Mandatory Plan Document Amendments & Restatements
From time to time, all qualified retirement plans are required to be updated to reflect recent legislative and/or regulatory changes. Some of these updates are made through plan amendments, but others require plan documents to be completely re-written (a process known as "restating" the plan).
The deadlines for adopting these updates are usually dependent on the type of plan and plan document. For example, a defined contribution plan, e.g. a 401(k) plan or profit sharing plan, using a document that is pre-approved by the IRS (such as a prototype) must generally be restated every 6 years. Amendments may still be required in between these mandatory restatements.
Regardless of the type of plan/plan document or the service-providers involved, plan sponsors are required to maintain fully executed copies of all plan documents, amendments, and restatements since the inception of the plan. If your plan is audited by the Internal Revenue Service, they will ask to see signed plan documents and will review to make sure they are up-to-date for all required remedial amendments. If you did not timely adopt a required update or you are unable to locate a signed copy, the IRS offers a voluntary correction program that allows you bring your plan document back into compliance for a fee that is much lower than the penalties that could otherwise be imposed.
The following is a list of the various amendments and restatements that have been required since 2003, beginning with the most recent and working backwards. The deadlines shown apply to defined contributions plans using either prototype or volume submitter plan documents. Different deadlines apply to defined benefit plans as well as DC plans using individually designed documents.
Cycle 3 Restatement
| Description: | Full plan restatement for legislation and regulations since 2008. |
| Effective Date: | Various |
| Required For: | All qualified plans |
| Due Date: | July 31, 2022 |
| Citation: | IRS Announcement 2020-07 |
CARES Act Amendment
| Description: | Good-faith amendment covering the provisions from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act including expansion of participant loans and distributions, postponement of participant loan payments, and waiver of required minimum distributions for 2020. |
| Effective Date: | Various dates in 2020 |
| Required For: | All qualified plans |
| Due Date: | Last day of the 2022 plan year (December 31, 2022 for calendar year plans) |
| Citation: | CARES Act Sections 2202 and 2203 |
SECURE Act Amendment
Good-faith amendment covering provisions from the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act including increase in the RMD beginning age, penalty-free distributions for birth and adoption, pooled employer plans, portability of lifetime income options, testing relief for frozen defined benefit plans, and more.
Last day of the 2022 plan year (December 31, 2022 for calendar year plans)
Hardship Distribution Amendment
| Description: | Good-faith amendment covering provisions from the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 and related regulations including elimination of the deferral suspension, removal of the requirement to first take a loan, and making available safe harbor contributions as well as earnings on elective deferrals. |
| Effective Date: | Various |
| Required For: | All qualified plans that permit hardship distributions |
| Due Date: | December 31, 2021 |
| Citation: | IRS Revenue Procedure 2020-9 |
Disability Claims Procedure Amendment
| Description: | Good-faith amendment covering provisions from the Department of Labor’s final regulations governing disability claims designed to give disability claimants a full, fair and prompt administrative hearing and to ensure the independence and impartiality of the decision maker. |
| Effective Date: | April 1, 2018 |
| Required For: | All qualified plans for which disability is determined by the Plan Administrator (either directly or via an appointed physician) |
| Due Date: | December 31, 2018 |
| Citation: | n/a |
PPA Restatement
| Description: | Full plan restatement for legislation and regulations from the final 415 regulations through WRERA. |
| Effective Date: | Various |
| Required For: | All qualified defined contribution plans |
| Due Date: | May 1, 2014-April 30, 2016 (exact dates to be determined by IRS) |
| Citation: | IRS Announcement 2014-16 |
WRERA Amendment
| Description: | Good-faith amendment covering provisions from the Worker, Retiree and Employer Recovery Act of 2008 including elimination of gap-period income on refunds of excess deferrals and optional provisions related to automatic contribution arrangements, waiver of 2009 RMDs and PPA technical corrections. |
| Effective Date: | Various |
| Required For: | All qualified plans |
| Due Date: | Last day of the 2001 plan year (December 31, 2011 for calendar year plans) |
| Citation: | IRS Notice 2009-82 |
HEART Act Amendment
| Description: | Good-faith amendment covering provisions from the Heroes' Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act of 2008 including quailed plan rights of those serving in the military, including death/disability benefits and treatment of differential wage payments. |
