PBGC Asking for Comments on Proposed Rulemaking

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is proposing miscellaneous technical corrections, clarifications, and improvements to its regulations on Reportable Events and Certain Other Notification Requirements, Annual Financial and Actuarial Information Reporting, Termination of Single-Employer Plans, and Premium Rates.

It is asking for comments from the public.

The major provisions of its proposed rulemaking would amend PBGC’s regulations on:

• Reportable Events and Certain Other Notification Requirements, by eliminating possible duplicative reporting of active participant reductions, clarifying when a liquidation event occurs and providing additional examples for active participant reduction, liquidation, and change in controlled group events;
• Annual Financial and Actuarial Information Reporting, by eliminating a requirement to submit individual financial information for each controlled group member, adding a new reporting waiver and clarifying others, and providing guidance on assumptions for valuing benefit liabilities for cash balance plans;
• Termination of Single-Employer Plans, by providing more time to submit a complete PBGC Form 501 in the standard termination process; and
• Premium Rates, by expressly stating that a plan does not qualify for the variable rate premium exemption for the year in which it completes a standard termination if it engages in a spinoff in the same year, clarifying the participant count date special rule for transactions (e.g., mergers and spinoffs), and by modifying the circumstances under which the premium is prorated for a short plan year resulting from a standard termination.

Recently, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved changes to reportable events filings to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) for defined benefit (DB) plans.