Guidance documents database

Plan of Canadian company with mostly Canadian participants is not covered under Title IV.

Benefits which became vested solely on account of termination are not guaranteed.

Asset purchaser assuming some pension plans not successor corporation to the seller with respect to plans left with the seller; purchaser is liable for plans it assumed; liability to PBGC is not limited by any agreement between seller and purchaser as to the amount of liability purchaser was willing to assume.

Whether interest and penalties assessed by PBGC for the late payment of premiums respecting a multiemployer plan can be paid from plan assets.

Addresses (1) the calculation of annual withdrawal liability payments where an employer contributes to a multiemployer plan under multiple collective bargaining agreements requiring different contribution rates (the "contract-by-contract" approach); (2) using the contract-by-contract approach to calculate an employer's required contribution rate following plan termination by amendment; (3) whether alternate interest rates may be used to calculate the value of benefits under the plan following a mass withdrawal; (4) the correction of prior errors in valuation when calculating withdrawal liability.

Addresses a request to use employer contributions, PBGC financial assistance, and other monies received by a plan to pay union dues for retirees and beneficiaries.

Food broker is not a professional individual for purposes of the Professional Service Employer plan exemption.

Plan is a Governmental plan; water authority created by statute; board appt by town's council, funded by water assessments, fund pays for plan including deficits upon termination, participants are water authority's employees

Addresses trustees’ ability to adopt alternative withdrawal liability rules under ERISA sections 4219 and 4224 that modify an employer's withdrawal liability payment terms to take into account an employer's financial condition.

Discusses four plans in one plan document with one trust. Sale of a unit and separation of the unit’s assets from the master trust is not a reportable event, nor a termination of one of the plans.

Discusses PBGC’s interpretation of the present value of the normal form of benefit provided by the plan payable at normal retirement age.

PBGC must be given a multiemployer plan’s notice of merger.

Allocation of assets of terminating plan otherwise than in accordance with section 4044 is not allowed. Transfer of asset to a defined contribution plan requires that all participants be offered option for immediate receipt of their benefits.

PBGC did not guarantee benefits for a terminated plan, the termination of which was done in concert with the establishment of new retirement arrangements designed to provide substantially the same benefits.

A tax qualified defined benefit plan is covered.

Because plan does not provide for reversion of excess assets to sponsor, residual assets must be distributed to plan participants and their beneficiaries, pro rata, in relation to their accrued benefits.

Addresses the individual account plan coverage exemption.

State licensed planner whose company provides consulting services to assist municipal planning boards with development plans, land use studies and housing surveys is a Professional Service Employer and plan is exempt from Title IV coverage.

Where proposed language in CBA will not affect Title IV coverage, it will not prevent PBGC claim for employer liability.

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 and the sales contract makes the seller secondarily liable if the buyer withdraws during the 5 plan years after the sale. Addresses calculation of withdrawal liability of an employer that previously sold some of its assets where, under that statutory provision, the asset sale was not a withdrawal.

A plan maintained by a union and funded only by contributions from union members is not covered under Title IV

Whether PBGC will permit a plan to be restored after it has submitted its Notice of its Intent to Terminate.

Addresses the exclusion of employee contributions in withdrawal liability allocation fractions.

Management consultant is not a professional individual for purposes of the Professional Service Employer plan coverage exemption.

A death benefit is not a pension benefit and as such is treated as a liability before plan termination and must be deducted from the plan’s available assets.