Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's regulations on Benefits Payable in Terminated Single-Employer Plans and Allocation of Assets in Single-Employer Plans prescribe interest assumptions for valuing and paying benefits under terminating single-employer plans. This final rule amends the regulations to adopt interest assumptions for plans with valuation dates in October 2008. Interest assumptions are also published on the PBGC's Web site (https://www.pbgc.gov).

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's regulations on Benefits Payable in Terminated Single-Employer Plans and Allocation of Assets in Single-Employer Plans prescribe interest assumptions for valuing and paying benefits under terminating single-employer plans. This final rule amends the regulations to adopt interest assumptions for plans with valuation dates in September 2008. Interest assumptions are also published on the PBGC's Web site (https://www.pbgc.gov).

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's regulations on Benefits Payable in Terminated Single-Employer Plans and Allocation of Assets in Single-Employer Plans prescribe interest assumptions for valuing and paying benefits under terminating single-employer plans. This final rule amends the regulations to adopt interest assumptions for plans with valuation dates in August 2008. Interest assumptions are also published on the PBGC's Web site (https://www.pbgc.gov).

This is a proposed rule to implement section 404 of the Pension Protection Act of 2006. Section 404 amended Title IV of ERISA to provide that when an underfunded, PBGC-covered, single-employer pension plan terminates while its contributing sponsor is in bankruptcy, sections 4022 and 4044(a)(3) of ERISA are to be applied by treating the date the sponsor's bankruptcy petition was filed as the termination date of the plan. Section 4022 determines which benefits are guaranteed by PBGC, and section 4044(a)(3) determines which benefits are entitled to priority in ``priority category 3'' in the statutory hierarchy for allocating the assets of a terminated plan. Thus, under the 2006 amendments, when a plan terminates while the sponsor is in bankruptcy, the amount of benefits guaranteed by PBGC and the amount of benefits in priority category 3 are fixed at the date of the bankruptcy filing rather than at the plan termination date. This will, in most cases, reduce the amount of guaranteed benefits and the amount of benefits in priority category 3.

This is a final rule to amend the bylaws of Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's regulations on Benefits Payable in Terminated Single-Employer Plans and Allocation of Assets in Single-Employer Plans prescribe interest assumptions for valuing and paying benefits under terminating single-employer plans. This final rule amends the regulations to adopt interest assumptions for plans with valuation dates in May 2008. Interest assumptions are also published on the PBGC's Web site (https://www.pbgc.gov).

This proposed rule amends PBGC's regulation on Allocating Unfunded Vested Benefits to Withdrawing Employers (29 CFR part 4211) to implement provisions of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (Pub. L. c109-280) that provide for changes in the allocation of unfunded vested benefits to withdrawing employers from a multiemployer pension plan, and that require adjustments in determining an employer's withdrawal liability when a multiemployer plan is in critical status. Pursuant to PBGC's authority under section 4211(c)(5) of ERISA to prescribe standard approaches for alternative methods, the proposed rule would also amend this regulation to provide additional modifications to the statutory methods for determining an employer's allocable share of unfunded vested benefits. In addition, pursuant to PBGC's authority under section 4219(c)(1)(D) of ERISA, this proposed rule would amend PBGC's regulation on Notice, Collection, and Redetermination of Withdrawal Liability (29 CFR part 4219) to improve the process of fully allocating a plan's total unfunded vested benefits among all liable employers in a mass withdrawal. Finally, this proposed rule would amend PBGC's regulation on Terminology (29 CFR part 4001) to reflect a definition of a ``multiemployer plan'' added by the Pension Protection Act of 2006.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation has granted a request from the P&O Ports Florida, Inc., (``P&O Ports'') for a variance from the bond/escrow requirement of section 4204(a)(1)(B) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, with respect to the Tampa Maritime Association-International Longshoremen's Association Pension Plan. A notice of the request for a variance from the requirement was published on August 3, 2007 (72 FR 43297). The effect of this notice is to advise the public of the decision on the request.

This proposed rule would amend PBGC's regulation on Annual Financial and Actuarial Information Reporting to implement the provisions of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, Public Law 109-280 (``PPA 2006''), which changed the standards for determining which persons are required to report under ERISA section 4010 (Authority to Require Certain Information) and made other changes to the reporting requirements. In addition to providing proposed guidance on implementing the PPA 2006 changes, PBGC is proposing to waive reporting in certain cases for controlled groups with aggregate plan underfunding of $15 million or less, to modify the standards for determining which plans are exempted from the actuarial information requirements, to revise the actuarial information requirements to conform with other PPA 2006 changes, and to provide other clarifications.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (``PBGC'') is requesting that the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') extend approval, under the Paperwork Reduction Act, of a collection of information in its regulation on Liability for Termination of Single- Employer Plans, 29 CFR Part 4062 (OMB control number 1212-0017; expires February 29, 2008). This notice informs the public of the PBGC's request and solicits public comment on the collection of information.

For a number of years, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation has published in the Federal Register a monthly notice informing the public of the interest rates and assumptions to be used under parts 4006, 4007, 4062, 4219, and 4281 of PBGC regulations. These rates and assumptions are published elsewhere (or can be derived from rates published elsewhere) and are also available on PBGC's Web site, http: / /www.pbgc.gov. Now that plans subject to PBGC regulations are required to make premium filings electronically through PBGC's Web site, PBGC has concluded that it is no longer necessary to duplicate the posting of these interest rates and assumptions on its Web site by also publishing the monthly Federal Register notices. Accordingly, this notice informs the public that the monthly Federal Register notices of PBGC interest rates and assumptions will no longer be published and describes how to access the rates and assumptions on PBGC's Web site.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's regulations on Benefits Payable in Terminated Single-Employer Plans and Allocation of Assets in Single-Employer Plans prescribe interest assumptions for valuing and paying benefits under terminating single-employer plans. This final rule amends the regulations to adopt interest assumptions for plans with valuation dates in January 2008. Interest assumptions are also published on the PBGC's Web site (https://www.pbgc.gov).

