New, small plans have to be auto enroll--for how long?

[BG5150]

If new small plans have to be auto enroll soon, how long do they have to keep that provision?

Can they set it up for like a month and then take it away?  After the first plan year?  does it have to stay in indefinitely?  Until over 120 poeple?

[C. B. Zeller]

If you're referring to the requirement that most new 401(k) plans be EACAs starting in 2025, as added by SECURE 2.0 sec. 101, there is no exception for large plans. As I read it, for any plan year in 2025 or later, if any 401(k) or 403(b) plan does not contain EACA provisions, it fails to be a qualified CODA, unless it meets one of the exceptions in 414A(c). The only exceptions are for SIMPLEs, plans established before 12/29/2022, governmental and church plans, plans sponsored by businesses less than 3 years old, and plans sponsored by businesses which normally employ no more than 10 employees.

[BG5150]

Ok, but how long must they keep it?  Ad infinitum?

[Peter Gulia]

Until the plan’s sponsor no longer desires a § 401(k) arrangement.

(Or until Congress has changed the law, and that change has become applicable.)