SunGard Relius

Contrary to rumors currently circulating, IRS Notice 2009-97 (issued on Friday, 12/11/09) DOES NOT provide for a general extension of the deadline to adopt a good-faith PPA amendment. The amendment only delays the deadline (to the last day of the 2010 plan year) for 3 specific PPA provisions:

The Code Section 436 provisions (only a DB plan issue);

The PPA requirements for hybrid DB plans (e.g., cash balance plans) such as vesting, age nondiscrimination, conversion, and interest rates (but not whipsaw relief), and

The diversification requirement for DC plans (diversification out of employer securities).

You may remove (but are not required to remove) these provisions from the PPA amendments that we have provided. However, the remaining provisions of the PPA amendments MUST STILL BE adopted by the last day of the 2009 plan year. Therefore, due to the timing of this IRS Notice, we will NOT be providing updated PPA amendments that have these provisions removed. If you do or have adopted a PPA amendment with these provisions in place, you have lost nothing. If a further amendment is required to deal with subsequent guidance on these issues, we will provide it.

Remember, the PPA deadline is the last day of the 2009 plan year. A calendar year plan cannot wait until April 30, 2010 to adopt this amendment.

In addition, there has been NO extension of the deadline to comply with the written plan requirement of the 403(b) regulations. All 403(b) plans, other than certain church plans, must be adopted or amended no later than December 31, 2009. Exactitude for each detail is not required, but the document must represent a good faith attempt to comply with the final 403(b) regulations. The IRS has formally announced that plans which amend into IRS-approved prototypes or which apply for a determination letter will have a remedial amendment period in which to correct mistakes in the document, but the document must be in place before the end of the year.

Advanced Pension Conference. We will discuss “Plan Restatements and Beyond" with Robert Richter and other important and timely topics in our Advanced Pension Conference (APC). The APC is scheduled for February 17-19 in Orlando, Florida. For more information, go to our web site.