Three cheers for three years: IRS extends deadlines for SECURE and CARES amendments

The IRS has extended the deadline for adopting qualified retirement plan and IRA amendments to reflect changes made by the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (SECURE Act), the Bipartisan American Miners Act of 2019 (Miners Act) and the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). In Notice 2022-33, issued on August 3, 2022, the IRS provides that non-governmental qualified retirement plans, 403(b) plans, and IRAs now have until December 31, 2025, to adopt plan amendments, with later deadlines applying to governmental plans.

Prior to this extension, amendments were generally required to be adopted by December 31, 2022 (for calendar year plans), including amendments to reflect the following:

• SECURE Act changes for required minimum distributions and qualified birth or adoption distributions;
• Miners Act changes for age 59½ distributions from defined benefit plans and section 457(b) plans; and
• CARES Acts relief for 2020 required minimum distributions.

The deadlines to adopt these amendments are now as follows:

Type of Plan	Deadline
Qualified retirement plans that are not governmental plans 403(b) plans not maintained by public schools IRAs	December 31, 2025
Governmental qualified retirement plans Public school 403(b) plans Governmental 457(b) plans	90 days after the close of the third regular legislative session of the legislative body with the authority to amend the plan that begins after December 31, 2023

Note that the same deadlines apply to calendar year and non-calendar year plans.

ESsentials: The deadline for adopting optional CARES Act relief for expanded distributions and loans is apparently not extended and generally remains December 31, 2022 for calendar year plans. This deadline is generally not applicable to IRAs.

The Notice further states that the IRS anticipates that additional guidance will appear in the 2023 Required Amendments List, an annual list of changes in retirement plan qualification requirements. As a result, the IRS intends that plan sponsors will be able to adopt all necessary amendments on a single date.

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