This advisory reminds qualified retirement plan sponsors of upcoming deadlines for amending qualified retirement plans and highlights other action items for plan sponsors to consider.
Qualified Plan Amendments and Other Changes
Amendments for changes in law
In some years, plans are required to be amended to reflect certain changes in law. This year does not appear to be such a year for most retirement plans. However, plan sponsors that made discretionary changes to their plans during the 2025 plan year should ensure that such amendments are documented in a formal plan amendment before the end of the year.
Looking forward to 2026, plan sponsors should carefully consider the list of required amendments for next year and the best steps to meet these requirements. The general deadline to amend a qualified plan (that is neither a government plan nor a collectively bargained plan) to reflect changes adopted under several recent federal laws (including the SECURE Act, the CARES Act, and SECURE. 2.0) is December 31, 2026.
This means that, to the extent that any required or optional features have been operationally adopted but not yet been added to the plan document, such amendments will need to be implemented no later than December 31, 2026. The amendment deadline will include the following changes, most of which will have been operationally adopted in prior years:
- Mandatory Roth treatment of catch-up contributions for certain high-earning employees.
- Participation of long-term part-time employees.
- “Super” catch-up contributions for participants ages 60–63.
- Increases in required minimum distribution age.
- Various optional distributions, including qualified birth and adoption distributions, distributions for federally declared disasters, distributions for terminally ill participants, distributions for victims of domestic violence, and others.
This list is non-exhaustive, so we recommend plan sponsors discuss these and other changes that may be necessary for retirement plans within the next year.
Additionally, while the amendment deadline has generally been extended to December 31, 2026 for most retirement plans, this does not apply to every retirement plan. In particular, tax-exempt nongovernmental entities that sponsor 457(b) plans may need to amend their plans by December 31, 2025 to reflect these changes. If you sponsor such a plan, consider discussing the applicable deadline with your legal advisor.
Other Action Items
Roth mandatory catch-up contributions for certain employees under recent regulations
SECURE 2.0 requires that any catch-up contributions from employees who earned more than $150,000 in 2025 (on a FICA basis) be made on a Roth basis. Note that this $150,000 amount is higher than may have been previously reported because it was recently adjusted by the IRS. Plan sponsors should consider discussing these requirements with plan recordkeepers, HRIS system providers, and payroll providers to ensure all parties are ready to implement these new requirements by the end of 2025. Additionally, consider reaching out to affected employees to ensure the new rules are clearly communicated.
While the final regulations will generally become effective January 1, 2027, the mandatory Roth catch-up requirement will become effective January 1, 2026. Because the requirement is new, it may be appropriate to consider implementing internal processes to verify systems are operating as intended.
Other items to consider
As you review your plan document, you may consider whether adding or reviewing any of the following provisions under your retirement plan or other administrative policies is appropriate:
- Use of plan forfeitures
- ESG investment policy
- Cybersecurity policies
We observe that plan use of forfeiture accounts continues to be the subject of ongoing litigation through 2025. Plan sponsors should have a clear understanding of what expenses may be addressed through forfeitures under their plan document and which expenses are not expressly discussed. For example, it may be helpful to review whether their plan defines the decision to use plan forfeitures as a settlor function, or whether this is addressed at all in the plan document. Plan sponsors may wish to reach out to their legal counsel to discuss these provisions, and in some cases, it may be appropriate to revise the plan document to cover anticipated forfeiture expenses.
Litigation on this topic is still evolving, so it will be helpful to continue to observe developments in this space. We also note that litigation surrounding cybersecurity procedures continues to develop, and plan sponsors should review their plan cybersecurity protection measures to understand the details of their plan. The regulatory landscape for ESG and alternative investment funds (e.g., private equity and real estate investment funds) is in flux, and we believe this will be an evolving question during 2026.
Conclusion
The end of the year presents an opportunity for plan sponsors to review their qualified retirement plans and consider whether their retirement plans have any legally required amendments and whether they want to add any of the features discussed above even before a legally required deadline. Please do not hesitate to contact your Alston & Bird attorney to discuss any of the plan amendments or other action items.
If you have any questions, or would like additional information, please contact one of the attorneys on our Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation team.
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