2025 required amendment list for retirement plans released

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The IRS recently issued the 2025 Required Amendments (RA) List (Notice 2025-60 (PDF - 171 KB)) for individually designed qualified retirement plans and Section 403(b) plans.

Following the elimination of the five-year staggered remedial amendment cycles effective Jan. 1, 2017, (Rev. Proc. 2016-37) the IRS changed the timing rules for adopting amendments to existing individually designed plans, particularly for required amendments. The deadline for required amendments is now generally based on the RA List, an annual IRS publication.

If an item appears on the RA List for a particular year, the plan sponsor must adopt any amendments needed to conform to the item no later than the end of the second calendar year beginning after the item first appears on the list. This timing rule also applies to non-calendar-year plans. An amendment required by the 2025 RA List must be adopted by the end of the 2027 calendar year, regardless of the plan year.

The deadline for discretionary amendments is the last day of the plan year in which the discretionary change is first effective, though earlier deadlines exist for certain types of discretionary amendments.

2025 required and optional changes

The IRS divides the RA List into three parts: 

• Part A: Changes that require an amendment to most plans or to most plans of the type affected by the change
• Part B: Changes unlikely to require amendments to most plans but that may require one because of an unusual plan provision
• Part C: Changes that relate to optional plan provisions previously adopted

The 2025 RA List includes potential required amendments under Parts A and B but none under Part C.

Part A contains a modification to the required minimum distribution rules, with amendments required to reflect certain legislative changes to the required minimum distribution (RMD) rules made by the SECURE Act of 2019 and the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, as reflected in final regulations issued by the IRS in July 2024.

The RMD rules generally require distributions from certain tax-favored retirement plans (e.g., Section 401(k) plans, Section 403(b) plans, individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and eligible Section 457(b) plans) after an employee or account owner reaches a specific age and after death. The rules set forth a required beginning date (RBD) for distributions and identify the period over which the employee’s or account owner’s entire interest must be distributed.

The SECURE Act of 2019 made two significant changes to the pre-existing RMD rules:

• Increasing the RBD age threshold from age 70-1/2 to 72, effective for employees attaining age 70-1/2 after 2019
• Replacing the five-year rule for employees who die before their RBD with a new 10-year rule that applies for all post-death distributions except for certain eligible designated beneficiaries (e.g., surviving spouses, minor children), effective for deaths occurring after 2019

The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 made additional changes to the RMD rules, including:

• Increasing the RBD age threshold from age 72 to 73, effective for participants attaining age 72 after 2022
• Increasing the RBD age threshold from age 73 to 75, effective for participants attaining age 73 after 2032

Part B contains one change in requirements that might require an amendment because of an unusual plan provision, related to the reform of partnership and trust attribution rules (89 Fed. Reg. 106848). This regulation extends the partnership and trust attribution rules to the determination of whether a parent-subsidiary controlled group exists under Section 414(c) (trades or businesses under common control). The change applies to plan years beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2025.

In addition, the notice explains that the following periodic changes, even though they are not directly referenced in the RA List, are automatically included:

• The various dollar limits that are adjusted for cost-of-living increases under the tax code
• The spot segment rates used to determine the applicable interest rate under Section 417(e)(3)
• The applicable mortality table under Section 417(e)(3)

The IRS anticipates that few plans should have language that will need to be amended on account of these changes, as most plans automatically incorporate these changes by reference.

The SECURE 2.0 Act, as extended by IRS Notice 2024-2, provides that the general required amendment deadline for a nongovernmental plan to adopt the changes made by the SECURE Act, the CARES Act, the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020, and the SECURE 2.0 Act is Dec. 31, 2026. Certain other terms and conditions must also be satisfied, such as operating the plan in accordance with any changes that were effective or adopted before the amendment deadline.

Although the 2024 and 2025 RA Lists include a number of these legislative changes, they do not include all of the changes made by these acts or otherwise extend the general required amendment deadline for these changes. Until and unless the IRS issues any further guidance, plan sponsors of individually designed and Section 403(b) plans generally should have at least until Dec. 31, 2026, to adopt any required amendments for these legislative changes.

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