PBGC Announces One-Time 4010 Filing Waiver
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is providing a one-time waiver of the reporting requirement under Section 4010 of ERISA for filers meeting specific criteria. Section 4010 requires a contributing sponsor of certain underfunded single-employer plans and members of the contributing sponsor’s controlled group to report identifying, financial, and actuarial information to PBGC. Generally, this reporting is required if one or more plans sponsored by a member of the controlled group has a funding target attainment percentage (4010 FTAP) below 80 percent.
Given the atypical and almost unprecedented interaction of market conditions of late 2022 and early 2023, and the way those conditions impact the liability and asset measures used to determine the 4010 FTAP, PBGC expects that many plans with valuation dates during that time will, for the first time in a long time (or perhaps ever), have a 4010 FTAP well below 80 percent. PBGC also expects that the 4010 FTAP for many of those plans would be significantly higher, even over 100 percent in some cases, if the 4010 FTAP was required to be determined without regard to asset or discount rate smoothing (i.e., using a market-based approach). In recognition of this, PBGC is providing a one-time waiver of the 4010 filing requirement for filers meeting the following conditions.
- The 4010 filing requirement did not apply for the five consecutive information years immediately preceding the applicable information year.
- Either:
- None of the includable plans has a market-based 4010 FTAP below 85 percent, or
- The market-based aggregate 4010 funding shortfall does not exceed $15 million.
- Every includable plan with a 4010 FTAP below 80 percent has a valuation date on or after October 1, 2022, and on or before March 1, 2023.
Plan sponsors seeking a waiver must notify PBGC no later than 15 days before the date the 4010 filing would have been due if not for the waiver. To do so, send an email to ERISA.4010@pbgc.gov with the subject line “Technical Update 23-1 Waiver.”
