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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 75-44 | 12-8-1975 | PBGC Op Let 75-44 | “Established and maintained”, Governmental plan, Coverage | A plan maintained by a public agency or political subdivision which has been taken over from a private business is excluded from coverage. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 85-22 | 9-11-1985 | PBGC Op Let 85-22 | Reciprocity agreement, Multiemployer | Addresses whether a reciprocity agreement operates to impose on certain employers and defined contribution pension plans the minimum contribution requirements or the withdrawal liability provisions of the law. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 86-11 | 5-13-1986 | PBGC Op Let 86-11 | Overpayment of withdrawal liability, Multiemployer, Withdrawal Liability | Addresses whether a withdrawal liability overpayment must be refunded by a multiemployer plan sponsor to an employer where the plan sponsor subsequently discovers the underlying calculation error and the employer had failed to initiate the plan review and arbitration process. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 77-166 | 10-7-1977 | PBGC Op Let 77-166 | Benefit guarantee | Because benefit increases became effective through collective bargaining agreements (not specific action by the Board of Trustees), PBGC looks to the adoption and effective dates of those agreements to apply the five-year phase-in rule. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 74-20 | 12-5-1974 | PBGC Op Let 74-20 | Individual account plan, Coverage | Individual account plan is exempt from coverage under Title IV. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 89-06 | 8-8-1989 | PBGC Op Let 89-6 | Individual account plan, Coverage | Individual account plan exemption from coverage. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 79-05 | 3-28-1979 | PBGC Op Let 79-5 | due dates, Premiums | The plan must pay premiums to PBGC for annuitants covered by an insurance contract that does not provide for irrevocable commitments to pay the benefits. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 81-19 | 7-1-1981 | PBGC Op Let 81-19 | Withdrawal, Construction industry, sale of assets, Multiemployer | Addresses the applicability of the “sale of assets exception: to the construction industry complete withdrawal rules. |
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 |
Opinion Letter 82-03 | 2-2-1982 | PBGC Op Let 82-3 | Church plans, Coverage | Plan meets the Church plan coverage exemption. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 76-91 | 7-9-1976 | PBGC Op Let 76-91 | Individual account plan | A plan amendment that preserves a defined benefit does not allow a plan to fit under the individual account exemption from coverage. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 76-34 | 3-8-1976 | PBGC Op Let 76-34 | Voluntary plan termination, Termination | Involuntary termination requirements in section 4042(a) do not apply to voluntary terminations under section 4041. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 86-23 | 10-15-1986 | PBGC Op Let 86-23 | Multiemployer, Withdrawal Liability | Addresses abatement when a contributing employer withdraws and then acquires a division of a company that contributions to the same plan. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 75-110 | 7-15-1975 | PBGC Op Let 75-110 | Individual account plan, Coverage | Individual account plan is exempt from coverage. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 86-15 | 6-30-1976 | PBGC Op Let 86-15 | Coverage, Premiums | A fully insured plan is covered under Title IV and must pay premiums to PBGC. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 81-04 | 3-12-1981 | PBGC Op let 81-4 | Residual assets, Allocation of assets | A plan document’s provision allowing for reversion of residual plan assets to the plan sponsor was invalid and therefore residual assets were required to be distributed to participants. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 87-10 | 9-15-1987 | PBGC Op Let 87-10 | Suspension, Termination | PBGC suspended the processing of a plan termination following receipt of a letter from a union that the termination of the plan violated the terms of a collective bargaining agreement. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 00-01 | 1-27-2000 | PBGC Op Let 00-1 | Multiemployer, Withdrawal Liability | The sponsor of a multiemployer plan, other than a plan that primarily covers employees in the building and construction industry, may adopt any of the statutory allocation methods and any of the modifications set forth in §§ 4211.12 and 4211.13, without PBGC’s approval. PBGC will not opine on whether such adoption is consistent with trustees’ fiduciary duties. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 88-01 | 1-11-1988 | PBGC Op Let 88-01 | sale of assets, Multiemployer, Withdrawal Liability | Addresses the method of calculating the withdrawal liability of a purchaser of the assets of an unrelated contributing employer. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 83-08 | 3-25-1983 | PBGC Op Let 83-08 | 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 for 5 years and the sales contract makes the seller secondarily liable if the buyer withdraws during the 5 plan years after the sale. Addresses whether that exception to withdrawal applies if the buyer initially posts a bond for only the first two years. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 77-124 | 1-21-1977 | PBGC Op Let 77-124 | Refund, Termination, Premiums | PBGC did not issue a premium refund for plan that it found was not terminated. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 82-01 | 1-19-1982 | PBGC Op Let 82-1 | Professional service employer plan, Coverage | Pharmacist is a professional individual for purposes of the Professional Service Employer plan exemption. |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 81-06 | 4-1-1981 | PBGC Op Let 81-6 | Termination | Plan termination date agreed to by PBGC and the company was after participants had constructive notice of termination . |
2-28-2020 |
Opinion Letter 85-12 | 5-28-1985 | PBGC Op Let 85-12 | Multiemployer, Withdrawal Liability | Addresses the special partial withdrawal rule for the retail food industry, and the meaning of “retail food industry.” |
2-28-2020 |