The Internal Revenue Service and Department of Treasury today issued Notice 2026-13, which updates the safe harbor explanations that retirement plan administrators can use to inform participants about the tax implications of rollover distributions. The updates align the explanations with legislative changes from the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 and reflect tax law changes made after Aug. 6, 2020.
The guidance in Notice 2026-13 provides two safe harbor explanations that plan administrators can use when providing written explanations about eligible rollover distributions to retirement plan participants: one for non-Roth accounts and another for Roth accounts.
The notice also addresses, among other things, changes to the 10% additional tax on early withdrawals from retirement plans, the required minimum distribution rules for surviving spouses, and the increased age for determining required beginning dates for required minimum distributions.
Plan administrators may customize these safe harbor explanations as appropriate. For instance, if the plan does not hold after-tax employee contributions, the plan administrator could eliminate that section of the safe harbor explanation.
Today’s guidance modifies the safe harbor explanations previously provided in Notice 2020-62.
Using the updated safe harbor explanations helps plan administrators satisfy ERISA and Internal Revenue Code disclosure requirements when participants receive eligible rollover distributions. Plan sponsors and administrators should review and update their 402(f) rollover notices to align with Notice 2026-13 to ensure compliance and reduce fiduciary and operational risk.
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