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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 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 85-30 | 12-9-1985 | PBGC Op Let 85-30 | Reciprocity agreement, Termination, Multiemployer | A terminated multiemployer plan cannot transfer assets and liabilities to other multiemployer plans pursuant to reciprocity agreement. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 81-32 | 9-25-1981 | PBGC Op Let 81-32 | Asset Sale Exception, Withdrawal, 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 for 5 years and the sales contract makes the seller secondarily liable if the buyer withdraws during the 5 plan years after the sale. This opinion letter addresses whether the buyer may escrow a letter of credit instead of cash. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 81-28 | 8-31-1981 | PBGC Op Let 81-28 | Multiemployer, Premiums | Discusses premium payment obligations under specific circumstances. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 81-34 | 9-18-1981 | PBGC Op Let 81-34 | Merger, Multiemployer | Merger/transfer rules do not apply to merger of a welfare fund and pension fund. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 76-106 | 9-3-1976 | PBGC Op Let 76-106 | Professional service employer plan, Coverage | Physician-secretary is a Professional Service Employer plan exempt from Title IV coverage. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 76-109 | 9-14-1976 | PBGC Op Let 76-109 | Coverage | A trust under a plan must be "created or organized" in the "United States" and be "maintained at all times as a |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 75-04 | 3-20-1975 | PBGC Op Let 75-4 | Individual account plan, Coverage | Plan is not an Individual account plan and is not exempt from coverage under Title IV. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 75-55 | 11-10-1975 | PBGC Op Let 75-55 | plan document, Coverage | A plan without a written plan document is not a qualified plan and is excluded from coverage. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 85-05 | 1-30-1985 | PBGC Op Let 85-05 | Construction industry, Multiemployer, Withdrawal Liability | Addresses whether the construction industry exception to withdrawal applies where a contractor terminates its CBA, its employees do not perform any more work for which the contractor was previously required to make contributions, but the contractor subcontracts for the performance of such work. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 91-01 | 1-14-1991 | PBGC Op Let 91-1 | Termination, annuities | Once irrevocable commitments are purchased, PBGC no longer guarantees the benefits. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 82-14 | 4-20-1982 | PBGC Op Let 82-14 | Multiemployer, Unfunded vested benefits | Addresses the contribution periods used in calculating an employer’s allocable share of a multiemployer plan’s unfunded vested benefits for the last plan year ending before April 29, 1980. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 92-03 | 5-1-1992 | PBGC Op Let 92-03 | Asset Sale Exception, Multiemployer | Addresses the bond requirement under section 4204 in the event the seller liquidates or distributes its assets subsequent to the sale. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 83-20 | 9-2-1983 | PBGC Op Let 83-20 | Partial Withdrawal, Multiemployer | Addresses whether a partial withdrawal occurs when an employer that operates two terminals in a metropolitan area, each under a separate collective bargaining agreement requiring contributions to the same multiemployer plan, closes one terminal but continues to perform the work of the closed terminal through the remaining terminal and other outlying terminals. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 86-08 | 3-24-1986 | PBGC Op Let 86-8 | Employer, Controlled groups | Addresses the proper method for determining withdrawal liability when the liable employer is a group of trades or businesses under common control within the meaning of section 4001. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 77-145 | 5-24-1977 | PBGC Op Let 77-145 | Professional service employer plan, Coverage | Employer providing consulting services in bio-mechanics, forensic physics, traffic reconstruction, injury analysis, and automotive and traffic safety is a Professional Services Employer and is exempt under Title IV. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 82-37 | 12-9-1982 | PBGC Op Let 82-37 | Employer, Multiemployer, Withdrawal Liability | Addresses the definition of employer in the context of building cleaners at an office building. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 76-12 | 1-27-1976 | PBGC Op Let 76-12 | Individual account plan | Amendment of a plan from a defined benefit plans to an individual account plan results in the plan’s termination. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 86-10 | 4-10-1986 | PBGC Op Let 86-10 | Joint employers, Multiemployer, Withdrawal Liability | Addresses calculation of withdrawal liability for a "joint employer” that is no longer required to contribute. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 76-56 | 4-21-1976 | PBGC Op Let 76-56 | Coverage | Plan must be communicated to eligible participants to be tax qualified and a Title IV covered plan. |
2-28-2020 |