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Governmental Plan Compliance Deadlines

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Sherry A. Stein
Foster Swift Employment, Labor & Benefits Quarterly (Republished in Foster Swift Municipal Law News)
December 2009

Qualified retirement plans that are maintained by governmental employers must comply with various tax law changes. The deadlines by which they must comply with those changes have, however, been extended in several instances. The most notable of those extensions are discussed below.

1. The EGTRRA Restatement Requirement. Every governmental qualified retirement plan must be amended and restated to comply with EGTRRA. Any governmental employer that elected the delayed deadline for the EGTRRA restatement must complete that restatement on or before January 31, 2011. In order to obtain a retroactive determination letter from the IRS regarding that restatement, the document must also be filed with the IRS on or before January 31, 2011.

2. Pension Protection Act Amendments. Various provisions of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 must be reflected in governmental qualified retirement plan documents. Because of a postponed effective date for governmental retirement plans, these amendments must be adopted on or before the last day of the first plan year that begins on or after January 1, 2011. Thus, for example, a governmental retirement plan having a plan year that begins on July 1 must complete these amendments on or before June 30, 2012.

3. Normal Retirement Date Amendments. Any governmental qualified retirement plan that provides for a normal retirement age earlier than 62 must, in most circumstances, be amended to comply with new normal retirement date rules. These amendments must be adopted on or before the last day of the first plan year that begins on or after January 1, 2013. Thus, for example, a governmental retirement plan whose plan year begins on October 1 must adopt these amendments on or before September 30, 2014.