SUMMARY: 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 the collection of information under its regulation on Payment of Premiums (29 CFR part 4007), including Form 1-ES, Form 1, and Schedule A to Form 1, and related instructions (OMB control number 1212-0009; expires February 28, 1998). The collection of information also includes a certification (on Schedule A) of compliance with requirements to provide certain notices to participants under the PBGC's regulation on Disclosure to Participants (29 CFR part 4011), and surveys of plan administrators to assess compliance with those requirements. This notice informs the public of the PBGC's intent and solicits public comment on the collection of information.
DATES: Comments should be submitted by October 14, 1997.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to the Office of the General Counsel,
suite 340, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K Street, NW.,
Washington, DC 20005-4026, or delivered to that address between 9 a.m.
and 4 p.m. on business days. Written comments will be available for
public inspection at the PBGC's Communications and Public Affairs
Department, suite 240 at the same address, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on
business days.
Copies of the collection of information may be obtained without
charge by writing to the PBGC's Communications and Public Affairs
Department at the address given above
[[Page 43382]]
or calling 202-326-4040. (For TTY and TDD, call 800-877-8339 and
request connection to 202-326-4040). The premium payment regulation can
be accessed on the PBGC's home page at http://www.pbgc.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Harold J. Ashner, Assistant General
Counsel, or Deborah C. Murphy, Attorney, 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
request connection to 202-326-4024).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 4007 of Title IV of the Employee
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (``ERISA'') requires the Pension
Benefit Guaranty Corporation (``PBGC'') to collect premiums from
pension plans covered under Title IV pension insurance programs.
Pursuant to ERISA section 4007, the PBGC has issued its regulation on
Payment of Premiums (29 CFR part 4007). Section 4007.3 of the premium
payment regulation requires plans, in connection with the payment of
premiums, to file certain forms prescribed by the PBGC, and
Sec. 4007.10 requires plans to retain and make available to the PBGC
records supporting or validating the computation of premiums paid.
The forms prescribed are PBGC Form 1-ES and Form 1 and (for single-
employer plans only) Schedule A to Form 1. Form 1-ES is issued, with
instructions, in the PBGC's Estimated Premium Payment Package. Form 1
and Schedule A are issued, with instructions, in the PBGC's Annual
Premium Payment Package.
The premium forms are needed to determine the amount and record the
payment of PBGC premiums, and the submission of forms and retention and
submission of records are needed to enable the PBGC to perform premium
audits. The plan administrator of each pension plan covered by Title IV of ERISA is required to file one or more of the premium payment forms
each year. The PBGC uses the information on the premium payment forms
to identify the plans paying premiums and to verify whether plans are
paying the correct amounts. That information and the retained records
are used for audit purposes.
In addition, section 4011 of ERISA and the PBGC's regulation on
Disclosure to Participants (29 CFR part 4011) require plan
administrators of certain underfunded single-employer pension plans to
provide an annual notice to plan participants and beneficiaries of the
plans' funding status and the limits on the Pension Benefit Guaranty
Corporation's guarantee of plan benefits. The participant notice
requirement only applies (subject to certain exemptions) to plans that
must pay a variable rate premium. In order to monitor compliance with
Part 4011, plan administrators must indicate on Schedule A to Form 1
that the participant notice requirements have been complied with. The
PBGC has also conducted surveys of plan administrators to assess
compliance.
The collection of information under the regulation on Payment of
Premiums, including Form 1-ES, Form 1, and Schedule A to Form 1, and
related instructions has been approved by OMB under control number
1212-0009 through February 28, 1998. This collection of information
also includes the certification and surveys of compliance with the
participant notice requirements (but not the participant notices
themselves). The PBGC intends to request that OMB extend its approval
of this collection of information for another three years. (The
participant notices constitute a different collection of information
that has been separately approved by OMB.)
Under the Retirement Protection Act of 1994, certain special
premium rules for regulated public utility company plans cease to apply
for plan years beginning after 1997. The premium forms and instructions
are being revised for 1998 to reflect this change. The revised forms
and instructions will also include provisions regarding the use of
electronic funds transfers as an optional form of payment for premiums
and for PBGC payment of premium refunds, and will permit plan
administrators whose filings are prepared by consultants to request
that the PBGC no longer send them unneeded forms packages. Other
appropriate revisions (e.g., clarifying and editorial changes) are also
being made.
The PBGC estimates that it receives responses annually from about
49,500 plan administrators and that the total annual burden of the
collection of information is about 4,043 hours and $11,236,125.
The PBGC is soliciting public comments to--
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 through 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 8th day of August, 1997.
David M. Strauss,
Executive Director, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
[FR Doc. 97-21404 Filed 8-12-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7708-01-P