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Regulatory agendas confirm agencies’ retirement plan priorities 

July 31, 2026
Recently updated regulatory agendas for IRS, the Department of Labor (DOL), and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) prioritize guidance on Trump accounts, the rollback of Biden-era ERISA regulations, and ongoing implementation of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (Div. T. of Pub. L. No. 117-328). Unlike previous years, when two regulatory agendas were published — for the spring and fall — the updated agenda appears to cover all of 2026. This article highlights selected items of interest but omits routine projects and several others for which the only update was an extension of the anticipated completion date — as is the case for most of the ongoing items. The agendas’ anticipated completion dates are generally aspirational and routinely change as agency priorities shift. 

IRS

IRS’s agenda includes one new item for employer-provided retirement plans:

Qualified student loan repayments

IRS intends to issue proposed rules on employer matching contributions for employees’ qualified student loan payments (QSLPs) under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 401(m). The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 allows 401(k), 403(b), governmental 457(b), and SIMPLE IRA plans to match QSLPs starting with the 2024 plan year. IRS’s guidance to date has been limited to Notice 2024-63, which addressed several implementation topics, including the requirements for annual employee QSLP certifications, certain aspects of reasonable administrative procedures, and nondiscrimination testing.

Separately, the agenda includes five items for Trump accounts, a new kind of tax-preferred savings vehicle for individuals under 18. Under IRC Section 128, employer contributions of up to $2,500 per year are excludable from an employee’s gross income if made pursuant to a program that meets certain conditions; employers may also contribute to the accounts of employees under age 18. The accounts are subject to stringent investment restrictions as well as distribution limitations. The agenda includes the following Trump account items:

  • Broad guidance.
    IRS intends to issue a broad set of proposed rules addressing multiple topics, including the requirements for Trump accounts, contributions (including “qualified general contributions” from the government or certain governmental or nonprofit agencies, and employer contributions), distributions, trustee reporting, and the interaction with the IRA rules under IRC Section 408. However, some of these topics are also covered by other Trump account agenda items, and this item has the same regulation identifier number as a March proposal that was limited to elections to open initial Trump accounts.
  • Employer contributions.
    The agenda includes a separate item on employer contributions as well as the nondiscrimination requirements for Dependent Care Assistance Programs (DCAPs) under IRC Section 129. (The two topics are related because Section 128 employer contribution programs must meet nondiscrimination rules “similar to the requirements” applicable to DCAPs.) The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) completed review of this proposed rule on July 22, and it should be released soon.
  • Pilot program elections.
    IRS also plans to issue a final rule on elections to receive the $1,000 pilot program contribution for eligible children born from 2025 to 2028, following a proposal published in March. 
  • Eligible investments.
    A proposed rule would address the types of eligible investments available during the growth period — the period between the establishment of the account and the first of the calendar year when the account beneficiary turns 18. During this period, the account must be invested in a mutual fund or an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that meets certain conditions. On July 1, Treasury announced the initial investment lineup, which included five low-cost ETFs. OMB completed review of the proposal on July 29, and it should be released soon.
  • Reporting.
    IRS intends to issue a proposed rule on Trump account reporting. Trustees must meet certain reporting requirements during the growth period. The proposal will address those requirements, including general information about the account as well as information on any qualified rollover contributions (from one Trump account to another).
The IRS regulatory agenda includes 14 other retirement-related items, all holdovers from previous agendas with extended deadlines. One item — the final rule implementing the SECURE 2.0 mandated auto-enrollment requirement for many new 401(k) and 403(b) plans — has been under review at OMB since June 23. However, the agenda doesn’t include any regulatory projects related to implementation of SECURE 2.0’s saver’s match, which takes effect starting in 2027.

DOL

DOL’s agenda includes two items that address the application of ERISA’s duties of prudence and loyalty to core areas of fiduciary decision-making:
  • DC plan investment selection.
    The agenda includes a new item reflecting DOL’s proposed investment selection safe-harbor regulation for DC plan fiduciaries, which was released on March 31. That proposal responds to an August 7, 2025, executive order directing DOL to take action aimed at encouraging DC plans to offer participants greater exposure to private equity, digital currencies, and other “alternative assets.” The proposed rule would establish a process-based framework that includes six safe-harbor factors for fiduciaries to consider when selecting all types of DC plan investment options. The entry notes that the agency is currently reviewing public comments but doesn’t offer any indication when DOL expects to issue a final rule.
  • Investment duties regulation.
    DOL intends to propose updates to regulations finalized under the Biden Administration that generally allow ERISA fiduciaries to consider environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors when selecting investments and voting proxies. That regulation replaced stricter rules on investment selection and proxy voting adopted during the first Trump Administration, which stakeholders perceived as discouraging fiduciaries from considering ESG factors. The proposed rule has been under review at OMB since June 30.

DOL’s agenda also includes an item on updates to the agency's prohibited transaction exemption (PTE) procedures, which are intended to “reduce regulatory burdens on applicants for exemptions” and improve the operation of the PTE program. The agenda includes no details on the scope of changes contemplated, but DOL may intend to roll back some of the changes implemented under the Biden-era DOL in 2024. Those changes required more detailed disclosures from plan sponsors and enhanced the agency’s scrutiny of independent fiduciaries and appraisers involved in PTEs.

The remaining five retirement items are all carryovers from previous years. Those items include final regulations on SECURE 2.0’s PTE for automatic portability arrangements and proposed rules on the statutory reporting requirements for the Retirement Savings Lost and Found.

PBGC

PBGC’s 2026 agenda lists only one new item: a proposed rule with miscellaneous technical corrections, clarifications, and improvements, including changes to its rules for filing and reportable events. PBGC periodically releases such “housekeeping” rules as a result of its ongoing review of its regulations. The other agenda items consist of several routine updates and other ongoing items, including a proposal to codify PBGC’s policies for assessing penalties related to failure to provide certain required notices or other material information (which was published on July 21) and a proposed rule on recouping benefit overpayments (which was published on July 6). 

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About the author(s)
Margaret Berger
Matthew Calloway
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