Employee Benefits Security Administration December 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document contains a proposal to make changes required by the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) to the Form 5500 Annual Return/Report filed for employee benefit plans under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code (Code). The proposed changes supplement proposed revisions to the Form 5500 Annual Return/Report published, prior to the enactment of the PPA, by the Department of Labor, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (Agencies) in the Federal Register on July 21, 2006, at 71 FR 41616 (July 2006 Proposal). This supplemental proposal replaces the Schedule B, ``Actuarial Information,'' with separate actuarial schedules for single-employer plans (Schedule SB) and multiemployer plans (Schedule MB) to reflect PPA changes in funding and annual reporting requirements; adds new questions to the Schedule R, ``Retirement Plan Information,'' to collect additional information regarding single and multiemployer defined benefit pension plans required by the PPA; and proposes having the Form 5500-SF Annual Return/Report (Short Form 5500) included in the July 2006 Proposal serve as the simplified report required by the PPA for plans with fewer than 25 participants. The revisions are being proposed for 2008 plan year filings and would 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 Department of Labor (the Department), in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)), provides the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and continuing collections of information. This helps the Department assess the impact of its information collection requirements and minimize the reporting burden on the public and helps the public understand the Department's information collection requirements and provide the requested data in the desired format. Currently, the Employee Benefits Security Administration is soliciting comments on the proposed extension of the information collection provisions of Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption (PTE) 88-59. A copy of the information collection request (ICR) may be obtained by contacting the office listed in the ADDRESSES section of this notice.

The Department of Labor (the Department), in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)), provides the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and continuing collections of information. This helps the Department assess the impact of its information collection requirements and minimize the reporting burden on the public and helps the public understand the Department's information collection requirements and provide the requested data in the desired format. Currently, the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) is soliciting comments on the proposed extension of the information collection provisions of Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption (PTE) 80-83. A copy of the information collection request (ICR) may be obtained by contacting the office listed in the ADDRESSES section of this notice.

Section 601 of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (the PPA) (Pub. L. 109-280) amended section 408 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code (the Code) to add a prohibited transaction exemption for the provision of investment advice to participants and beneficiaries of individual account plans that permit the direction of assets in their accounts, and for certain related transactions, if the investment advice is provided under an ``eligible investment advice arrangement,'' as defined in the statute. The purpose of this notice is to request information from the public relating to the requirements in the new provisions that a computer model which serves as the basis for an eligible investment advice arrangement be certified as meeting specific criteria, and that information regarding certain fees and compensation be provided to participants and beneficiaries.

This document contains a Model Notice of Pending Election of Multiemployer Plan Status. The Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA), Public Law 109-280, permits certain plans that would otherwise be treated as multiemployer plans to elect to revoke a prior election to be treated as single-employer plans, and certain other plans to elect to be treated as multiemployer plans. The PPA requires plan administrators to provide notice of such an election to each plan participant and beneficiary, each labor organization representing such participants or beneficiaries, and each employer that has an obligation to contribute to the plan, and further requires the Secretary of Labor to prescribe a model notice.