[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]



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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

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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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