"Notice 2026-34 identifies recent changes in plan qualification requirements that the IRS will consider when reviewing defined benefit-qualified (DB-qualified) pre-approved plans for the fourth remedial amendment cycle (Cycle 4).... DB-qualified pre-approved plan document providers seeking Cycle 4 IRS opinion letters for the updated pre-approved plans they will ultimately offer for adoption by plan sponsors may submit applications from August 1, 2026, through July 31, 2027." MORE >>
"Two critical deadlines are converging. Calendar year plans must adopt amendments reflecting the SECURE Act, CARES Act, and SECURE 2.0 by December 31, 2026... and must complete pre-approved plan restatements within the current IRS cycle (anticipated to be July 2026-2028). Missing either deadline can jeopardize the tax-qualified status of the plan -- triggering immediate taxation of all plan assets to participants." MORE >>
"The 2026 Cumulative List covers a host of changes for recently issued regulations and significant pieces of legislation, including the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE 1.0) Act of 2019, the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, the Bipartisan American Miners Act of 2019, and the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020. Many of the legislation-related changes were explicitly excluded from Cycle 3 review." MORE >>
"The provisions included on the 2026 Cumulative List mostly relate to changes in law as a result of the SECURE Act, the CARES Act, and the SECURE 2.0 Act (along with some other changes along the way)." MORE >>
"By December 31, 2026, plan sponsors of certain qualified retirement plans, including 401(k) and defined benefit plans, must amend the plans to incorporate required and discretionary changes under the [CARES] Act, the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act, and the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022." MORE >>
"[P]lan sponsors that made discretionary changes to their plans during the 2025 plan year should ensure that such amendments are documented in a formal plan amendment before the end of the year.... The general deadline to amend a qualified plan (that is neither a government plan nor a collectively bargained plan) to reflect changes adopted under several recent federal laws (including the SECURE Act, the CARES Act, and SECURE. 2.0) is December 31, 2026." MORE >>
"[M]ost federal contractors know that it can be challenging to recover increased costs for paid leave stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic under Section 3610 of the [CARES] Act.... A recent Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA) decision provides claimants with some reason for hope by confirming that the ASBCA has Contract Disputes Act (CDA) jurisdiction over appeals from a contracting officer's denial of Section 3610 claims.... [E]stablishing jurisdiction is only the first step, and the path to recovering paid leave costs remains narrow and highly dependent on the facts of each case."
"[T]wo in three employers [offer] tuition assistance to employees. However, adoption rates below 5% signal this isn't the benefit employees really want.... The vast majority of employees -- 86% -- say they'd commit to a job for five or more years if they received student loan repayment benefits. Yet only 8% of employers offer such a benefit. These statistics suggest there is a market gap, which gives companies offering these solutions a recruiting and retention advantage."
"The Departments are issuing these FAQs to clarify how the COVID-19 coverage and payment requirements under the FFCRA and CARES Act will change when the PHE ends. Specifically ... plans and issuers are not required to provide coverage for items and services related to diagnostic testing for COVID-19 that are furnished after the end of the PHE, and if they provide such coverage, they may impose cost-sharing requirements, prior authorization, or other medical management requirements for such items and services."
8 Q&As covering:
COVID-19 diagnostic testing;
Rapid coverage of preventive services and vaccines for coronavirus;
Extension of certain timeframes for employee benefit plans subject to ERISA and the Code, participants, and beneficiaries affected by the COVID-19 outbreak;
Special enrollment in group health plan and group or individual health insurance coverage after loss of eligibility for Medicaid or Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage or after becoming eligible for premium assistance under Medicaid or CHIP;
Benefits for COVID-19 testing and treatment and health savings accounts (HSAs)/high deductible health plans (HDHPs).
Also available: Medicaid-CHIP SEP Options Flyer, for individuals who may lose their Medicaid or Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage after March 31, 2023. MORE >>
"After the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, group health plans will no longer be required to cover COVID-19 diagnostic testing (including over-the-counter tests) at no cost to individuals.... While many plans must continue to cover COVID-19 vaccines at no cost to employees from an in-network provider, the requirement to cover COVID-19 vaccines out-of-network will generally lapse after the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency.... The end of the COVID-19 national emergency also means that the extensions of certain time frames for employee benefit plans are expected to end on July 10, 2023 (60 days after the end of the national emergency).... Many employees and dependents who are currently enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP coverage may lose eligibility for that coverage after March 31, 2023."
"In general, after May 11, 2023, group health plans will no longer be required to cover testing, preventive services, and vaccines for COVID-19 without cost-sharing. However, the requirement under the CARES Act that non-grandfathered group health plans must cover in-network preventive services and vaccines for COVID-19 is not tied to the ending of the PHE."
