In our 2019 End of Year Plan Sponsor “To Do” List (Part 3) Qualified Plans, we suggested that sponsors of all qualified retirement plans should be on the lookout for the Internal Revenue Service’s (“IRS”) 2019 Required Amendments List (“2019 RA List”). The IRS recently published Notice 2019-64, which contains the 2019 RA List, https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-19-64.pdf.

Part A of the 2019 RA List addresses changes in qualification requirements that require amendments to most plans (or to the types impacted by the change). The 2019 RA List contains two changes in Part A: those required by final regulations regarding hardship distributions and those required by final regulations regarding collectively bargained cash balance/hybrid defined benefit plans.

Part B of the 2019 RA List addresses other changes in qualification requirements that may require an amendment to certain plans. The 2019 RA List does not include any items in Part B.

As a reminder, the remedial amendment deadline for disqualifying provisions resulting from items on the 2019 RA List is December 31, 2021 (for certain government plans, this deadline is later).