On Friday, July 3, Treasury posted its 2026 regulatory agenda, which includes the following retirement and executive compensation items:

Final regulations

• Required minimum distributions ("RMDs") as updated by SECURE 2.0 (expected July 2026)
• Automatic enrollment requirements (July 2026)
• Long-term, part-time employee requirements for 401(k) plans under SECURE and SECURE 2.0 (expected September 2026)
• Exception to the “unified plan rule” (also known as the one-bad apple rule) for multiple employer plans ("MEPs") (expected September 2026)

Proposed regulations

• Safe harbor rules for required distributions, missing participants and uncashed checks (expected July 2026)
• Employer matching contributions on qualified student loan payments (expected July 2026)
• Special rollovers from a 529 account to a Roth IRA (expected July 2026)
• Modifications to the Section 415(c) compensation definition regarding back pay (expected July 2026)
• Determining the minimum funding requirements for single employer defined benefit plans (expected July 2026)
• Controlled group remuneration and the covered employee definition under Section 162(m) (expected July 2026)
• Implementing SECURE Act and SECURE 2.0 modifications to Sections 401(k) and 401(m) (expected September 2026)
• Determining “common interest” for purposes of the unified plan rule exception for Section 413(e) MEPs (expected September 2026)
• Nondiscrimination relief for closed defined benefit plans (expected September 2026)
• Definition of church plan (expected October 2026)
• IRA rules, including treatment of contributions and distributions, deduction rules, and taxes on excess contributions (expected November 2026)

The proposed regulations on employer matching contributions for qualified student loan repayments are a new addition to the agenda.

Notably, a number of retirement and executive compensation items on prior agendas no longer appear on the current agenda, even though Treasury has not yet issued the proposed regulations, including:

• Further guidance on the application of Section 409A to nonqualified deferred compensation plans (expected May 2026)
• Determination of governmental plan status (expected May 2026)
• Definitions of a bona fide severance plan and substantial risk of forfeiture for deferred compensation plans of state and local government and tax-exempt entities (expected May 2026)
• Indian tribal governmental plans (expected May 2026)
• Additional rules regarding pension plan funding and benefit restrictions (expected May 2026)
• Updates to vesting rules for tax qualified retirement plans (expected May 2026)