Over the past several years, Congress has made significant changes to the rules governing retirement plans. The CARES Act, SECURE Act, and SECURE 2.0 introduced new plan provisions, expanded existing options, and changed administrative requirements affecting virtually every employer-sponsored retirement plan. Some of these changes have already required employers to change the way their plans operate. For many plans, the deadline to formally amend plan documents is approaching at the end of 2026. Employers should be taking steps now to confirm that their plan documents accurately reflect the provisions they have adopted and the way their plans are being administered.
What needs to be reviewed?
The amendments required will depend on the provisions your plan has adopted in operation and in documentation since enactment of this legislation. Among other things, recent legislation has addressed:
- Coronavirus-related distributions and enhanced plan loan provisions under the CARES Act;
- Changes to required minimum distributions and in-service distribution rules under the SECURE Act;
- Changes affecting long-term, part-time employees;
- Expanded rules for qualified birth or adoption distributions;
- New provisions for emergency personal expense distributions and other SECURE 2.0 optional distributions;
- Changes to catch-up contributions and Roth treatment;
- Automatic enrollment and automatic escalation requirements;
- New rules affecting employer matching and nonelective contributions; and
- Other changes affecting eligibility, distributions, notices and plan administration.
Even if your plan has already been operating in compliance with these law changes, your plan document may still need to be amended. In addition, the required amendments may differ depending on whether your plan is individually designed or uses a pre-approved document and which provisions your plan has elected to implement.
Why act now?
The year-end deadline may seem far away, but reviewing and completing plan amendments takes time. Employers should allow sufficient time to:
- Identify the changes applicable to the plan.
- Confirm which optional provisions the plan has adopted.
- Compare the plan document with the plan's actual operations.
- Prepare and review the necessary amendments.
- Obtain any required approvals or signatures.
- Coordinate with the plan's third-party administrator, recordkeeper and other service providers as necessary.
How we can help
Our employee benefits attorneys can work with you and your plan's service providers to identify the amendments applicable to your plan and make sure the plan document accurately reflects the provisions you have adopted. We can help with a comprehensive review of your plan document and recent law changes, including identifying provisions that require amendments, provisions that are optional, and areas where the plan's document and administration may not align.
If your plan has not yet been reviewed for the CARES Act, SECURE Act and SECURE 2.0 amendments, now is the time to get started. Contact us to discuss your plan and establish a timeline for completing the necessary amendments before the end-of-year deadline.
Request an Employer Compliance Review today.
Additional Resources
If your organization is reviewing this issue, you may also be interested in these other compliance issues:
Form I-9 Compliance Audit: What Employers Should Review
Independent Contractor Classification: What Employers Should Review Now