The compliance date is approaching for the automatic rollover rules and TrendCepts is presently in the process of sending out amendments and participant notices to all of you with instructions for compliance and additional options available to you as plan sponsors.

Additional guidance has also been issued by the Internal Revenue Service on the deadline for such amendments to be adopted. IRS Notice 2005-5 provides that a plan must be in "operational compliance" with the new requirements by March 28, 2005. But plan documents do not need to be amended for these new requirements until the last day of the first plan year ending on or after March 28, 2005. (There is, however, a delayed effective date for governmental and church plans.)

IRS Notice 2005-5 also provides that a plan will not be in violation of its terms if it complies with the new requirement before the plan is (1) actually amended or (2) postpones automatic cash-out distributions until an amendment is adopted. However, there is NO EXTENSION of the deadline for amending your plan.

Finally, if you decide to eliminate the new automatic rollover requirements by lowering your plan's automatic cash-out limit to $1,000, the deadline for amending your plan is still the same.