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Guidance Document Database
The documents listed below are PBGC’s guidance documents. The contents of these documents do not have the force and effect of law, unless expressly authorized by statute or incorporated into a contract, and are not meant to bind the public in any way. These documents are intended only to provide clarity to the public regarding existing requirements under the law or agency policies.
If you would like to comment on an existing guidance document, please submit your comment, including your contact information, to the General Counsel at GuidanceComments@pbgc.gov or at Regulatory Affairs Division, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, Office of the General Counsel, 445 12th Street, SW, Washington, DC 20024-2101.
| Title | Issuance Date | Agency Identifier (indexed field) | Topics | Summary | Posted Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opinion Letter 88-05 | 4-1-1988 | PBGC Op Let 88-05 | Mass Withdrawal, Reallocation liability, Multiemployer | Addresses the relevance of events occurring after a plan’s reallocation record date on the reallocation liability calculation. |
2-28-2020 |
| Opinion Letter 74-14 | 11-13-1974 | PBGC Op Let 74-14 | tax qualification, Coverage | Plans that are tax-qualified under IRC 401(a) are covered by Title IV. Plans funded by flexible annuity policies may or may not be designed to achieve a defined benefit objective. |
2-28-2020 |
| Opinion Letter 95-03 | 12-22-1995 | PBGC Op Let 95-03 | Partial Withdrawal, Multiemployer | Addresses calculation of partial withdrawal credit using the "modified presumptive method" where contributions are averaged over a 10-year period. |
2-28-2020 |
| Opinion Letter 88-04 | 3-25-1988 | PBGC Op Let 88-4 | Premiums | A PBGC premium must be paid for a participant in a plan even though no contributions for that participant to the plan are required because of a floor offset arrangement. |
2-28-2020 |
| Opinion Letter 77-169 | 11-28-1977 | PBGC Op Let 77-169 | Governmental plan, Coverage | Participation in a plan maintained by more than one employer, some of which are not governmental entities, precludes the application of the Governmental plan exemption. |
2-24-2020 |
| Opinion Letter 83-05 | 2-2-1983 | PBGC Op Let 83-5 | Restoration | Conditions under which PBGC would allow a company to restore its pension plan after filing a notice to terminate. |
2-28-2020 |
| Opinion Letter 85-04 | 1-30-1985 | PBGC Op Let 85-04 | Multiemployer, Withdrawal Liability | Addresses how to reduce withdrawal liability for liability already assessed for a previous partial withdrawal. PBGC subsequently adopted a rule addressing the issue. (See 29 CFR part 4206.) |
2-28-2020 |
| Opinion Letter 80-19 | 11-13-1980 | PBGC Op Let 80-19 | Nonresident aliens, Coverage | Plan meets the Nonresident Alien plan coverage exemption. All plan participants and records regarding plan located in Hong Kong. |
2-28-2020 |
| Opinion Letter 85-24 | 10-3-1985 | PBGC Op Let 85-24 | Termination, Multiemployer, annuities | PBGC will not insure annuities purchased by a terminated multiemployer plan and PBGC is not authorized to pay benefits when a non-insolvent multiemployer plan terminates. |
2-28-2020 |
| Opinion Letter 81-37 | 11-16-1981 | PBGC Op Let 81-37 | Governmental plan, Coverage | Plan meets the Governmental plan coverage exemption. |
2-28-2020 |
| SFA Assumptions Guidance - Superseded as of July 11, 2022 | 7-9-2021 | PBGC SFA 21-02 | Special financial assistance, Multiemployer | Provides guidelines for changes to certain assumptions that multiemployer plans may use for purposes of determining eligibility for special financial assistance (SFA) and the amount of SFA. |
7-9-2021 |
| Requests to Review Multiemployer Plan Alternative Terms and Conditions to Satisfy Withdrawal Liability | 4-4-2018 | 83 FR 14524 | Multiemployer, Withdrawal Liability | Reviews information that PBGC finds helpful and factors that PBGC considers in reviewing multiemployer plan proposals for alternative terms and conditions to satisfy withdrawal liability. |
2-28-2020 |
| Qualified Domestic Relations Orders and PBGC | 2-1-2019 | PBGC Web 011 | Domestic Relations Orders | General information on submitting domestic relations orders to PBGC after PBGC becomes trustee of a terminated pension plan and the procedures PBGC follows to determine whether an order is a qualified domestic relations order |
2-28-2020 |
| Orden Judicial Calificada de Relaciones Domésticas (QDRO, siglas en inglés) | 2-1-2019 | PBGC Web 011 | Domestic Relations Orders | 2-28-2020 | |
| Waiver of Seller’s Bond | 7-1-1981 | PBGC Multiemployer Bulletin, 7/1/1981 | Multiemployer, Bond sales | Provides guidance on the bonding and escrow requirements imposed on employers that sell their assets. |
2-28-2020 |
| The Effect of The Deficit Reduction Act on The Withdrawal Liability Provisions of The Multiemployer Act | 3-6-1985 | PBGC Multiemployer Bulletin, 3/6/1985 | Multiemployer, Withdrawal Liability | 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. |
2-28-2020 |
| Premium Changes Based on Recharacterization of Contributions | 12-22-2011 | 76 FR 79714 | Recharacterization of contributions, Premiums | Addresses PBGC’s policy on accepting and responding to amended premium filings based on recharacterization of contributions. |
2-28-2020 |
| Partition FAQs for Practitioners | 12-6-2019 | PBGC Web 006 | Multiemployer, Partitions | Answers common questions about eligibility and applications for partitions of multiemployer plans. |
2-28-2020 |
| Risk Mitigation and Early Warning questions and answers | 7-20-2018 | PBGC Web 003 | Early Warning, Risk Mitigation | Answers commonly asked questions about PBGC’s Risk Mitigation & Early Warning Program. |
2-28-2020 |
| Multiemployer Insolvent Plan Administrative Expense FAQs | 8-24-2017 | PBGC Web 005 | Multiemployer | Answers common questions about reasonable administrative expenses of insolvent multiemployer plans. |
2-28-2020 |
| PBGC insurance coverage | 12-6-2019 | PBGC Web 001 | Coverage | Addresses how to determine whether a pension plan is covered by PBGC and explains the common exemptions from coverage. |
2-28-2020 |
| Assessment of Penalties for Failure to Provide Required Information (1997) | 3-14-1997 | 62 FR 12521 | Distress terminations, Standard termination, Penalties, Reporting requirements | Describes the revised penalty for failing to timely provide required information to PBGC in standard terminations and sufficient distress terminations. |
2-28-2020 |
| Assessment of Penalties for Failure to Provide Premium-related Information (1996) | 12-17-1996 | 61 FR 66338 | Premiums, Penalties | Describes the penalty for failing to timely provide required premium related information to PBGC. |
2-28-2020 |
| Disaster Relief | 7-2-2018 | 83 FR 30991 | Disaster relief | PBGC's disaster relief is available when the Internal Revenue Service issues disaster relief for taxpayers that includes filing extensions for the Form 5500 series. Also, for premium filings no late payment interest charges will be assessed for the disaster relief period. |
2-28-2020 |
| Use of Alternative Dispute Resolution | 4-12-1999 | 64 FR 17696 | Mediation, Arbitration | Provides that PBGC will use, where appropriate, alternative dispute resolution. |
2-28-2020 |