Employers sponsoring 401(k) or other types of defined contribution plans “pre-approved” by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) should be aware that the restatement deadline is quickly approaching. The IRS requires pre-approved plans to be amended and restated every six years to incorporate recent law changes. The deadline for the current restatement cycle, “Cycle 3,” is July 31, 2022. You should have received one or more notices from your current document provider. Failing to timely adopt a Cycle 3 restatement may jeopardize a plan’s favorable tax status.

Employers should also be aware that due to the timing of the IRS’s review and approval of pre-approved plan documents, Cycle 3 plan documents only includes law changes prior to February 1, 2017. Therefore, employers must separately adopt good-faith interim amendments for more recent law changes, for example the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.