The Pension Protection Act of 2006 made numerous changes to rules regarding employee benefit plans, including tax-qualified defined benefit and defined contribution plans.  Although the changes took effect at various dates (and plans have been required to operationally comply with each change as of the specified effective date), amendments reflecting these changes generally do not have to be adopted until the last day of the plan's 2009 plan year (December 31, 2009 for calendar year plans).  These amendments are referred to below as the "PPA amendments."

In addition, employers that currently maintain an IRS pre-approved defined contribution plan (prototype or volume submitter plan) must be required to amend and restate that plan by no later than April 30, 2010 in order to maintain such plan's qualified status (referred to as the "EGTRRA restatement").  However, because the PPA amendments are due by the end of the 2009 plan year, some employers may want to adopt both the required IRS restatement and the PPA amendments by the end of the 2009 plan year.

Urgent Action Required

Plan sponsors should immediately contact their plan document providers to make certain that the required PPA amendments will be timely prepared and adopted, including any required EGTRRA restatement if they maintain an IRS pre-approved defined contribution plan.

Read a summary of PPA's key changes.