October 29, 2009 – The IRS has issued Notice 2009-86, by which the IRS has extended the deadline for certain governmental retirement plans (as identified in IRC Sec. 414(d)) to comply with normal retirement age (NRA) regulations under IRC Sec. 411(a)(8). These regulations generally require that a plan’s NRA must be reasonably representative of the industry in which the covered workers are employed. The regulations state that an NRA of age 62 or older will be deemed to satisfy the requirements (age 50 for plans covering primarily qualified public safety employees), an NRA between ages 55 and 62 will satisfy the requirements on a facts-and-circumstances basis, and those plans with an NRA below age 55 will be presumed not to satisfy the requirements, unless proven otherwise.
The regulations were to become effective for nongovernmental plans as of May 22, 2007. This deadline was extended by Notice 2007-69 for plans that would have been required to change their definition of NRA, the regulations becoming effective for plan years beginning after June 30, 2008.
The regulations for governmental plans were not to become effective until 2009 plan years, which was subsequently delayed by Notice 2008-98 to 2011 plan years. Now, Notice 2009-86 further delays the effective date for governmental plans to 2013 plan years.
Notice 2009-86 may be accessed as follows.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-09-86.pdf