Q1 2026 Newsletter
April 14, 2026
As we move further into 2026, one thing is clear: retirement plan administration continues to get more complex and more important to get right.
This past quarter, we published several articles addressing common (and costly) misconceptions, emerging compliance challenges, and structural issues we’re seeing across plans of all sizes. Below is a quick summary of what you may have missed, along with a few important reminders for the year ahead.
What We're Seeing
Across Retirement Plans:
When evaluating retirement plan service providers, business leaders often evaluate pricing, overlooking the importance of quality, or service levels. Obvious service quality questions may include: How quickly can we expect a response when we have questions? Will questions be answered accurately the first time? Will the person responding be at all familiar with our particular plan(s), or will it be a general customer service agent? While these are important considerations in vendor selection decisions in many service industries, there’s an additional layer with retirement plan administration which is a fundamental reality: it is inherently complex. As we explore in the article below, that complexity makes operational errors not just possible, but likely, as proactive oversight is typically not found with low-cost, low-quality retirement plan service providers.
Most business owners focus most of their attention on revenue and growth, thinking about taxes only when necessary. Yet the structure of a business plays a pivotal role in retirement planning, influencing contribution limits, deductions, and long-term outcomes. Understanding the relationship between entity type and retirement planning is critical to maximizing contributions, deductions, and long-term retirement income.
For many employers, payroll is the operational backbone of the organization. It touches compensation, taxes, benefits, and reporting—so it’s understandable why retirement plans are often bundled there as well. If payroll providers offer a 401(k) solution, it can feel efficient to keep everything under one roof. But efficiency in payroll processing is not the same as effectiveness in retirement plan administration. As retirement plan regulations grow more complex—particularly under SECURE 2.0—many plan sponsors are discovering that payroll platforms simply weren’t designed to handle the interpretive, judgment-based responsibilities required to administer a qualified retirement plan.
It’s Not Just You: 2026 Feels More Complicated for Retirement Plans, because It IS More Complicated!
If administering a retirement plan feels more complicated than it used to, you’re not imagining it. The changes taking effect in 2026 are a continuation of several years of phased-in legislation, inflation adjustments, and regulatory guidance, much of it stemming from the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022. Add in changes that took effect in 2024 and 2025, and the result is a retirement plan environment with more moving parts than many employers and participants are equipped to manage. Here’s what’s changing, and why 2026 stands out.
There are an estimated two million non-profit organizations in the U.S. This includes public charities, private foundations, and other types of organizations, such as schools and religious institutions. These entities operate under different tax laws and structures than for-profit companies do.
2026 Compliance Calendar
Beyond tracking dates, effective compliance requires coordination between payroll, plan documents, and regulatory requirements. To help you stay ahead, we’ve put together a 2026 Retirement Plan Compliance Calendar outlining key deadlines throughout the year for calendar-year plans.
2026 Annual Limits Reminder
Updated contribution limits and thresholds are now in effect and may impact both plan administration and participant strategy.
We continually update the Annual Limits page on our website.
We hope you enjoyed our article roundup! If you have ideas for topics you'd like us to cover, our team of experts at Primark Benefits is here to assist you and answer any questions you may have.
As we wrap up the second quarter of 2026, one trend continues to stand out: retirement plans are becoming increasingly specialized. Whether driven by changing regulations, unique workforce structures, or evolving business goals, employers are finding that a one-size-fits-all approach simply doesn't work. This quarter, we explored the unique retirement plan challenges facing several industries—including medical and dental practices, construction companies, architecture and design firms, wineries, and California employers navigating CalSavers requirements. We also continued our series on the hidden risks of low-quality retirement plan services, highlighting how operational complexity, fragmented accountability, and misaligned incentives can create costs that extend far beyond administrative fees. For employers still evaluating their retirement plan options, we also discussed opportunities that many business owners overlook, including the ability to establish retirement plans after filing a tax extension and potentially generate meaningful tax savings. Below is a recap of the articles we published this quarter. We hope they provide practical insights to help you reduce risk, improve plan performance, and make more informed retirement plan decisions.
When considering retirement plans, employers in the private sector are often focused on designing a compliant plan that meets the needs of their owners and employees. While that process for private sector entities can certainly be complex, nonprofit organizations face an entirely different set of considerations, related to funding, staffing, governance, and organizational structure, to name just a few. From seasonal employees and grant-funded positions, to creative executive retention strategies and legacy retirement programs, to smaller budgets serving a mission, there is so much behind the scenes that can affect a nonprofit organization’s ideal retirement plan. At Primark Benefits, we've worked with nonprofit organizations of all sizes throughout our history, from large institutions with hundreds of participants to small community organizations with fewer than 20 employees. In addition, many members of our management team serve on nonprofit boards across the country for organizations and causes near and dear to their hearts. All that combined experience has validated what makes a retirement plan most successful: understanding the organization itself.
The Mega Backdoor Roth strategy has become one of the most talked-about retirement planning techniques in recent years. Financial publications regularly highlight its potential to help participants contribute far more than the standard deferral limits allow. However, while the strategy can be extremely valuable, an important limitation is often overlooked: due to nondiscrimination testing requirements, some employer-sponsored retirement plans may prevent certain participants from taking full advantage of it. Before assuming a Mega Backdoor Roth will work in your plan, it is important to understand how the strategy operates—and where it can run into trouble.