Mar. 6, 2023. "Reminders: ... The additional tax on early distributions doesn't apply to qualified disaster distributions, including 2020 coronavirus-related distributions.... The age restriction for contributions to a traditional IRA has been eliminated.... Individuals who reach age 70-1/2 on January 1, 2020, or later may delay distributions until April 1 of the year following the year in which they turn age 72." [Also available: 2022 IRS Form 5329] MORE >>
260 pages. "This NPRM contains proposals to implement the CARES Act provisions relating to health information privacy; the Department intends to develop a separate rulemaking to implement the CARES Act antidiscrimination prohibitions." MORE >>
"[T]he Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 ... extended through 2025 the ability to treat reimbursements of student loans as tax-free under IRC Section 127. Creating or expanding an [educational assistance plan] may be an attractive way to recruit and retain dedicated employees, particularly during difficult labor market conditions." MORE >>
"While perhaps unexpected, these additional extensions allow the adoption of SECURE Act, Miners Act, CARES Act, and 2020 Relief Act changes with a single amendment. As a result, most plans will not be required to adopt IRS required changes this year. But, of course, plan sponsors who want to amend their plans now to reflect the CARES Act and 2020 Relief Act provisions, while still somewhat fresh in their mind, can proceed with little concern."
"While the IRS in Notice 2022-33 and Notice 2022-45 extended the deadline for retirement plans to adopt the amendments required by the SECURE Act and the CARES Act until December 31, 2025, there are still some amendments and other actions that may be required by the end of 2022.... [I]ndividually designed plans can choose to adopt amendments reflecting the SECURE Act and CARES Act changes despite the postponement ... There is value in keeping a plan up to date with operational changes." MORE >>
"[P]lan sponsors will be best served by amending their plans this year ... [M]ost retirement plans have been operated in accordance with some or all of the required and optional provisions of these laws since 2020. Further delay in the adoption of formal plan amendments will simply compound the opportunity for errors ... [C]onfusion and uncertainty may result if a plan sponsor maintains a retirement plan in misalignment with disclosure materials for an extended period."
"Notice 2022-33 extended the plan amendment deadline for non-governmental qualified retirement plans and 403(b) plans and for IRAs to December 31, 2025, for the SECURE Act, Miners Act and CARES Act changes.... Plan sponsors that elected to offer COVID-related distributions and COVID-related loan relief need to amend their plans by the end of the 2022 plan year. Similarly, plan sponsors that took advantage of Disaster Act relief need to amend their plans by the end of the 2022 plan year." MORE >>
"The most helpful delay applies to a CARES Act provision that requires changes to defined contribution plan language governing required minimum distributions.... [T]he December 31, 2025, amendment deadline applies to non-governmental qualified plans, 403(b) plans not maintained by a public school, and IRAs." MORE >>
"Notice 2022-33 does not extend the deadline under the CARES Act for adopting plan amendments reflecting special COVID-related relief for qualified individuals involving loans and in-service withdrawals.... The CARES Act provision permitting the waiver of RMDs for defined contribution plans for 2020 is eligible for the extended adoption date."
"[T]he December 31, 2025 amendment deadline generally will apply to both pre-approved plans and individually designed plans. Note that December 31, 2025 is a fixed date and the deadline is not tied to a plan's plan yea....Notice 2022-33 did not provide an extension of the amendment deadline for tax-exempt 457(b) plans." MORE >>
"[A]ny amendment must apply retroactively to the effective date of the applicable provision. (In the case of an optional amendment, the effective date is the date as of which the provision was implemented.) Furthermore, during the period after the effective date but prior to the adoption of any amendment, plans must be operated in good-faith compliance with the law and applicable IRS guidance."
"The extended amendment deadlines apply to both interim and discretionary amendments to preapproved qualified plans. IRS expects to include provisions of the SECURE, Miners and CARES acts in the cumulative list for the fourth remedial amendment cycle for preapproved DC plans ... Changes on the 2023 [required amendment] list will generally have the same amendment deadline as the new deadlines for the SECURE, Miners and CARES acts, allowing employers to adopt all amendments for all three laws at the same time."
"[Notice 2022-33] apparently did not extend the deadline to amend plans for changes to loans and in-service withdrawals due to coronavirus (CARES Act) ... Assuming this omission was intentional and the IRS doesn't issue a revised Notice extending that deadline, plan amendments for all CARES Act provisions other than the suspension [of required minimum distributions] still need to be adopted by the previous deadlines." MORE >>
"For most plans, the new amendment deadline is December 31, 2025.... [T]his is a fixed date which does not depend on the plan year or the employer's tax year. It applies to union and nonunion plans. There are several important exceptions." MORE >>
