In 2006, Congress signed the Pension Protection Act which made some changes to the rules governing the operation of pension plans and significant changes to the funding rules for defined benefits plans. For most defined benefit plans and cash balance plans, this has resulted in two amendments to their plan:
- A PPA amendment (adopted usually in 2009).
- A PPA/436 amendment to be signed this year.
A small number of our clients will have no or one amendment instead for one of the following reasons:
- When they adopted their plan, the required language was already included.
- The required language was incorporated into a restatement of the plan document.
If Nova 401(k) Associates maintains your documents, we will prepare the amendment. If you have an outside attorney who maintains your document, please discuss with your attorney whether or not an amendment is required. When speaking with your attorney, we suggest you refer to the amendment as the “436” amendment. We are available to speak with your attorney or review amendments prepared by your attorney.
The PPA/436 amendment updates the Plan document
to reflect the following provisions of PPA:
- Limited availability of lump sum form of payment (and other accelerated payments) when the Plan’s funded status is below 80%
- Automatic freezing of plan accruals when the Plan’s funded status is below 60%
A plan is required to adopt these amendments even if the Plan’s funded status is well above 100% and the plan’s operation is unaffected by the amendment.
Please feel free to call us if you have questions!