This is a proposed rule to implement section 506 of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (Pub. L. 109-280) which amends sections 4041 and 4042 of ERISA. These amendments require that a plan administrator disclose information it has submitted to PBGC in connection with a distress termination filing, and that a plan administrator or plan sponsor disclose information it has submitted to PBGC in connection with a PBGC-initiated termination. The new provisions also require PBGC to disclose the administrative record in a PBGC-initiated termination. The disclosures must be made to an affected party upon request.

This notice informs the public of the PBGC flat premium rates for premium payment years beginning in 2008. These rates can be derived from information published elsewhere but are published in this notice for the convenience of the public.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) intends to request that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) extend approval, under the Paperwork Reduction Act, of collections of information in PBGC's regulations on multiemployer plans under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). This notice informs the public of PBGC's intent and solicits public comment on the collections of information.

This document contains revisions to the Form 5500 Annual Return/Report forms, including the Form 5500 Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan and a new Form 5500-SF, Short Form Annual Return/ Report of Small Employee Benefit Plan (Short Form 5500 or Form 5500- SF), filed for employee pension and welfare benefit plans under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended (ERISA), and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (Code). The Form 5500 Annual Return/Report forms, including the schedules and attachments, are an important source of financial, funding, and other information about employee benefit plans for the Department of Labor, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and the Internal Revenue Service (the Agencies), as well as for plan sponsors, participants and beneficiaries, and the general public. The revisions to the Form 5500 Annual Return/Report forms contained in this document, including the new Short Form 5500, are intended to streamline the annual reporting process, reduce annual reporting burdens, especially for small businesses, update the annual reporting forms to reflect current issues and agency priorities, incorporate new reporting requirements contained in the Pension Protection Act of 2006, and facilitate electronic filing. Some of the forms revisions will apply on a transitional basis for the 2008 reporting year before all of the forms revisions are fully implemented for the 2009 reporting year as part of the switch under the ERISA Filing Acceptance System (EFAST) to a wholly electronic filing system (EFAST2). The forms revisions affect employee pension and welfare benefit plans, plan sponsors, administrators, and service providers to plans subject to annual reporting requirements under ERISA and the Code.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's regulations on Benefits Payable in Terminated Single-Employer Plans and Allocation of Assets in Single-Employer Plans prescribe interest assumptions for valuing and paying benefits under terminating single-employer plans. This final rule amends the regulations to adopt interest assumptions for plans with valuation dates in December 2007. Interest assumptions are also published on the PBGC's Web site (https://www.pbgc.gov).

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's regulations on Benefits Payable in Terminated Single-Employer Plans and Allocation of Assets in Single-Employer Plans prescribe interest assumptions for valuing and paying benefits under terminating single-employer plans. This final rule amends the regulations to adopt interest assumptions for plans with valuation dates in November 2007. Interest assumptions are also published on the PBGC's Web site (https://www.pbgc.gov).

This notice informs the public of the interest rates and assumptions to be used under certain Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation regulations. These rates and assumptions are published elsewhere (or can be derived from rates published elsewhere), but are collected and published in this notice for the convenience of the public. Interest rates are also published on the PBGC's Web site (https://www.pbgc.gov).

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (``PBGC'') is requesting that the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') extend approval, under the Paperwork Reduction Act, 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 September 30, 2007). This notice informs the public of PBGC's request and solicits public comment on the collection of information.

This notice informs the public of the interest rates and assumptions to be used under certain Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation regulations. These rates and assumptions are published elsewhere (or can be derived from rates published elsewhere), but are collected and published in this notice for the convenience of the public. Interest rates are also published on the PBGC's Web site (https://www.pbgc.gov).

This notice advises interested persons that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation has received a request from P&O Ports Florida, Inc. for a variance from the bond/escrow requirement of section 4204(a)(1)(B) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, with respect to the Tampa Maritime Association- International Longshoremen's Association Pension Plan (the ``Plan''). Section 4204(a)(1) provides that the sale of assets by an employer that contributes to a multiemployer pension plan will not constitute a complete or partial withdrawal from the plan if the transaction meets certain conditions. One of these conditions is that the purchaser post a bond or deposit money in escrow for the five-plan-year period beginning after the sale. The PBGC is authorized to grant individual and class variances or exemptions from this requirement. Before granting a variance or exemption, the statute and PBGC regulations require PBGC to give interested persons an opportunity to comment on the variance or exemption request. The purpose of this notice is to advise interested persons of the variance or exemption request and solicit their views on it.

This notice informs the public of the interest rates and assumptions to be used under certain Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation regulations. These rates and assumptions are published elsewhere (or can be derived from rates published elsewhere), but are collected and published in this notice for the convenience of the public. Interest rates are also published on the PBGC's Web site (https://www.pbgc.gov).

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's regulations on Benefits Payable in Terminated Single-Employer Plans and Allocation of Assets in Single-Employer Plans prescribe interest assumptions for valuing and paying benefits under terminating single-employer plans. This final rule amends the regulations to adopt interest assumptions for plans with valuation dates in July 2007. Interest assumptions are also published on the PBGC's Web site (https://www.pbgc.gov).