Retirement plan sponsors have few 2024 year-end amendments 

October 2, 2024

Retirement plan sponsors have few (if any) plan amendments to adopt before the end of 2024. No required changes under law or guidance need amendments by Dec. 31, 2024. However, sponsors of calendar year plans may need to update their plan documents by year-end to reflect discretionary changes that took effect earlier in the year. Looking ahead, sponsors will need to amend their plans by the end of 2026 for several significant law changes enacted in recent years.

The Required Amendments List (RA List) is an annual list of tax law changes for qualified and 403(b) plans that establishes amendment deadlines for plans affected by items appearing on the list. In general, sponsors must amend their plans for changes on the RA List by the end of the second calendar year after the year the list is published. The 2022 RA List in Notice 2022-62 does not include any changes in law or guidance that require sponsors to amend their plans by the end of 2024.

Periodic updates not specifically mentioned on RA List. Each RA List automatically includes certain periodic updates, even though these items aren’t specifically referenced on that RA List. Examples of these updates include changes in cost-of-living adjustments, spot segment rates used to determine the 417(e)(3) applicable interest rate and 417(e)(3) applicable mortality tables for the year in which such changes are effective. Most plans incorporate these items by reference, eliminating the need for amendments. But plans that don’t incorporate these items by reference must be amended by Dec. 31, 2024, for updates that took effect in 2022.

Most discretionary amendments to reflect optional plan design changes must be adopted by the end of the plan year in which the change takes effect. Sponsors of calendar-year plans that made discretionary design changes in 2024 generally must adopt conforming amendments by Dec. 31. 

Sponsors still have two years to amend their plans for changes arising from various significant laws enacted in recent years. In Notice 2024-2, IRS extended until Dec. 31, 2026, the plan amendment deadlines for the following laws:

• Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (Div. O of Pub. L. No. 116-94) (SECURE 1.0)
• Bipartisan American Miners Act of 2019 (Div. M of Pub. L. No. 116-94) (Miner’s Act) provision lowering the age for in-service distributions to 59-1/2
• Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (Pub. L. No. 116-136)
• Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020 (Div. EE of Pub. L. No. 116-260) (Disaster Relief Act) provisions allowing penalty-free distributions to participants affected by certain disasters
• The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (Div. T of Pub. L. No. 117-328)

The new deadline applies both to amendments that are required to comply with the laws as well as discretionary amendments for optional provisions sponsors choose to implement. 

Later deadlines for collectively bargained and governmental plans. Notice 2024-2 sets Dec. 31, 2028, as the deadline for certain collectively bargained plans and Dec. 31, 2029, for plans sponsored by governmental employers.

Rev. Proc. 2023-37 changed the amendment timing rules for preapproved plans. Sponsors using preapproved plan documents now generally have the same amendment deadlines as sponsors using individually designed documents. Interim amendments to preapproved documents to reflect required changes in law and guidance are now tied to the RA List, and the discretionary amendment timing rule discussed above also applies to preapproved plans. The extended deadlines discussed above for SECURE 1.0 and 2.0, as well as the CARES, Disaster Relief and Miners acts also apply to preapproved plans. Employers using preapproved plan documents should confirm with their institutional sponsors which party is responsible for adopting these amendments.

• Notice 2024-2 (IRS, Dec. 21, 2023)
• Notice 2022-62 (IRS, Nov. 21, 2022)
• Required Amendments List (IRS, updated periodically)

• IRS changes more preapproved plan amendment timing rules (May 2, 2024)
• After empty RA List, IRS delays amendment deadlines for new laws (Dec. 21, 2023)
• IRS releases empty  2022 Required Amendments List (Nov. 22, 2022)