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Pension and Employee Benefits: Code, ERISA, & Regulations
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CCH® PENSION AND BENEFITS — 5/16/08

Spring 2008 regulatory agendas released by PBGC, IRS and EBSA

PBGC

Proposed rule stage

Among the items in the PBGC’s proposed rule stage are:

• Amendment of the current regulation on Reportable Events and Certain Other Notification Requirements to conform to proposed changes to the PBGC’s regulations on Premium Rates;
• Implementation of provisions of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA; P.L. 109-280) that allow for changes in the methods for computing withdrawal liability and address adjustments in withdrawal liability if a plan is in critical status;
• Implementation of Sec. 410 of the PPA, which allows certain terminating plans not covered by the existing Missing Participants program to participate in that program;
• Amendment of the PBGC’s regulation on Payment of Premiums to implement Sec. 406 of the PPA, which authorizes the PBGC to pay interest on premium overpayments refunded to designated payors; and
• Implementation of provisions of the PPA that make changes in how the PBGC pays benefits, particularly with regard to the determination of guarantee limits.

Final rule stage

Among the items in the PBGC’s final rule stage are:

• Replacement of policy statements about penalties with an updated and expanded set of information penalty policies codified in its regulations;
• Amendment of its regulation on Annual Financial and Actuarial Information Reporting to implement PPA changes and to make clarifying changes; and
• Clarification of procedures, rights, and responsibilities with respect to obtaining and providing affected parties information, such as actuarial data or agency determinations, for terminating pension plans.

IRS

Proposed rule stage

Among the items in the IRS proposed rule stage are:

• Guidance on the application of the accrual rules for defined benefit plans in cases where plan benefits are determined on the basis of the greater of two or more separate formulas;
• Guidance relating to a multiemployer plan that is either in endangered or critical status for plan years beginning after 2007; and
• The definition of the term “highly compensated employee.”

Final rule stage

Among the items in the IRS final rule stage are:

• Guidelines regarding mortality tables to be used to determine present value for purposes of the qualified defined benefit plan funding requirements effective in 2008;
• Guidance relating to vesting and payment of benefits under tax-qualified hybrid defined benefit plans;
• Guidance regarding the use of certain funding balances maintained for defined benefit pension plans and regarding benefit restrictions for certain underfunded defined benefit pension plans; and
• Temporary regulations providing guidance relating to a multiemployer plan that is either in endangered or critical status, effective for plan years beginning after 2007.

EBSA

Prerule and final rule stages

The prerule and final rule EBSA agenda items are:

• - An EBSA proposed rule reviewing the plan as-sets-participant contributions regulation; and
• - An EBSA final rule amending the regulation that defines when participant moneys paid to or withheld by an employer for contribution to an employee benefit plan constitute “plan assets,” including the establishment of a safe harbor period of a specified number of business days during which certain moneys that a participant pays to, or has withheld by, an employer for contribution to a plan would not constitute “plan assets.”