Moving money out of an old 401(k) has long meant navigating a patchwork of paperwork that varies from one plan administrator to the next, with delays and lost forms a common complaint from savers trying to consolidate accounts. Treasury and the IRS have now put out a standardized set of sample forms meant to smooth that process, though the new paperwork is optional and doesn’t cover every kind of account-to-account move.
What the New Sample Forms Cover, and What They Skip
On Aug. 12, 2026, Treasury and the IRS issued Notice 2026-49, which provides sample forms and a proposed set of procedures for direct rollovers between retirement plans, and between a retirement plan and an individual retirement account. The notice was required under Section 324 of the SECURE 2.0 Act, which directed the agencies to simplify the rollover process for both the people moving their money and the administrators processing the paperwork on the other end.
The forms apply specifically to plan-to-plan rollovers and plan-to-IRA rollovers, the two situations where a saver is typically leaving an employer’s 401(k) or similar workplace plan behind. They do not cover IRA-to-IRA transfers, which already follow a separate, more established process and were left outside the scope of this guidance. A saver moving money from one IRA custodian to another will not see any change from this notice; it is aimed squarely at the employer-plan side of a rollover.
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Why SECURE 2.0 Section 324 Required This Guidance
Congress built the rollover-simplification mandate into the SECURE 2.0 Act specifically because inconsistent paperwork between plans had become a documented source of delay and lost money for savers moving jobs or consolidating retirement accounts. Every plan administrator historically designed its own distribution and rollover forms, which meant a saver leaving one employer for another could face two entirely different sets of questions, signature requirements, and documentation depending on which two plans were involved in the move. IRS Chief Executive Officer Frank Bisignano said the agency continues looking for ways to make tax-law compliance less difficult and confusing, describing the sample forms as a way to make the process simpler for both plan participants and the administrators handling the transfer on the back end.
Four Sample Forms and a Common Five-Step Process
According to the IRS’s announcement of the notice, the guidance offers four sample forms built around a common five-step process for moving retirement savings between an employer plan and another employer plan, or between an employer plan and an IRA. The forms are designed to limit how much personal identifying information changes hands during the transfer and to reduce the administrative burden on the saver initiating the move, rather than requiring each plan to design its own version of the same basic paperwork from scratch.
The full text and formatting of the sample forms, along with the proposed procedures plan administrators would follow when using them, are laid out in Notice 2026-49 itself, which also outlines additional guidance the agencies are considering to further speed up the rollover process in the future. That forward-looking section of the notice suggests this release is an initial step rather than a finished rulebook for how rollovers will work going forward.
Optional for Plan Sponsors, Not a New Requirement
Nothing about this notice forces a change on anyone. Use of the sample forms and the proposed procedures is optional for plan sponsors, meaning an employer’s retirement plan administrator can adopt the new paperwork, keep its existing process, or use some combination of the two. A saver rolling over a 401(k) in the coming months could encounter either the new standardized forms or a plan’s own existing paperwork, depending entirely on whether that specific plan sponsor has chosen to adopt Notice 2026-49’s format. There is no penalty, deadline, or compliance obligation attached to a plan sponsor’s decision either way.
What This Looks Like for Someone Changing Jobs
For an individual saver, the practical effect of this notice depends entirely on whether both the sending and receiving plans have chosen to use the new sample forms. If they have, a job change that involves moving a 401(k) balance into a new employer’s plan, or into an IRA, could involve less duplicated paperwork and fewer plan-specific quirks than in the past. If neither plan has adopted the new format, the rollover process looks exactly as it did before Notice 2026-49 was issued, following the same direct-rollover and 60-day-rollover options the IRS has long described for moving money between retirement accounts. Savers who want to know which set of forms they’ll be filling out should ask their plan administrator directly rather than assume the new standardized version is already in use everywhere.
The Oct. 23 Comment Deadline and What Could Change
Treasury and the IRS are still gathering feedback before deciding whether, or how, to make any part of this guidance more permanent. Comments from interested parties, including plan sponsors, administrators, and industry groups, are due by Oct. 23, 2026, with instructions for submitting them included in the notice. The agencies also used the notice to ask for input on additional steps that could further streamline the rollover process, signaling that the four sample forms released this month may not be the final version of what standardized rollover paperwork eventually looks like.
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by a human editor. Figures are linked to their primary sources; where a claim could not be verified from the public record, we say so.
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