The Internal Revenue Code requires plan administrators of qualified retirement plans (e.g., 401(k) plans, defined benefit plans and ESOPs), 403(b) plans, and eligible 457(b) plan maintained by a governmental employer to provide a written explanation to any recipient of an eligible rollover distribution. This notice is typically referred to as the Special Tax Notice.

Recently released IRS Notice 2020-62 modifies the model notices to explain: (1) the exception to the 10% additional tax for qualified birth or adoption distributions, and (2) the increase in age (to age 72) for minimum required distributions for employees born after June 30, 1949. The safe harbor explanations also include other minor modifications to improve their clarity.