On August 3, 2022, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) issued Notice 2022-33 (the “Notice”), providing welcome relief to plan administrators and plan sponsors by extending the deadlines for amending qualified retirement plans (including collectively bargained plans) and individual retirement arrangements (“IRAs”) to reflect certain provisions of the Setting Every Community Up For Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (the “SECURE Act”), the Bipartisan American Miners Act of 2019 (the “Miners Act”), and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”). The new deadline for non-governmental qualified retirement plans, 403(b) plans, and IRAs to adopt plan amendments implementing certain changes made by these laws is generally December 31, 2025.
The extended deadline applies to amendments required by the SECURE Act, amendments allowing pension plans to make in-service distributions beginning at age 59½ under the Miners Act, and amendments implementing the required minimum distribution (“RMD”) suspension for 2020 under the CARES Act.
It is important to note, however, that not all deadlines for amendments required by the CARES Act were extended by the Notice. For example, the CARES Act, among other things, allowed plans to expand loan limits for certain individuals impacted by COVID-19 (“qualified individuals”) and to permit qualified individuals to take “coronavirus-related distributions” (“CRDs”) and to delay plan loan repayments. The deadlines for adopting amendments required to implement these provisions were not extended. Therefore, qualified retirement plans and 403(b) plans that implemented the above-mentioned CARES Act provisions generally must still adopt the relevant amendments by the last day of the 2022 plan year (in other words, December 31, 2022 for calendar year plans).
If you have any questions regarding this LEGALcurrents, please contact any member of the Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation group at 585.232.6500 or 716.853.1316.