PBGC Seeks to Continue Collection of Information on Mergers and Transfers

The Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC) issued a notice of its intent to request that the Office of Budget Management (OBM) approve an extension of its collection of information on mergers and transfers between multi-employer plans. Currently, the regulations require that multi-employer plans involved in a merger or transfer provide the PBGC 120 days’ notice of the transfer. The PGBC then determines if specific criteria are met and if they are not the transfer will be considered in violation of ERISA’s section dealing with prohibited transactions. The current OMB approval for the collection of this information is expiring on July 31, 2017. The PBGC will be requesting that OMB extend the approval for an additional three years. Plan sponsors of multi-employer plans intending to merge should continue to monitor the status of the OMB approval to determine if the reporting requirements still apply.