[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 214 (Tuesday, November 5, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59660-59661]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-24122]


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PENSION BENEFIT GUARANTY CORPORATION


Proposed Submission of Information Collections for OMB Review; 
Comment Request; Reportable Events; Notice of Failure To Make Required 
Contributions

AGENCY: Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

ACTION: Notice of intention to request OMB approval of modifications to 
currently-approved information collections.

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SUMMARY: The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) intends to 
request that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approve, under 
the Paperwork Reduction Act, collections of information under PBGC's 
regulation on Reportable Events and Certain Other Notification 
Requirements with modifications. This notice informs the public of 
PBGC's intent and solicits public comment on the collections of 
information.

DATES: Comments must be submitted on or before January 6, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the website instructions for submitting comments.
     Email: [email protected].
     Mail or Hand Delivery: Regulatory Affairs Division, Office 
of the General Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K 
Street NW, Washington, DC 20005-4026.
    All submissions received must include the agency's name (Pension 
Benefit Guaranty Corporation, or PBGC) and refer to Reportable Events 
and Certain Other Notification Requirements. All comments received will 
be posted without change to PBGC's website, http://www.pbgc.gov, 
including any personal information provided.
    Copies of the collections of information and comments may be 
obtained without charge by writing to Disclosure Division, Office of 
the General Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 1200 K 
Street NW, Washington, DC 20005-4026; faxing a request to 202-326-4042; 
or calling 202-326-4040 during normal business hours. (TTY users may 
call the Federal relay service toll-free at 1-800-877-8339 and ask to 
be connected to 202-326-4040.) The reportable events regulation, forms, 
and instructions are available at http://www.pbgc.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephanie Cibinic, Deputy Assistant 
General Counsel for Regulatory Affairs ([email protected]; 
202-229-6352), Office of the General Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty 
Corporation, 1200 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20005-4026. TTY users may 
call the Federal relay service toll-free at 1-800-877-8339 and ask to 
be connected to 202-229-6352.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 4043 of the Employee Retirement 
Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) requires plan administrators and 
plan sponsors to report certain plan and employer events to PBGC. The 
reporting requirements give PBGC notice of events that indicate plan or 
employer financial problems. PBGC uses the information provided in 
determining what, if any, action it needs to take. For example, PBGC 
might need to institute proceedings to terminate a plan (placing it in 
trusteeship) under section 4042 of ERISA to ensure the continued 
payment of benefits to plan participants and their beneficiaries or to 
prevent unreasonable increases in PBGC's losses.
    The provisions of section 4043 of ERISA have been implemented in 
PBGC's regulation on Reportable Events and Certain Other Notification 
Requirements (29 CFR part 4043).

Form 10

    Subparts B and C of the regulation deal with reportable events. 
PBGC has issued Forms 10 and 10-Advance and related instructions under 
subparts B and C (approved under OMB control number 1212-0013). PBGC is 
proposing to modify the Form 10 for the ``Failure to make required 
contributions'' reportable event to provide that if payment was made to 
satisfy a missed contribution, the filer must submit documentation of 
that payment, e.g., a copy of the cancelled check or wire transfer, 
etc. Documentation is needed to give evidence that the missed 
contribution was made up and no risk to the plan remains before PBGC 
closes the event.
    OMB approval of this collection of information expires February 28, 
2022. PBGC intends to request 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 estimates that it will receive 590 reportable event notices 
per year under subparts B and C of the reportable events regulation 
using Forms 10 and 10-Advance and that the average annual burden of 
this collection of information is 1,860 hours and $439,550.

Form 200

    Section 303(k) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 
1974 (ERISA) and section 430(k) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 
(Code) impose a lien in favor of an underfunded single-employer plan 
that is covered by PBGC's termination insurance program if (1) any 
person fails to make a required payment when due, and (2) the unpaid 
balance of that payment (including interest), when added to the 
aggregate unpaid balance of all preceding payments for which payment 
was not made when due (including interest), exceeds $1 million. (For 
this purpose, a plan is underfunded if its funding target attainment 
percentage is less than 100 percent.) The lien is upon all property and 
rights to property belonging to the person or persons that are liable 
for required contributions (i.e., a contributing sponsor and each 
member of the controlled group of which that contributing sponsor is a 
member).

[[Page 59661]]

    Only PBGC (or, at its direction, the plan's contributing sponsor or 
a member of the same controlled group) may perfect and enforce this 
lien. ERISA and the Code require persons that fail to make payments to 
notify PBGC within 10 days of the due date whenever there is a failure 
to make a required payment and the total of the unpaid balances 
(including interest) exceeds $1 million.
    PBGC Form 200, Notice of Failure to Make Required Contributions, 
and related instructions implement the statutory notification 
requirement. Submission of Form 200 is required by 29 CFR 4043.81 
(Subpart D of PBGC's regulation on Reportable Events and Other 
Notification Requirements, 29 CFR part 4043). PBGC currently requires 
filers to report the due date of the required payment that triggered 
the notification to PBGC and to calculate the cumulative amount of 
unpaid balances. PBGC is proposing to modify the form to include a 
separate field showing the payment amount that triggered the 
notification in order to better track missed contributions and identify 
the amount by which liens associated with missed contributions must be 
updated.
    OMB has approved this collection of information under OMB control 
number 1212-0041, which expires February 28, 2022. PBGC intends to 
request 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 estimates that it will receive 100 Form 200 filings per year 
and that the average annual burden of this collection of information is 
100 hours and $72,500.

Method of Filing

    PBGC's reportable events and certain other notification 
requirements regulation (29 CFR part 4043) provides that reportable 
event notices required under this part must be filed electronically in 
accordance with the instructions posted on PBGC's website. Those 
instructions currently provide two options for electronic filing:
     Using the 4043 module of PBGC's e-filing portal, or
     Emailing a completed form and any required attachments to 
[email protected].

PBGC's e-filing portal, which has been available since 2016, offers a 
secure application for submitting Form 200 and Form 10 and 10-Advance 
information. The e-filing portal allows filers to review filings and 
generate a list of omissions and inconsistencies prior to submission to 
ensure completeness; save a partially completed filing; modify 
information any time prior to submission; pre-populate a filing with 
data from a previously submitted filing; route the filing as needed to 
facilitate e-certifications; and review prior filings submitted via the 
e-filing portal. PBGC is proposing to eliminate the email option for 
filings due after September 30, 2021. In other words, starting in 
October 2021, these filings would have to be submitted via PBGC's e-
filing portal.
    PBGC also intends to make other editorial changes to the forms and 
instructions in these collections.
    PBGC is soliciting public comments to--
     solicit feedback on the anticipated impact of eliminating 
the email filing option;
     evaluate whether the proposed collections of information 
are necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the 
agency, including whether the information will have practical utility;
     evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the 
burden of the proposed collections of information, including the 
validity of the methodologies and assumptions used;
     enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
     minimize the burden of the collections of information on 
those who are to respond, including through 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.
Stephanie Cibinic,
Deputy Assistant General Counsel for Regulatory Affairs, Pension 
Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
[FR Doc. 2019-24122 Filed 11-4-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7709-02-P