[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 7 (Monday, January 12, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1517-1518]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-00253]


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PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY CORPORATION


Submission of Information Collection for OMB Review; Comment 
Request; Payment of Premiums

AGENCY: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

ACTION: Notice of request for OMB approval of revised collection of 
information.

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SUMMARY: The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is modifying 
the collection of information under its regulation on Payment of 
Premiums (OMB control number 1212-0009; expires April 30, 2017) and is 
requesting that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approve the 
revised collection of information under the Paperwork Reduction Act for 
three years. This notice informs the public of PBGC's request and 
solicits public comment on the collection of information.

DATES: Comments must be submitted by February 11, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to the Office of Information and 
Regulatory

[[Page 1518]]

Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for 
the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, via electronic mail at 
[email protected] or by fax to 202-395-6974.
    The OMB submission (including the collection of information, 
comments, and supporting statement) will be posted at http://www.pbgc.gov/prac/laws-and-regulations/information-collections-under-omb-review.html. Copies of the collection of information and comments 
may also be obtained without charge by writing to the Disclosure 
Division, Office of General Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty 
Corporation, 1200 K Street NW., Washington, DC 20005-4026; visiting the 
Disclosure Division; faxing a request to 202-326-4042; or calling 202-
326-4040 during normal business hours. (TTY/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 premium payment regulation and the 
premium instructions (including illustrative forms) for 2014 are 
available at www.pbgc.gov .

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Deborah C. Murphy, Deputy Assistant 
General Counsel for Regulatory Affairs, Pension Benefit Guaranty 
Corporation, 1200 K Street NW., Washington, DC 20005-4026; 202-326-
4024. (TTY/TDD users may call the Federal relay service toll-free at 1-
800-877-8339 and ask to be connected to 202-326-4024.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 4007 of Title IV of the Employee 
Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) requires pension plans 
covered under Title IV pension insurance programs to pay premiums to 
PBGC. All plans covered by Title IV pay a flat-rate per-participant 
premium. An underfunded single-employer plan also pays a variable-rate 
premium based on the value of the plan's unfunded vested benefits.
    Pursuant to section 4007, PBGC has issued its regulation on Payment 
of Premiums (29 CFR part 4007). Under Sec.  4007.3 of the premium 
payment regulation, the plan administrator of each pension plan covered 
by Title IV of ERISA is required to file a premium payment and 
information prescribed by PBGC for each premium payment year. Premium 
information must be filed electronically using ``My Plan Administration 
Account'' (``My PAA'') through PBGC's Web site except to the extent 
PBGC grants an exemption for good cause in appropriate circumstances, 
in which case the information must be filed using an approved PBGC 
form. Under Sec.  4007.10 of the premium payment regulation, plan 
administrators are required to retain records about premiums and 
information submitted in premium filings.
    Premium filings report (i) the flat-rate premium and related data 
(all plans), (ii) the variable-rate premium and related data (single-
employer plans), and (iii) additional data such as identifying 
information and miscellaneous plan-related or filing-related data (all 
plans). PBGC needs this information to identify the plans for which 
premiums are paid, to verify whether the amounts paid are correct, to 
help PBGC determine the magnitude of its exposure in the event of plan 
termination, to help track the creation of new plans and transfer of 
participants and plan assets and liabilities among plans, and to keep 
PBGC's insured-plan inventory up to date. That information and the 
retained records are also needed for audit purposes.
    PBGC is revising the 2015 filing procedures and instructions to 
require after-the-fact reporting of certain risk transfers through lump 
sum windows and annuity purchases. Risk transfers can substantially 
reduce the premiums that plans otherwise would pay to PBGC. Because 
PBGC premiums and the investment income earned on them are a major 
source of income for PBGC, information about risk transfers is critical 
to PBGC's ability to assess its future financial condition. There is 
currently no available comprehensive, detailed, and reliable source for 
information on risk transfers.
    PBGC is also changing certain premium declaration certification 
procedures, offering the option for a plan to provide a telephone 
number specifically for inclusion in PBGC's Search Plan List on PBGC's 
Web site, updating the premium rates (including to reflect the 
Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015, Pub. L. 
113-235), and making conforming, clarifying, and editorial changes.
    On September 23, 2014 (at 79 FR 56831), PBGC gave public notice 
that it intended to submit the revised procedures and instructions to 
OMB for review. PBGC received nine comment letters from representatives 
of employers, pension practitioners, annuity providers, and 
participants.\1\ The comments focused almost exclusively on the new 
risk transfer items. PBGC has made changes to the new items (both the 
questions themselves and the instructions) in response to some of the 
comments. The changes and other responses to the comments are discussed 
in detail in the supporting statement to the OMB submission.
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    \1\ The notice and comments are posted at http://www.pbgc.gov/prac/pg/other/guidance/paperwork-notices.html.
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    The collection of information under the regulation has been 
approved through April 30, 2017, by OMB under control number 1212-0009. 
PBGC intends to request that OMB approve the revised collection of 
information for three years. 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 estimates that it will receive 25,700 premium filings per year 
from 25,700 plan administrators under this collection of information. 
PBGC further estimates that the average annual burden of this 
collection of information is approximately 8,000 hours and $53,200,000.

    Issued in Washington, DC, this 7th day of January, 2015.
Judith Starr,
General Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
[FR Doc. 2015-00253 Filed 1-9-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7709-02-P