| Effective Date: | Various |
| Required For: | All qualified plans |
| Due Date: | Last day of the 2010 plan year (December 31, 2010 for calendar year plans) |
| Citation: | IRS Notice 2010-15 |
EGTRRA Restatement
| Description: | Full plan restatement for legislation and regulations from EGTRRA through the final 402(g) regulations |
| Effective Date: | Various |
| Required For: | All qualified plans |
| Due Date: | April 30, 2010 |
| Citation: | IRS Announcement 2008-23 |
PPA Amendment
| Description: | Good-faith amendment covering provisions from the Pension Protection Act of 2006 such as automatic enrollment, non-spouse beneficiary rollovers, accelerated vesting |
| Effective Date: | Various |
| Required For: | All qualified plans |
| Due Date: | Last day of the 2009 plan year (December 31, 2009 for calendar year plans) |
| Citation: | PPA §1107, IRS Employee Plan News [Spring 2007 edition] |
Final 415 Regulations Amendment
| Description: | Good-faith amendment for the final 415 regulations including updating definition of compensation with regard to post-severance compensation |
| Effective Date: | Limitation years beginning on or after July 1, 2007 |
| Required For: | All qualified plans |
| Due Date: | Deadline (with extensions) for filing the tax return for the first year in which the regulations are effective (September 15, 2008) |
| Citation: | IRS Revenue Procedure 2005-66 |
Final 402(g) Regulations Amendment
| Description: | Good-faith amendment to require the distribution of gap-period income on refunds of excess deferrals |
| Effective Date: | Plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2007 |
| Required For: | All qualified plans with pre- or post-tax employee salary deferrals |
| Due Date: | Deadline (with extensions) for filing the 2007 tax return (September 15, 2008) |
| Citation: | IRS Revenue Procedure 2005-66 |
Final 401(k)/(m) Regulations Amendment
| Description: | Good-faith amendment for the final 401(k)/(m) regulations including the modification of bottom-up QNECs, removal of supplemental matching allocation requirements in safe-harbor plans |
| Effective Date: | Plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2006 |
| Required For: | All qualified plans with pre- or post-tax employee salary deferrals and/or employer matching contributions |
| Due Date: | If adopted prior to the 2006 plan year, the last day of the plan year adopted. Otherwise the deadline (with extensions) for filing the 2006 tax return. Recommended to be adopted by the end of the 2006 plan year to avoid potential 411(d)(6) violations (December 31, 2006) |
| Citation: | IRS Revenue Procedure 2005-66 |
Mandatory Distribution Amendment
| Description: | Good-faith amendment for the automatic rollover regulations |
| Effective Date: | March 28, 2005 |
| Required For: | All qualified plans |
| Due Date: | Later of the end of the plan year including the effective date, December 31, 2005 or the deadline (with extensions) for filing the tax return for the year including the effective date (September 15, 2006 for calendar year sponsors) |
| Citation: | IRS Notice 2005-85 |
401(a)(9) Amendment
| Description: | Good-faith amendment for the final minimum distribution regulations. May be included in a more comprehensive post-EGTRRA amendment |
| Effective Date: | Minimum distributions for the 2002 calendar year |
| Required For: | All qualified plans |
| Due Date: | Last day of the 2003 plan year (December 31, 2003 for calendar year plans) |
| Citation: | IRS Revenue Procedure 2002-29 |
Deemed 125 Compensation Amendment
| Description: | Good-faith amendment to include deemed compensation from certain section 125 plans. May be included in a more comprehensive post-EGTRRA amendment |
| Effective Date: | Limitation years beginning on or after January 1, 1998 |
| Required For: | All qualified plans of employers sponsoring a cafeteria plan in which employees can elect cash in lieu of health coverage only if proof of other coverage is furnished |
| Due Date: | Close of the GUST remedial amendment period, i.e. September 30, 2003 |
| Citation: | IRS Revenue Ruling 2002-27 |
EGTRRA Amendment
| Description: | Good-faith amendment for the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 covering provisions such as catch-up contributions, reduced hardship suspension, increased contribution limits |
| Effective Date: | Generally effective January 1, 2002 |
| Required For: | All qualified plans |
| Due Date: | Later of the end of the 2002 plan year or the GUST remedial amendment period, i.e. September 30, 2003 |
| Citation: | IRS Notice 2001-42 |
GUST Restatement
| Description: | Full plan restatement for GATT (1993), USERRA (1994), SPJPA (1996), TRA (1997). Includes provisions for current/prior year testing, top-paid group election, safe-harbor |
| Effective Date: | Various |
| Required For: | All qualified plans |
| Due Date: | September 30, 2003 |
| Citation: | IRS Revenue Procedure 2002-73 |
You May Also Like
Voluntary Retirement Plan Amendments and Restatements
Cycle 3 DC Plan Restatement FAQs
