Proposed Submission of Information Collection for OMB Review; Comment Request; Termination of Single-Employer Plans, Missing Participants, 55121 [2013-21844]

Agencies

• Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation

[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 174 (Monday, September 9, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Page 55121]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-21844]


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PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY CORPORATION


Proposed Submission of Information Collection for OMB Review; 
Comment Request; Termination of Single-Employer Plans, Missing 
Participants

AGENCY: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

ACTION: Notice of intent to request extension of OMB approval.

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SUMMARY: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (``PBGC'') intends to 
request that the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') extend 
approval (with modifications), under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, of a collection of information in its regulations on Termination 
of Single-Employer Plans and Missing Participants, and implementing 
forms and instructions (OMB control number 1212-0036; expires December 
31, 2013). This notice informs the public of PBGC's intent and solicits 
public comment on the collection of information.

DATES: Comments should be submitted by November 8, 2013.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the Web site instructions for submitting comments.
     Email: paperwork.comments@pbgc.gov.
     Fax: 202-326-4224.
     Mail or Hand Delivery: Legislative and Regulatory 
Department, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K Street NW., 
Washington, DC 20005-4026.

PBGC will make all comments available on its Web site at www.pbgc.gov.
    Copies of the collection of information may be obtained without 
charge by writing to the Disclosure Division of the Office of the 
General Counsel of PBGC at the above address or by visiting that office 
or calling 202-326-4040 during normal business hours. (TTY and TDD 
users may call the Federal relay service toll-free at 1-800-877-8339 
and ask to be connected to 202-326-4040.) The regulations and forms and 
instructions relating to this collection of information are available 
on PBGC's Web site at www.pbgc.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jo Amato Burns, Attorney, or Catherine 
B. Klion, Assistant General Counsel, Office of the General Counsel, 
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K Street NW., Washington, DC 
20005-4026, 202-326-4024. (For TTY and TDD, call 800-877-8339 and ask 
to be connected to 202-326-4024.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under section 4041 of the Employee 
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, a single-employer 
pension plan may terminate voluntarily only if it satisfies the 
requirements for either a standard or a distress termination. Pursuant 
to ERISA section 4041(b), for standard terminations, and section 
4041(c), for distress terminations, and PBGC's termination regulation 
(29 CFR part 4041), a plan administrator wishing to terminate a plan is 
required to submit specified information to PBGC in support of the 
proposed termination and to provide specified information regarding the 
proposed termination to third parties (participants, beneficiaries, 
alternate payees, and employee organizations). In the case of a plan 
with participants or beneficiaries who cannot be located when their 
benefits are to be distributed, the plan administrator is subject to 
the requirements of ERISA section 4050 and PBGC's regulation on missing 
participants (29 CFR part 4050).
    When PBGC conducts post-termination audits, it sometimes finds that 
some notices to participants or beneficiaries are not provided, or that 
the notices are inadequate. To address this problem, PBGC is now 
proposing to request that copies of Notice of Intent to Terminate and 
sample Notices of Plan Benefits be attached to the Form 500 that is 
submitted to PBGC. This should impose no additional burden on plan 
administrators since they would simply be sending PBGC copies of 
notices that they must provide to participants. In addition, PBGC is 
making clarifying, simplifying, editorial, and other changes to the 
existing forms and instructions.
    PBGC estimates that 1,430 plan administrators will be subject to 
the collection of information requirements in PBGC's regulations on 
termination and missing participants and implementing forms and 
instructions each year, and that the total annual burden of complying 
with these requirements is 1,357 hours and $3,000,895. (Much of the 
work associated with terminating a plan is performed for purposes other 
than meeting these requirements.)
    PBGC is soliciting public comments to--
     Evaluate whether the collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility;
     Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the 
burden of the collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
     Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
     Minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
those who are to respond, including the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic 
submission of responses.

    Issued in Washington, DC, this 3rd day of September 2013.
Judith Starr,
General Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
[FR Doc. 2013-21844 Filed 9-6-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7709-02-P