[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 65 (Tuesday, April 5, 2011)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 18649-18650]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-7557]
[[Page 18649]]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employee Benefits Security Administration
29 CFR Part 2520
Technical Revisions to Actuarial Information on Form 5500 Annual
Return/Report for Pension Plans Electing Funding Alternatives Under
Pension Relief Act of 2010
AGENCY: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Labor.
ACTION: Annual Reporting and Disclosure for Form 5500.
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SUMMARY: This document announces that certain technical revisions to
the Schedule MB (Multiemployer Defined Benefit Plan and Certain Money
Purchase Plan Actuarial Information) and the Schedule SB (Single-
Employer Defined Benefit Plan Actuarial Information) of the Form 5500
Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan have been adopted in IRS
Notice 2010-83 (2010-51 I.R.B. 862) and IRS Notice 2011-3 (2011-2
I.R.B. 263) to reflect funding relief alternatives retroactively
available to defined benefit pension plans under the Preservation of
Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of
2010 (Pension Relief Act). The information that would be required
either by way of amendment of the 2008 or 2009 Annual Return/Report or
providing an attachment to the 2009 or 2010 Annual Return/Report in
accordance with the IRS Notices, will also be added to the 2011 and
later Schedule MB (Multiemployer Defined Benefit Plan and Certain Money
Purchase Plan Actuarial Information) and the Schedule SB (Single-
Employer Defined Benefit Plan Actuarial Information) of the Form 5500
Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan. Compliance with the
Schedule SB and Schedule MB, as modified, will satisfy the pertinent
Form 5500 actuarial information reporting requirements for the
Department of Labor.
DATES: Effective Date: April 5, 2011.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steven Klubock, Internal Revenue
Service (IRS), at the Employee Plans taxpayer assistance answering
service at 1-877-829-5500 (a toll-free number), for questions relating
to the Schedules MB and SB requirements under IRS Notices 2010-83 and
2011-3; Grace Kraemer, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC),
(202) 326-4024, for questions relating to annual reporting requirements
under Title IV of ERISA in the technical revisions of the Schedules MB
and SB; and Elizabeth A. Goodman, Employee Benefits Security
Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, (202) 693-8523, for questions
relating to this document. Except for the IRS, the telephone numbers
referenced above are not toll-free numbers.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
A. Annual Reporting
Sections 101, 104, and 4065 of ERISA, 29 U.S.C. 1021, 1024 and
1365, sections 6058(a) and 6059(a) of the Code, 26 U.S.C. 6058(a) and
6059(a), and the regulations issued under those sections, impose annual
reporting and filing obligations on pension and welfare benefit plans,
as well as on certain other entities. Plan administrators, employers,
and others generally satisfy these annual reporting obligations by the
filing of the Form 5500 Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan,
including its schedules and attachments (Form 5500 Annual Return/
Report), in accordance with the instructions and related regulations.
The Form 5500 Annual Return/Report is the principal source of
information and data available to the Department of Labor (Department
or Labor), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the Pension Benefit
Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) (collectively, Agencies) concerning the
operations, funding, and investments of pension and welfare benefit
plans. Actuarial information on defined benefit pension plans is
required to be reported as part of the Form 5500 Annual Return/Report
on the Schedule MB or the Schedule SB. The Form 5500 Annual Return/
Report constitutes an integral part of each Agency's enforcement,
research, and policy formulation programs, and is a source of
information and data for use by other federal agencies, Congress, and
the private sector in assessing employee benefit, tax, and economic
trends and policies. The Form 5500 Annual Return/Report also serves as
a primary means by which plan operations can be monitored by
participants and beneficiaries and by the general public.
B. Pension Relief Act and Changes to Actuarial Schedules
The Pension Relief Act, Public Law 111-192, 124 Stat 1280 (2010),
enacted on June 25, 2010, provided retroactive pension funding relief
for single-employer and multiemployer defined benefit pension plans
that are subject to the reporting requirements of Title I of ERISA. The
IRS issued guidance in the form of questions and answers on the
application of the special funding rules under the Pension Relief Act
and the required notice of a decision by the plan sponsor to apply the
special funding rules. IRS Notice 2010-83 provides guidance for
sponsors of multiemployer defined benefit plans with respect to the
special funding rules under Code Sec. 431(b)(8), as added by section
211(a)(2) of the Pension Relief Act. IRS Notice 2011-3 provides
guidance on the special rules relating to funding relief for single-
employer defined benefit pension plans (including multiple employer
defined benefit pension plans) under Code Sec. 430(c)(2)(D) and Sec.
