Back to the 1990’s – Annual Paper Statements for 401(k) Plan Participants

Ah, the 1990’s was a great time. Madonna’s “Vogue,” Jon Bon Jovi’s “Blaze of Glory,” Bryan Adams’ “Everything I Do for You,” and Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” played on your Sony Walkman. The iPhone was a decade away, which meant people only worked eight hours a day, not being on-call throughout the evening and on weekends.

And now, a return to having an at least annual paper statement for your 401(k) participants.

Yes, we know that the Department of Labor has issued two regulations about electronic statements (you know, a 21st century kind of thing), in both 2002 and 2020. However, apparently some plan participants are not opening e-mails on their Hotmail account to find their statements (“Billy, go help great-grandpa open his e-mail”).

So here’s the new rule, broken down by when an employee became a participant in the plan and whether or not that participant has access to a work e-mail address (called “wired-at-work” in the regulation).

A participant in the plan prior to 2026 and who is wired-at-work or who agreed to electronic disclosures: This group of participants can continue to receive electronic statements without the new paper statement requirement. However, those electronic statements must include language that the participant can get paper copies delivered to them instead of electronic copies and how to make that election.

A participant in the plan prior to 2026 and others who are not wired-at-work: This group of participants should get a paper notice informing them that they have the right to elect to get one paper statement of their account per year.

Participants entering the plan in 2026 or later: These participants (including beneficiaries and alternate payees) must get a one-time notice explaining their right to elect to receive electronic statements. If they don’t make that affirmative election for electronic statements, the default is to receive one paper statement each year.

Participants previously covered by the 2020 DOL rule: Under that old rule, a participant could opt-out of receiving electronic statements and thus be provided with paper statements. Employers were required then to provide a paper notice informing the participant each time an electronic disclosure was provided that they could switch to paper statements. In this new DOL rule, that opt-out is changed to an opt-in requirement, meaning a participant must affirmatively opt-in in order to receive electronic statement.

What to Do

It may be easier to just provide all participants, beneficiaries receiving benefits, and alternate payess with a once-per-year paper statement. But in the end, each plan sponsor needs to weigh the risks of mail theft and cybersecurity against using a 21st century tool.

Who knows? The DOL might one day dial-up their AOL account and realize that some people might even have personal e-mails that could be used for electronic disclosures and not burden our forests.