When to File

General

This section describes when premium filings are due. A filing includes both the submission of required data and the payment of any required premium. In general, if a filing is not made by the due date, late payment charges will apply. Late payment charges include both interest charges and penalty charges. See "Late Payment Charges" section for more information on the ramifications of missing a deadline.

The date by which a filing must be made varies depending on the number of participants for whom premiums were owed in the prior plan year. In addition, special rules apply if:

• The plan year has been changed since last year,
• The plan is a New or Newly-covered Plan,
• The due date falls on a weekend or Federal Holiday, or
• Disaster relief has been granted.

Each of these situations is discussed below.

Filing Due Dates for Pre-existing Plans with no change in plan year

This section describes filing due dates for the most common situation—plans that are neither New Plans nor Newly-covered Plans and had no change in plan year since the prior plan year.

For these plans, the filing due dates vary based on the Plan Size. For this purpose, Plan Size is based on the number of participants for whom Flat-rate Premiums were payable for the plan year preceding the Premium Payment Year.

• Small Plans (prior year Participant Count—fewer than 100) – Both the Flat-rate Premium and the Variable-rate Premium are due the last day of the 16^th full calendar month following the end of the plan year preceding the Premium Payment Year. For example, for calendar-year plans, the due date is generally April 30^th after year-end.
• Mid-size Plans (prior year Participant Count—100 or more but fewer than 500)

  ‑ Flat-rate Premium – The due date is the 15^th day of the 10^th full calendar month in the plan year (e.g., generally October 15^th during the plan year for calendar-year plans). ¹

  ‑ Variable-rate Premium – The due date is the same as the due date for the Flat-rate Premium. However, if the Premium Funding Target is not yet known, an estimated Variable-rate Premium may be paid, and an amended filing made at a later date to reconcile the final Variable-rate Premium with the estimate. Note that this reconciliation date is the same date all premiums are due for Small Plans (see above).

  For rules related to estimating and reconciling Variable-rate Premiums, see the "Correcting Filings and Reconciling Estimates" section. For information on how to avoid late payment penalties if an estimated Variable-rate Premium is paid on the due date, see "Automatic Penalty Waiver for Late Variable-Rate Premiums – Large and Mid-size Plans" in the "Late Payment Charges" section. Note – there is no way to avoid interest charges on late payments.

• Large Plans (prior year Participant Count – 500 or more)

  ‑ Flat-rate Premium – The due date is the last day of the 2^nd full calendar month in the plan year (i.e., generally, the last day of February for calendar-year plans).² However, if the final Flat-rate Premium is not known by that time, an estimate may be paid, and a reconciliation filing made at a later date to reconcile the final Flat-rate Premium with the estimate. Note that for plans that pay a Variable-rate Premium, this reconciliation date is the same date the Variable-rate Premium is due. For information on how to avoid late payment penalties if an estimated Variable-rate Premium is paid on the due date, see "Automatic Penalty Waiver for Late Variable-Rate Premiums – Large and Mid-size Plans" in the "Late Payment Charges" section.

  For rules related to estimating and reconciling Flat-rate Premiums, see the "Correcting Filings and Reconciling Estimates" section. For information on how to avoid late payment penalties if an estimated Flat-rate Premium is paid on the due date, see "Automatic Penalty Waiver for Late Flat-rate Premiums – Large Plans" in the "Late Payment Charges" section. Note – there is no way to avoid interest charges on late payments.

  ‑ Variable-rate Premium – Same as for Mid-size Plans. See above.

Because Plan Size for due date purposes is based on the Participant Count for the prior plan year, a New Plan or a Newly-covered Plan is not considered a Small, Mid-size or Large Plan for this purpose (regardless of how many participants are in the plan). Thus, the above rules do not apply to New or Newly-covered Plans. See "Filing Due Dates for New and Newly-covered Plans" below. There are also special due date rules for pre-existing plans changing plan years. See "Filing Due Dates for Plans Changing Plan Years" below.

