As the trifecta of holiday madness approaches, maintaining retirement plans can fall by the wayside. Benefit Plans Plus recently published a year-end retirement plan checklist outlining major annual notices plan sponsors are required to give to maintain the tax-qualified status of their plans.

Safe-Harbor 401(k) annual plan notice – Traditional safe-harbor 401(k) plans must provide an annual safe-harbor notice to all plan participants describing the safe-harbor contribution and other material plan features.

Qualified default investment alternative notice – Participant-directed 401(k) or profit sharing plans must provide an annual notice to all participants that have been defaulted into a QDIA. One of the QDIA notice requirements is that it be "separate" from other notices provided. However, the QDIA notice may be (but is not required to be) combined with the safe-harbor notice and the automatic enrollment notice.