When must participants receive an SPD and other retirement plan notices?

Retirement plans carry a heavier recurring notice load than most sponsors expect:

• SPD: within 90 days of a participant's coverage (120 days for a new plan); restated SPD every 5 years if amended, 10 years regardless; SMMs for material changes in between.
• Annual notices (typically 30–90 days before plan year start): safe harbor notice, qualified default investment alternative (QDIA) notice, automatic enrollment notice — as applicable to the plan's design.
• Fee disclosures: the participant-level 404a-5 disclosure annually plus quarterly statements of fees actually charged.

Recordkeepers generate most of these, but delivery responsibility is the plan administrator's. An annual notice calendar — what, who, when, how delivered, confirmation kept — turns the pile into a checklist and the checklist into evidence.