Guidance documents database

Regards a statutory provision under which a contributing employer to a multiemployer plan that sells its assets to an unrelated buyer does not withdraw from the plan if (among other things) the buyer posts a bond or escrow for 5 years and the sales contract makes the seller secondarily liable if the buyer withdraws during the 5 plan years after the sale. Addresses whether that exception to withdrawal applies if the buyer initially posts a bond for only the first two years.

PBGC did not issue a premium refund for plan that it found was not terminated.

Pharmacist is a professional individual for purposes of the Professional Service Employer plan exemption.

Plan termination date agreed to by PBGC and the company was after participants had constructive notice of termination .

Addresses the special partial withdrawal rule for the retail food industry, and the meaning of “retail food industry.”

Professional service employer plans and individual account plans are excluded from coverage.

A profit-sharing benefit in the plan is nonforfeitable and a pension benefit because the plan states it may be paid as an annuity. Because PBGC guarantees and pays the benefit as an annuity, it won’t be paid in a lump sum if the plan is insufficient.

Addresses the determination of withdrawal liability and the procedure to dispute withdrawal liability.

Plan does not meet the Professional Service Employer plan exemption. Plan is covered under Title IV because number of active participants exceeds 25.

Discusses the difference between a multiemployer plan and a multiple employer plan and the termination provisions applicable to the latter.

Provides guidance on the bonding and escrow requirements imposed on employers that sell their assets.

Clarifies that any multiemployer plan that is not amended to adopt a non-presumptive allocation method is required to allocate unfunded vested benefits using the presumptive method.

Describes the penalty for failing to timely provide required premium related information to PBGC.

Answers common questions on liability and notice requirements following a substantial cessation of operations.

Plan is not an Individual account plan because it does not provide for individual accounts for each participant. Plan is covered under Title IV.

A letter of credit can satisfy the bond or escrow requirement of the trucking industry exemption from withdrawal liability.

Implementation guidelines do not generally apply to a transfer of assets from a single-employer plan to a multiemployer plan, followed by the termination of the single-employer plan, but because plan termination is a prerequisite to a reversion of plan assets to an employer, PBGC will not recognize a plan termination when it is intended as a means to recover surplus plan assets without satisfying termination requirements.

A proposal to allocate post termination gains in plan assets to increase a participant’s benefits is not permissible.

PBGC examines financial information of an employer and all trades or businesses under the same common control to assess the employer’s hardship or necessity for deferred payments to meet liability.

Addresses whether foreign entities that are part of a controlled group are jointly liable for withdrawal liability.

Whether an employer that purchased a division of another company and rehired its employees would be treated as a successor corporation and assume liability for existing plans.

Licensed veterinarians are “licensed practitioners of the healing arts” for purposes of the Professional Service Employer plan exemption.

Profit sharing plan is an Individual account plan which is exempt from coverage under Title IV.

Validity of demand for withdrawal liability is subject to arbitration.

Plan maintained by a Council created by a state statute meets the Governmental plan coverage exemption.