions include:

• Long-term, Part-time Worker Coverage.
• Roth Required Minimum Distribution Changes (increased to age 72).
• Automatic Enrollment mandate for new 401(k) and 403(b) Plans.
• Roth Catch-Up Deferrals for higher wage earners.

If you are unsure if your plan is complying with these requirements, you should check with your third-party administrator or recordkeeper. 

For additional information on the mandatory and discretionary amendments required by these Acts, please see IRS Notice 2024-02 and Revenue Procedure 2022-40.

[1] This deadline may be further delayed for certain governmental 457(b) plans to the first day of the first plan year beginning more than 180 days after they are notified that they do not satisfy certain Internal Revenue Code requirements.