The following table uses a calendar-year plan to illustrate the information explained above:

Example – Consider a pre-existing calendar-year plan that had 525 participants on December 31, 2009 and 490 participants on December 31, 2010. Because the Participant Count was 500 or more as of the Participant Count Date for the 2010 plan year (i.e., 12/31/2009), the plan is considered a Large Plan for the 2011 plan year and therefore, the 2011 Flat-rate Premium is due on February 28, 2011 (the Large Plan Flat-rate Premium due date).

For 2011, the Flat-rate Premium due is based on 490 participants (the Participant Count on 12/31/2010). The fact that premiums are due for fewer than 500 participants for 2011 does not negate the fact that the early Flat-rate Premium due date applies for 2011.

However, for the 2012 plan year, the plan will be considered a Mid-size Plan (because the Participant Count for 2011 was more than 100 and fewer than 500 participants). Therefore, for 2012, the Flat-rate Premium is not due until October 15, 2012.

Saturday, Sunday, and Federal Holidays

If a premium filing due date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or Federal Holiday, the due date is extended automatically to the next business day. However, if your premium payment is filed after the extended due date, interest and penalties will be computed from the actual (unextended) due date. See “Late Payment Charges” section.

Example – The Flat-rate and Variable-rate Premium for a Small Plan with a plan year beginning on March 1, 2011, normally would be due on June 30, 2012. Because that day is a Saturday, the due date is Monday, July 2, 2012. If the filing is made after July 2, 2012, interest and penalty charges will be computed from June 30, 2012.

The following table shows the due dates for pre-existing plans for plan years beginning in 2011 (assuming there has been no change in the plan year).

Filing Due Dates for New and Newly-covered Plans

New Plans and Newly-covered Plans are not classified as Small, Mid-size or Large Plans because those classifications are based on the number of participants for whom premiums were payable for the plan year preceding the Premium Payment Year. Therefore, special due date rules apply to these first-time filers. For New Plans and Newly-covered Plans, both the Flat-rate Premium and the Variable-rate Premium are due on the later of:

• The last day of the 16^th full calendar month that began on or after the first day of the Premium Payment Year (in the case of a Newly-covered Plan) or that began on or after the effective date (in the case of a New Plan), or
• 90 days after the Plan Adoption Date.

The following examples show how the filing rules work for plans filing for the first time.

Example 1 – A new calendar-year plan was adopted and effective on January 1, 2011, and had 650 participants on that date. Although there are more than 500 participants, the plan is not considered a Large Plan for 2011 because Plan Size is based on the number of participants for whom 2010 premiums were required to be paid (which, in this example, was zero). Because the plan is a New Plan, the 2011 Flat-rate Premium is not due on February 28, 2011 (the Flat-rate Premium due date applicable for pre-existing Large Plans). Instead, the plan would be required to pay its Flat-rate and Variable-rate Premiums by April 30, 2012. As a New Plan, its 2011 Participant Count Date is January 1, 2011 (the first day of the plan year), so the 2011 Flat-rate Premium is based on a Participant Count of 650.

In 2012, this plan will be considered a Large Plan because the Participant Count for the 2011 plan year was above 500. As a Large Plan, the 2012 Flat-rate Premium will be due on February 29, 2012. Note that this is before the date 2011 premium payments are due (April 30, 2012). The 2012 Variable-rate Premium will be due on October 15, 2012.

Example 2 – A New Plan is adopted on December 1, 2011, and has a July 1 - June 30 plan year. The plan became effective on December 1, 2011. The filing due date for the plan’s first year (December 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012) is April 1, 2013,³ regardless of the Participant Count on the Participant Count Date (December 1, 2011).

