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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 77-150 | 7-1-1977 | PBGC Op let 77-150 | Professional service employer plan, Coverage | Analytical chemistry is a professional individual for purposes of the Professional Service Employer plan exemption. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 85-17 | 6-10-1985 | PBGC Op Let 85-17 | sale of assets, Multiemployer, Withdrawal Liability | Addresses whether a seller and purchaser can retroactively bring a sale of assets within the coverage of the law by posting an appropriate bond and by amending the sales contract. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 87-05 | 7-19-1987 | PBGC Op Let 87-05 | Construction industry, Multiemployer, Withdrawal Liability | Addresses the definition of withdrawal for a construction industry employer. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 75-39 | 10-8-1975 | PBGC Op Let 75-39 | Substantial owners plan, Coverage | A plan maintained exclusively for substantial owners is exempt from coverage under Title IV. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 85-09 | 4-5-1985 | PBGC Op Let 85-9 | Residual assets, Allocation of assets, Termination | The purchase of participating group annuity contracts to satisfy all accrued benefits with a termination/reestablishment transaction of a plan is permissible. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 82-21 | 7-27-1982 | PBGC Op Let 82-21 | Withdrawal, Strikes and lockouts, Multiemployer | Addresses whether certain types of labor disputes involving an employer’s employees would constitute a withdrawal from a multiemployer plan and specifically cites strikes and lockouts as examples. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 82-02 | 1-27-1982 | PBGC Op Let 82-2 | Withdrawal, Partial Withdrawal, Multiemployer | Addresses what may constitute a complete or partial withdrawal from a multiemployer plan as a result of certain events occurring during contract negotiations; addresses the labor dispute exemption from withdrawal liability. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 81-33 | 9-22-1981 | PBGC Op Let 81-33 | Construction industry, Multiemployer | Addresses the definition of “building and construction industry” and explains that the term should be given the same meaning as it has under the Taft-Hartley Act. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 76-72 | 5-28-1976 | PBGC Op Let 76-72 | Benefit guarantee | Provides that because guaranteed benefits are determined at time of plan termination, a clause in a plan that provides for the cessation of benefits in pay status of participants who violate prohibitions against certain competitive employment will be determined at such time that the clause becomes applicable to a participant. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 83-03 | 1-14-1983 | PBGC Op Let 83-3 | 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 77-155 | 8-3-1977 | PBGC Op Let 77-155 | tax qualification, Coverage | A plan operating under a favorable IRS determination letter is covered under Title IV. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 91-03 | 3-29-1991 | PBGC Op Let 91-03 | Multiemployer, Withdrawal Liability | Discusses and compares a seller's withdrawal liability risks and obligations pre-MPPAA and post-MPPAA, and whether an employer's failure to object to an estimate of withdrawal liability (for informational purposes) bars that employer from challenging that underlying estimate upon a subsequent actual assessment of withdrawal liability. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 75-58 | 10-3-1975 | PBGC Op Let 75-58 | Coverage | The fact that a benefit formula may be modified by a plan amendment does not alter the defined benefit nature of the plan. If the plan is amended to convert it to an individual account plan, it would be treated as terminated. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 83-21 | 9-8-1983 | PBGC Op Let 83-21 | Construction industry, Multiemployer, Withdrawal Liability | Addresses the definition of the term "building and construction industry" for purposes of the construction industry exception to withdrawal. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 88-06 | 4-1-1988 | PBGC Op Let 88-06 | Bargaining representative, Multiemployer | Addresses the required transfer of assets and benefit liabilities following a change in the collective bargaining representative of a group of employees who then participate in another multiemployer plan. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 76-41 | 3-22-1976 | PBGC Op Let 76-41 | Reportable events | Closing plant covering 6% of the employees in the plan is not a reportable event. Failure to pay benefits when due would be a reportable event. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 74-16 | 11-14-1974 | PBGC Op Let 74-16 | Coverage | Plans funded exclusively by individual insurance or annuity policies are exempt from coverage under Title IV. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 75-10 | 4-8-1975 | PBGC Op Let 75-10 | Individual account plan, Coverage | Individual account plan exemption from coverage. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 84-09 | 12-27-1984 | PBGC Op Let 84-09 | Multiemployer, Withdrawal Liability | Provides guidance on the meaning of "employer" with respect to withdrawals from multiemployer pension plans; focuses on the garment industry and in particular, the work done by the contractor and the jobber/manufacturer. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 81-38 | 11-18-1981 | PBGC Op Let 81-38 | Termination | Initial determination that notice of intent to terminate not valid where not issued by plan administrator, where company argued it was de facto plan administrator but plan clearly identified board to be created as plan administrator. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 84-05 | 5-21-1984 | PBGC Op Let 84-05 | sale of assets, Multiemployer, Withdrawal Liability | States the conditions that must be met for the sale of assets exception to withdrawal liability to apply; buyer did not comply with the bond/escrow and sale contract requirements. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 75-106 | 11-14-1975 | PBGC Op Let 75-106 | Individual account plan, Coverage | Plan is not an Individual account plan because it does not provide for individual accounts for each participant. Plan is covered under Title IV. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 82-20 | 7-27-1982 | PBGC Op Let 82-20 | Multiemployer | A letter of credit can satisfy the bond or escrow requirement of the trucking industry exemption from withdrawal liability. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 85-25 | 10-11-1985 | PBGC Op Let 85-25 | Asset reversion, Termination | 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. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 77-161 | 8-30-1977 | PBGC Op Let 77-161 | Allocation of assets, Substantial owners plan | A proposal to allocate post termination gains in plan assets to increase a participant’s benefits is not permissible. |
2-28-2020 |