SMM needed for change in Trustees?

[Diane Thompson]

Do we need to produce a Summary of Material Modifications for a 401(k) plan when the trustees are changing?

[Bri]

Plan participants need (or at least, are required to receive) that information regarding the investment of their benefit funds, so I'd say yes.

[Bill Presson]

Agree with Ms Bri. I don't have a reg cite, but look here: https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/retirement-topics-notices

 

Midway down the page is this:

Notice when the plan is amended

When the plan is amended or when the information in the Summary Plan Description (SPD) has changed, participants should receive a Summary of Material Modifications (SMM). The SMM would generally include changes to the following:

• name and address of the employer, plan sponsor, plan administrator, trustees;
• collective bargaining agreements;
• vesting;
• eligibility for participation & plan benefits;
• circumstances which may result in plan disqualification;
• circumstances which may result in denial or loss of benefits or ineligibility;
• plan year-end date; and
• benefit claim procedures and remedies available for denied claims.

The SMM must be provided no later than 210 days after the close of the plan year for which the modification was adopted. The SMM or changes in information in the SPD don't need to be furnished separately if the changes or modifications are described in a timely SPD.

[Peter Gulia]

One uses a summary of material modifications to disclose something that otherwise would be in a summary plan description.

The Labor department’s rule calls a plan’s administrator to “furnish a summary description of any material modification to the plan and any change in the information required by section 102(b) of [ERISA] and § 2520.102-3 of these regulations [see a subsection quoted below] to be included in the summary plan description[.]”

29 C.F.R. § 2520.104b-3(a) (emphasis added) https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/subtitle-B/chapter-XXV/subchapter-C/part-2520/subpart-F/section-2520.104b-3#p-2520.104b-3(a).

The required contents of a summary plan description include “[t]he name, title[,] and address of the principal place of business of each trustee of the plan[.]”

29 C.F.R. § 2520.102-3(h) https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/subtitle-B/chapter-XXV/subchapter-C/part-2520/subpart-B/section-2520.102-3#p-2520.102-3(h).

[Diane Thompson]

Thanks to everyone.