IRS Issues Guidance on Deadline for Discretionary Amendment to Pre-Approved Plans

Revenue Procedures 2016-37 and 2019-3 provide that the general deadline to adopt a discretionary amendment to a pre-approved qualified plan or pre-approved 403(b) plan is the end of the plan year in which the plan amendment is operationally put into effect. Each Revenue Procedure also contains an exception, which provides in part that the general deadline does not apply when a statute or IRS guidance sets forth an earlier deadline. In Revenue Procedure 2020-40, the IRS recently modified this exception to provide that the general year-end deadline does not apply when a statute or IRS guidance sets forth an earlier or later deadline. Importantly, this change only applies to pre-approved plans that are tax qualified and not to individually designed plans. Revenue Procedure 2020-40 is available here.