IRS extends retirement amendment deadlines under CARES, Relief Acts
This latest notice, which gives employers until the end of 2025 to make most changes to their 401(k)s, impacts provisions of CARES and Relief Acts that were not addressed by previous deadline extensions.
The Internal Revenue Service once again has extended deadlines regarding amendments to eligible retirement plans (including IRAs and annuity contracts) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020, as well as the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020.
According to Notice 2022-45, “the extended amendment deadline applicable to (1) a qualified retirement plan or section 403(b) plan that is not a governmental plan or (2) an IRA is Dec. 31, 2025.” The previous deadline for such amendments was Dec. 31, 2022.
Additionally, governmental 403(b) and 457(b) plans must adopt the provisions no later than 90 days after the close of the third regular legislative session of the lawmaking body with the authority to amend the plan that begins after December 31, 2023. The previous deadline was no later than 90 days after the close of the second such legislative session.
Specifically, the extensions apply to Section 2202 of the CARES Act, which provides for COVID-related distributions and loan relief to participants, and Section 302 of Title III of the Relief Act, which provides special disaster-related rules for use of retirement funds.
As the financial services firm Ascensus notes, “a previously issued notice, Notice 2022-33, did not extend the remedial amendment period for all provisions relating to the CARES Act. While that notice extended the deadline to amend for provisions under section 2203 of the act relating to waiver of required minimum distributions, it did not extend such amendment deadline[s] for provisions under section 2202 relating to coronavirus-related distributions and loans or Section 302 of the Relief Act. This notice addresses that discrepancy.”