[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 105 (Monday, June 2, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31351-31352]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-12705]


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PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY CORPORATION


Proposed Submission of Information Collection for OMB Review; 
Comment Request; Termination of Single-Employer Plans, Missing 
Participants

AGENCY: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

ACTION: Notice of intent to request extension of OMB approval.

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SUMMARY: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (``PBGC'') intends to 
request that the Office of Management and Budget (``OMB'') extend 
approval (with modifications), under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, of a collection of information in its regulations on Termination 
of Single-Employer Plans and Missing Participants, and implementing 
forms and instructions (OMB control number 1212-0036; expires February 
28, 2017). This notice informs the public of PBGC's intent and solicits 
public comment on the collection of information. The modifications 
relate only to standard terminations and distress terminations that 
close out in the private sector.

DATES: Comments should be submitted by August 1, 2014.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the Web site instructions for submitting comments.
     Email: [email protected].
     Fax: 202-326-4224.
     Mail or Hand Delivery: Legislative and Regulatory 
Department, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K Street NW., 
Washington, DC 20005-4026.
    PBGC will make all comments available on its Web site at 
www.pbgc.gov.
    Copies of the collection of information may be obtained without 
charge by writing to the Disclosure Division of the Office of the 
General Counsel of PBGC at the above address or by visiting that office 
or calling 202-326-4040 during normal business hours. (TTY and TDD 
users may call the Federal relay service toll-free at 1-800-877-8339 
and ask to be connected to 202-326-4040.) The regulations and forms and 
instructions relating to this collection of information are available 
on PBGC's Web site at www.pbgc.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jo Amato Burns, Attorney, or Catherine 
B. Klion, Assistant General Counsel, Office of the General Counsel, 
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K Street NW., Washington, DC 
20005-4026, 202-326-4024. (For TTY and TDD, call 800-877-8339 and ask 
to be connected to 202-326-4024.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under section 4041 of the Employee 
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended, a single-employer 
pension plan may terminate voluntarily only if it satisfies the 
requirements for either a standard or a distress termination. Pursuant 
to ERISA section 4041(b), for standard terminations, and section 
4041(c), for distress terminations, and PBGC's termination regulation 
(29 CFR part 4041), a plan administrator wishing to terminate a plan is 
required to submit specified information to PBGC in support of the 
proposed termination and to provide specified information regarding the 
proposed termination to third parties (participants, beneficiaries, 
alternate payees, and employee organizations). In the case of a plan 
with participants or beneficiaries who cannot be located when their 
benefits are to be distributed, the plan administrator is subject to 
the requirements of ERISA section 4050 and PBGC's regulation on missing 
participants (29 CFR part 4050). These regulations may be found on 
PBGC's Web site at http://www.pbgc.gov/res/laws-and-regulations/code-of-federal-regulations.html.
    The collection of information under these regulations and the 
implementing forms and instructions has been approved by OMB under 
control number 1212-0036 (expires February 28, 2017). PBGC is 
requesting that OMB extend its approval for three years, with 
modifications. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is 
not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it 
displays a currently valid OMB control number.
    PBGC is proposing to require that the plan administrator of a plan 
terminating in a standard termination (or a distress termination that 
closes out in the private sector) must submit with the post-
distribution certification (Form 501 or Form 602) the most recent plan 
document and proof of benefit distributions. PBGC is proposing this new 
information requirement to help address inquiries from individuals who 
claim they are owed benefits from terminated plans.
    PBGC receives approximately 2,500 inquiries a year from individuals 
seeking pension benefits; 800-850 of these inquiries involve standard 
terminations. These inquiries often result from an individual receiving 
a notice from the Social Security Administration that he or she may be 
owed a benefit from a plan. PBGC typically does not have the 
information to easily determine (or determine at all) whether the 
individual was owed a benefit from a terminated plan (and if so, the 
benefit amount) and whether the benefit was already paid in connection 
with the plan termination, and the plan's sponsor may no longer exist 
to assist PBGC. This new information requirement would help PBGC 
address these inquiries and, where appropriate, pay benefits to 
individuals entitled to them.
    Many plans already submit plan documents and proof of benefit 
distributions to PBGC in the course of a standard termination audit. 
PBGC audits all standard terminations of plans with more than 300 
participants and a random sample of smaller plans. For plans with a 
participant count of 300 or fewer, PBGC randomly selects plans to 
audit. PBGC also may audit a plan when there is reason to believe there 
may be a problem (for example, when PBGC receives a complaint by plan 
participants or a plan practitioner).\1\ Thus for many plans, the new 
information requirement would simply shift the requirement to provide 
the information to an earlier date. In any case, plan administrators 
would simply be sending PBGC copies of documents that are already in 
their possession, and the additional burden would be small.
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    \1\ http://www.pbgc.gov/prac/terminations/standard-terminations.html.
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    PBGC estimates that 1,430 plan administrators will be subject to 
the collection of information requirements in PBGC's regulations on 
termination and missing participants and implementing forms and 
instructions each year, and that the total annual burden of complying 
with these requirements will be 1,706 hours and $2,830,000. (Much of 
the work associated with terminating a plan is performed for purposes 
other than meeting these requirements.)
    PBGC is soliciting public comments to--
     Evaluate whether the collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility;

[[Page 31352]]

     Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the 
burden of the collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
     Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
     Minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
those who are to respond, including the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic 
submission of responses.

    Issued in Washington, DC, this 28th day of May 2014.
Judith Starr,
General Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
[FR Doc. 2014-12705 Filed 5-30-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7709-02-P