Annual Funding Notice Necessities

The Labour Department of the United States, has recently supplied a Field Assistance Bulletin, which deals with the conformity to the annual funding notice requisite, for defining the various pension plans. This official statement also contains a model of how the notice should be compiled, for the benefit of single-employer plans.

Employers should normally provide the compiled notices, within a specified term of maximum 120 days after the closing of the plan year. Smaller sized plans that are entitled to use an end of year valuation date should provide this notice by the same date that they file the required Form5500.

Pension Plan administrators, are required to provide the above mentioned notice to the following parties:
• all the people who are contributing money into the pension plan
• all the plan beneficiaries
• all the labour organizations that are representing either the beneficiaries or the contributors.

Furthermore, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation should also get a copy of the funding notice, in the case that the plan liabilities are in excess of the plan’s assets, by a sum that exceeds 50 million dollars. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation may also send a written request asking for the notice. In this case, the plan administrators should send the funding notice within 30 days from the date of the written request.

The model version of the funding notice that was issued with the Field Assistance Bulletin is not required, however if properly completed, it will ensure that all the legal requirements are satisfied, until further notice.

Reference:
http://www.watsonwyatt.com/search/parser.asp?ID=20826