On September 15, the IRS issued final Treasury regulations implementing provisions of the SECURE 2.0 Act related to age-50 catch-up contributions under employer-sponsored retirement plans.

While many plan administrators were hoping for additional time, the IRS did not extend the nonenforcement period with respect to the Roth catch-up requirement for higher earners, which must still be implemented by 2026.

This means that beginning January 1, 2026, if you participate in a governmental 457(b) plan, are age 50 and older and earned more than $145,000 (indexed annually) in the prior calendar year, you must make age-50 catch-up contributions on a Roth basis.

The change affects not only you as a plan participant, but also your employer and the plan administrator responsible for tracking wages, managing elections and ensuring proper tax reporting.

For governmental plans, especially those with multiple participating employers or those that may not have offered Roth contributions before, the Roth catch-up requirement introduces new complexity.

Click here to read the full article written by Lindsay Knowles, Shalina Schaefer, and Tara Schulstad Sciscoe published in Kiplinger’s Adviser Intel.