Example 3 – A professional service employer maintains a plan with a calendar plan year. If this type of plan has never had more than 25 active participants since September 2, 1974, it is not a covered plan under ERISA section 4021. On October 18, 2011, the plan, which always had 25 or fewer active participants, has 26 active participants. It is now a covered plan and will continue to be a covered plan regardless of how many active participants the plan has in the future. Note that the Premium Payment Year begins on January 1, 2011, even though the plan did not become covered until after that date. The due date for the plan’s first premium filing is April 30, 2012 (the last day of the 16th full calendar month that began on or after the first day of the Premium Payment Year).

Filing Due Dates for Plans Changing Plan Years

For a plan that changes its plan year, the filing due dates for the short year are unaffected by the change in plan year. For the first plan year under the new cycle, the due date is whichever is later:

• 30 days following the date on which a plan amendment changing the plan year was adopted, or
• The date the filing would otherwise be due.

The following examples show the due dates for plans changing plan years.

Example 1 – By plan amendment adopted on December 1, 2011, a Small Plan changes from a plan year beginning January 1 to a plan year beginning June 1. This results in a short plan year beginning January 1, 2011, and ending May 31, 2011. Both the Flat-rate and Variable-rate Premiums for the short plan year are due April 30, 2012.

For the new plan year beginning June 1, 2011, the due date for the Flat-rate and Variable-rate Premium is the date the filing would otherwise be due (October 1, 2012⁴) because that is later than 30 days after the date the plan amendment changing the plan year was adopted (December 31, 2011).

Example 2 – By plan amendment adopted on January 7, 2012, and made retroactively effective to April 1, 2011, a Mid-size Plan changes from a plan year beginning on March 1 to a plan year beginning on April 1. For the March 1, 2011 - March 31, 2011 short plan year, both the Flat-rate and Variable-rate Premium are due December 15, 2011. For the new plan year beginning April 1, 2011, the due date for the Flat-rate Premium and Variable-rate Premium is 30 days after the adoption of the plan amendment changing the plan year (February 6, 2012) because that is later than the date the premium would otherwise be due (January 17, 2012⁵).

Example 3 – By plan amendment adopted on July 8, 2011, and made retroactively effective to May 1, 2011, a Large Plan changes from a plan year beginning February 1 to a plan year beginning May 1. The plan has always had 500 or more participants. For the February 1, 2011 - April 30, 2011 short plan year, the Flat-rate Premium is due March 31, 2011, and the Variable-rate Premium is due November 15, 2011.

For the new plan year beginning May 1, 2011, the due date for the Flat-rate Premium is 30 days after the adoption of the plan amendment changing the plan year (August 8, 2011) because that is later than the date the Flat-rate Premium would otherwise be due (June 30, 2011).

The Variable-rate Premium for the first plan year in the new cycle is due on the date the Variable-rate Premium would otherwise be due (February 15, 2012) because that is later than 30 days after the adoption of the plan amendment (August 8, 2011).

Note regarding Disaster Relief: From time to time PBGC grants disaster relief by waiving late filing and payment penalties for certain plans that are unable to meet the filing deadline as a result of a major disaster (e.g., a hurricane). Disaster Relief Announcements are available on PBGC’s Web site (http://www.pbgc.gov/).

Additional information

You can find detailed rules about filing due dates in PBGC’s filing, issuance, computation of time, and record retention regulation (29 CFR Part 4000). You can access this regulation through the Practitioners Page of PBGC’s Web site (http://www.pbgc.gov/).

¹Technically, the due date is the 15th day of the 10th full calendar month following the end of the plan year preceding the Premium Payment Year. In situations involving a short plan year, this due date may not be "in the plan year."

²Technically, the due date is the last day of the 2nd full calendar month following the end of the plan year preceding the Premium Payment Year. In situations involving a short plan year, this due date may not be "in the plan year."

³The actual due date, March 31, 2013, is a Sunday.

⁴The actual due date, September 30, 2012, is a Sunday.

⁵The actual due date, January 15, 2012, is a Sunday and Monday, January 16th is a federal holiday.