SECURE 2.0 Amendment Deadline Extended for IRAs, Other Retirement Plans

Why It Matters

The additional year gives plan sponsors critical time to align retirement accounts with SECURE 2.0, reducing compliance risk and potential penalties across the industry.

Key Takeaways

• IRS extends amendment deadline to Dec 31 2027
• Extension applies to IRAs, SEP, and SIMPLE IRA plans
• Model amendment language still under development
• Treasury may grant further deadline extensions
• Retroactive rules need amendment by first plan year post‑2025

Pulse Analysis

The SECURE 2.0 Act, enacted in 2022, introduced a suite of reforms aimed at modernizing retirement savings and expanding access for workers. While its provisions promise higher contribution limits and automatic enrollment, they also impose new documentation and amendment requirements on existing plans. By extending the amendment deadline to Dec. 31 2027, the IRS acknowledges the practical challenges of drafting compliant plan language, especially for custodians and issuers who must reconcile SECURE 2.0 with earlier legislation such as the original SECURE Act and pandemic‑related tax relief measures.

For plan sponsors and fiduciaries, the extra year translates into a concrete window to update governing instruments, insurance contracts, and employer‑sponsored SEP or SIMPLE arrangements. Tax advisors are now tasked with reviewing each plan’s current language against the forthcoming model amendment templates, ensuring retroactive applicability where permitted. The notice also signals that Treasury may further prolong the timeline, prompting stakeholders to adopt a flexible compliance roadmap rather than a single‑date sprint. Operationally, firms should prioritize a gap analysis, engage legal counsel to draft amendment language, and communicate timelines to participants to avoid surprise tax consequences.

From a market perspective, the deadline extension mitigates the risk of widespread non‑compliance that could trigger penalties and erode confidence in retirement products. It also gives financial institutions time to develop standardized amendment kits, potentially lowering costs for smaller plan sponsors. As the Treasury evaluates additional extensions, industry participants should monitor forthcoming guidance closely, as any further delay could reshape strategic planning for retirement‑plan rollouts and influence the competitive dynamics among custodians, insurers, and fintech platforms offering compliance solutions.

SECURE 2.0 amendment deadline extended for IRAs, other retirement plans

By Martha Waggoner · January 27, 2026

The IRS released guidance on Monday in Notice 2026‑9 extending the deadline for amending individual retirement arrangements (IRAs), simplified employee pension (SEP) arrangements, and SIMPLE IRA plans to comply with the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (Division T of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, P.L. 117‑328).

The deadline was extended by one year to at least Dec. 31, 2027, because the IRS is still developing model language that IRA trustees, custodians, and issuers can use to amend an IRA for compliance with SECURE 2.0 and earlier laws—the SECURE Act of 2019 (Division O of the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, P.L. 116‑94); the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, P.L. 116‑136; and the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020 (Division EE of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, P.L. 116‑260). Earlier guidance (Notice 2024‑2) set a deadline of Dec. 31, 2026, for IRAs under Sec. 408(a), the notice said.

The date could be extended further if the Treasury secretary decides that is necessary, the notice said.

The new deadline covers the following documents:

1. The written governing instrument for an IRA under Sec. 408(a) or (h);

2. The contract issued by an insurance company with respect to an IRA that is an individual retirement annuity under Sec. 408(b);

3. An employer’s SEP arrangement under Sec. 408(k); or

4. An employer’s SIMPLE IRA plan under Sec. 408(p).

Section 501 of SECURE 2.0 set rules for retroactive plan amendments, allowing a plan or IRA to be treated as being operated in accordance with the plan terms during a specified period by reason of a plan amendment made pursuant to any amendment made by SECURE 2.0 or pursuant to any regulation under the legislation, provided that:

• The required amendment is adopted no later than the last day of the first plan year beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2025, or a later date that Treasury prescribes;

• The amendment is applied retroactively to the effective date of the SECURE 2.0 provision “or the regulations thereunder”; and

• The plan is operated as if the amendment were already in effect during the period beginning on the effective date of the SECURE 2.0 provision “or the regulations thereunder.”

— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Martha Waggoner at [email protected].