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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, 1200 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20005–4026.
Title | Issuance Date | Agency Identifier (indexed field) | Topics | Summary | Posted Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Opinion Letter 78-18 | 8-4-1978 | PBGC Op Let 78-18 | Benefit guarantee | PBGC guaranteed benefits are not impacted by funding difficulties, and an employer is liable to PBGFC to the extent guaranteed benefits exceed plan assets |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 76-24 | 2-14-1976 | PBGC Op Let 76-24 | Merger, Reportable events | PBGC approval is not needed to merge a single employer plan into a multiemployer plan, but such a transaction would be a reportable event. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 90-05 | 10-11-1990 | PBGC Op Let 90-5 | Termination, Lump sum, Benefits | PBGC, once it is appointed statutory trustee of a terminated plan, pays lump sums to participants entitled to small benefits. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 88-03 | 3-22-1988 | PBGC Op Let 88-03 | Plan amendment, Multiemployer | Addresses the legal effect of PBGC approval of a multiemployer plan amendment. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 75-85 | 9-11-1975 | PBGC Op Let 75-85 | Defined benefit plan | A plan where participants are eligible for benefits as calculated from time to time by an actuary is a defined benefit plan providing basic benefits. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 76-85 | 6-21-1976 | PBGC Op Let 76-85 | Benefit guarantee | PBGC is precluded from guaranteeing expanded benefits to which participants would become entitled to (become nonforfeitable) upon the plan’s termination. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 76-96 | 8-2-1976 | PBGC Op Let 76-96 | Professional service employer plan, Coverage | Employer is an association of medical doctors, principal business is administrative in nature. Plan does not meet the Professional Service Employer plan exemption. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 82-24 | 8-5-1982 | PBGC Op Let 82-24 | Mass Withdrawal, Multiemployer | Review of rules governing plan administration after mass withdrawal; modification of withdrawal liability payment schedules; and recharacterization of contributions as withdrawal liability payments. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 88-10 | 12-12-1988 | PBGC Op Let 88-10 | Benefit guarantee | PBGC recognizes pension credits for discharged employees found to have been illegal discharged and reinstated for the period after the illegal discharge and ending with the date of plan termination. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 76-31 | 3-3-1976 | PBGC Op Let 76-31 | Allocation of assets, Benefit guarantee | Section 4044 asset allocation rules take precedence over any contrary plan provisions. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 74-19 | 12-13-1974 | PBGC Op Let 74-19 | Coverage | A tax qualified defined benefit plan is covered. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 76-119 | 11-15-1976 | PBGC Op Let 76-119 | Residual assets | 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. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 75-17 | 11-14-1975 | PBGC Op Let 75-17 | Individual account plan, Coverage | Addresses the individual account plan coverage exemption. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 79-12 | 9-19-1979 | PBGC Op Let 79-12 | Professional service employer plan, Coverage | 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. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 77-156 | 8-5-1977 | PBGC Op Let 77-156 | Employer liability | Where proposed language in CBA will not affect Title IV coverage, it will not prevent PBGC claim for employer liability. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 83-10 | 5-12-1983 | PBGC Op Let 83-10 | Asset Sale Exception, Multiemployer | 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. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 74-24 | 12-12-1974 | PBGC Op Let 74-24 | Coverage | A plan maintained by a union and funded only by contributions from union members is not covered under Title IV |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 82-11 | 4-1-1982 | PBGC Op Let 82-11 | Restoration | Whether PBGC will permit a plan to be restored after it has submitted its Notice of its Intent to Terminate. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 85-03 | 1-30-1985 | PBGC Op Let 85-03 | Multiemployer, Withdrawal Liability | Addresses the exclusion of employee contributions in withdrawal liability allocation fractions. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 98-01 | 2-17-1998 | PBGC Op Let 98-1 | Professional service employer plan, Coverage | Management consultant is not a professional individual for purposes of the Professional Service Employer plan coverage exemption. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 86-14 | 6-26-1986 | PBGC Op Let 86-14 | Successor liability | A plan was not a successor plan to another plan, because both plans existed during the same plan year. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 78-24 | 10-27-1978 | PBGC Op Let 78-24 | Benefit guarantee | 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. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 76-93 | 7-23-1976 | PBGC Op Let 76-93 | Disability benefits | Disability benefits that become payable after the date of plan termination are not guaranteed. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 77-136 | 3-29-1977 | PBGC Op Let 77-136 | Disability benefits, Benefit guarantee | Disability benefits guaranteed where participants satisfied plan conditions necessary to receive the benefit before the date of plan termination. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 77-168 | 10-27-1977 | PBGC Op Let 77-168 | Professional service employer plan, Coverage | Employer’s principal business is the installation of cathodic protection systems, employer is not a Professional Service Employer and plan is covered under Title IV. |
2-28-2020 |