Compliance December 19, 2005

House Budget Bill Imposes Fee for Dumped Pension Plans

December 19, 2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The US House of Representatives has approved a budget plan that includes a $3,750 per participant fee for employers who terminate their pension plans due to bankruptcy.
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The Associated Press reports that the fee would be paid to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) in annual installments of $1,250 per participant.   The measure also proposes to increase the premium companies pay to the PBGC from $19 per employee to $30 per employee.

In addition, fees for multi-employer pension plans would be increased from $2.60 per participant to $8 per participant, the AP reports.

A budget measure with similar provisions was approved by the Senate in November (See  Senate Approves PBGC Premium Hike).

The approved version of the Senate’s full pension reform measure also boosts the PBGC annual per-participant premimum to $30 up from $19 (SeeSenate OKs Compromise Version of Pension Reform Measure ).  The House’s recently approved pension reform bill also contains the increase (See  Pension Protection Act Approved by the House  ).

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