Compliance September 5, 2003

PBGC Provides Guidance For 2003 Participant Notices

September 5, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) has issued guidance for underfunded single-employer pension plans to determine if they must issue a 2003 Participant Notice.
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>Per Technical Update 03-17, the PBGC says plan administrators of single-employer plans are required to issue a 2003 Participant Notice – informing participants about the funding status of their pension plans and the limits on PBGC’s guarantees – if:

  • the plan pays a variable rate premium for the 2003 plan year
  • the plan would pay a variable rate premium for the 2003 plan year using 85%, rather than 100%, of the yield on the 30-year Treasury securities for the purposes of calculating vested benefits, per Section 405 of the Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act of 2002 (JCWAA).

>In these cases, the participant notice would be required two months after the due date for the 2002 Form 5500.

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>However, no notice is required if the plan meets certain funding requirements, outlined in the technical update in a flow chart.   A complete copy of the technical update, including a copy of a model notice and the flow chart, can be found at  http://www.pbgc.gov/laws/techupdates/tech03-17.htm .

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