Retirement plan sponsors have few 2023 year-end amendments 

October 6, 2023

Retirement plan sponsors have few (if any) plan amendments to adopt before the end of 2023. This article covers the short list of amendments due by Dec. 31, 2023, and looks ahead to 2025, when many employers will need to amend their plans to comply with 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 individually designed plans affected by items 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 amendment deadline for changes on the 2021 RA List in Notice 2021-64 is Dec. 31, 2023. This deadline applies regardless of a plan’s plan year.

Multiemployer plans that received special financial assistance in 2021. The 2021 RA List identified only one required amendment relating to multiemployer plans that received special financial assistance under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Pub. L. No. 117-2). A multiemployer plan that received special financial assistance in 2021 must be amended by Dec. 31, 2023, to reflect the reinstatement of suspended benefits and the provision of make-up payments to participants and beneficiaries whose benefits were suspended. The plan must be amended formally even if the benefit suspension was implemented only operationally.

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, 2023, for updates that took effect in 2021.

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 2023 generally must adopt conforming amendments by Dec. 31. 

Sponsors have until at least 2025 to amend their plans for changes arising from the various significant laws enacted in recent years. The table below shows the current amendment deadlines for these changes (although IRS can further extend these deadlines). These deadlines apply to both amendments that are required to comply with these laws as well as discretionary amendments for optional provisions sponsors choose to implement.  

^{* Amendment deadline extended by SECURE 2.0}

^{** Amendment deadline extended by IRS Notice 2022-33}

The discretionary amendment timing rule discussed above also applies to preapproved plan documents. However, preapproved plans are not subject to the RA List. Instead, either the institutional sponsor or the adopting employer must adopt an interim amendment to reflect required changes in law (this allows the plan to comply with the law until the institutional sponsor updates the document for the next remedial amendment cycle). The deadline for an interim amendment is ordinarily the end of the second calendar year following the year the change takes effect. However, the extended deadlines in the table above apply to discretionary and interim amendments reflecting changes for SECURE 1.0 and 2.0, as well as the CARES, Disaster Relief and Miners acts. Employers using preapproved plan documents should confirm with their institutional sponsors which party is responsible for adopting these amendments.

• Required Amendments List (IRS)
• Preapproved Retirement Plans – Adopting Employer (IRS)
• Preapproved Plan Document Providers – Responsibilities and Tips (IRS)
• Notice 2021-64, Required amendments list for individually designed qualified and section 403(b) plans (IRS, Nov. 30, 2021)

• IRS extends more retirement plan amendment deadlines (Sept. 28, 2022)
• IRS extends amendment deadlines for SECURE, Miners and CARES Acts (Aug. 5, 2022)
• Meager 2021 RA list doesn’t extend SECURE or CARES Act deadlines (Dec. 3, 2021)
• IRS again tweaks preapproved plan amendment timing rules (Sept. 20, 2021)
• IRS tweaks amendment timing rules for preapproved plans (Sept. 24, 2020)