430(c)(7), as added by section 201 of the Pension Relief Act, and Code
Sec. 430(f)(3)(D), as added by section 204 of the Act.
Certain technical revisions to the Form 5500 Schedule MB and SB
were necessary to conform the actuarial reporting requirements for
defined benefit pension plans to the application of funding relief
under the Pension Relief Act. The Internal Revenue Service announced
and described those technical revisions in IRS Notice 2010-83 and
Notice 2011-3. Specifically, the notices provide that a Schedule MB or
Schedule SB that was filed without reflecting application of the
special funding rules or was filed reflecting application of the
special funding rules, but using calculations that were different from
those required by IRS Notice 2010-83 or Notice 2011-3, need not be
amended. Instead, the Schedule MB or Schedule SB filed for a subsequent
plan year that is no later than the plan year beginning in 2010 that
must include an attachment showing how the information regarding the
special funding rules on any earlier year Schedule MB or SB that did
not comply with the notices, would have differed if it had complied. In
addition, the IRS Notices describe the application of funding relief
under the Pension Relief Act to the 2011 plan year and future plan
years. These rules require changes to Schedule MB and Schedule SB for
the 2011 plan year.
II. Good Cause for Exemption From Public Notice and Comment and
Immediate Effective Date
To issue a final rule without public notice and comment, an agency
must find good cause that notice and comment are impracticable,
unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest. 5 U.S.C. 553(b). To
issue a rule that is immediately effective, an agency similarly must
find good cause for dispensing with the 30-day delay required by the
Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
The retroactive availability of the funding relief under the
Pension Relief
[[Page 18650]]
Act for sponsors of defined benefit pension plans created an immediate
need for changes to the Schedule MB and Schedule SB reporting
requirements. Without these changes, accurate and complete Schedules MB
and SB cannot be filed with respect to plans to which the funding
relief applies. The information that would not otherwise be provided
under the current schedules is essential for the Agencies to monitor
and enforce compliance with the special funding rules under the Pension
Relief Act. The IRS Notices 2010-83 and 2011-3, including the guidance
superseding portions of the instructions to Schedule MB and Schedule SB
for the 2008, 2009, and 2010 plan years, have already been approved
under the Paperwork Reduction Act and released to the public. In
addition, a relatively small number of Form 5500 filers, comprised of
only those filers for defined benefit pension plans to which the
optional relief offered under the Pension Relief Act applies, are
affected by these Schedule MB and Schedule SB changes. Accordingly, the
Department finds for good cause that it would be impracticable and
contrary to the public interest to delay putting the technical
revisions to Schedule MB and SB into place until completion of a full
notice and public comment process. For the same reasons, the Department
also finds good cause to adopt an effective date that would be less
than 30 days after the publication in the Federal Register pursuant to
the APA. 5 U.S.C. 553(d). Accordingly, the adoption of the technical
changes affecting the actuarial schedules for the 2008, 2009, and 2010
Form 5500 Annual Return/Report will be effective as of the date of
publication in the Federal Register. Related information also will be
required to be provided on the 2011 and later Form 5500 Annual Return/
Report with respect to those plans to which the alternative funding
methods under the Pension Relief Act apply, as described in the Act,
but for 2011 and later the information will be included in the
schedules and instructions, rather than filers having to create
attachments as described in IRS Notice 2010-83 and Notice 2011-3. The
2011 and later Form 5500 Annual Return/Report, Schedule SB, will also
require a plan to disclose its status as an eligible charity plan in
connection with a special effective date provided under the Pension
Relief Act.
III. Executive Order 12866
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has determined that this
document does not constitute a ``significant regulatory action'' for
purposes of Executive Order 12866. Therefore, this action has not been
reviewed by OMB pursuant to the Executive Order.
IV. Paperwork Reduction Act
In accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act
of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the Form 5500 information
collection request (ICR) has been approved by OMB under control number
1210-0110, which currently is scheduled to expire on March 31, 2014.
This notice does not implement a substantive or material change to the
ICR; therefore, the Department has not requested OMB review at this
time.
Signed at Washington, DC, this 24th day of March 2011.
Phyllis C. Borzi,
Assistant Secretary, Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S.
Department of Labor.
[FR Doc. 2011-7557 Filed 4-4-11; 8:45 am]
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