§ 4007.8 Late payment penalty charges.

(a) Penalty charge. Subject to the provisions of § 4007.13, if any premium payment due under this part is not paid by the due date under this part, PBGC will assess a late payment penalty charge as determined under this paragraph (a), except to the extent the charge is waived under paragraphs (b) through (h) of this section. The amount determined under this paragraph (a) will be based on the number of months (counting any portion of a month as a whole month) from the due date to the date of payment. The penalty rate is—

(1) For any amount of unpaid premium that is paid on or before the date PBGC issues the first written notice to any person liable for the premium that there is or may be a premium delinquency (for example, a premium bill, a letter initiating a premium compliance review, a notice of filing error in premium determination, or a letter questioning a failure to make a premium filing), 1⁄2 percent per month, to a maximum penalty charge of 25 percent of the unpaid premium; or

(2) For any amount of unpaid premium that is paid after that date, 21⁄2 percent per month, to a maximum penalty charge of 50 percent of the unpaid premium.

(b) Hardship waiver. The PBGC may grant a waiver based upon a showing of substantial hardship as provided in section 4007(b) of ERISA.

(c) Reasonable cause waivers. PBGC will waive all or part of a late payment penalty charge if PBGC determines that there is reasonable cause for the late payment. Policy guidelines for applying the “reasonable cause” standard are in §§ 22 through 25 of the appendix to this part.

(d) Other waivers. PBGC may waive all or part of a late payment penalty charge in other circumstances without regard to whether there is reasonable cause. Policy guidelines for waivers without reasonable cause are in § 21(b)(1), (b)(3), (b)(4), and (b)(5) of the appendix to this part.

(e) Grace period. With respect to any PBGC bill for a premium underpayment, the PBGC will waive any late payment penalty charge accruing after the date of the bill, provided the premium underpayment is paid within 30 days after the date of the bill.

(f) Filings not more than 7 days late. PBGC will waive premium payment penalties that arise solely because premium payments are late by not more than seven calendar days, as described in this paragraph (f). In applying this waiver, PBGC will assume that each premium payment with respect to a plan year was made seven calendar days before it was actually made. All other rules will then be applied as usual. If the result of this procedure is that no penalty would arise for that plan year, then any penalty that would apply on the basis of the actual payment date(s) will be waived.

(g) Variable-rate premium penalty relief. PBGC will waive the penalty on any underpayment of the variable-rate premium for the period that ends on the earlier of the date the reconciliation filing is due or the date the reconciliation filing is made if, by the date the variable-rate premium for the premium payment year is due under § 4007.11(a)(1),—

(1) The plan administrator reports—

(i) The fair market value of the plan's assets for the premium payment year, and

(ii) An estimate of the plan's premium funding target for the premium payment year that is certified by an enrolled actuary to be a reasonable estimate that takes into account the most current data available to the enrolled actuary and that has been determined in accordance with generally accepted actuarial principles and practices; and

(2) The plan administrator pays at least the amount of variable-rate premium determined from the value of assets and estimated premium funding target so reported.

(h) Demonstrated compliance. PBGC will waive 80 percent of the premium payment penalty assessed under paragraph (a)(2) of this section if the criteria in paragraphs (h)(1) and (2) of this section are met.

(1) For each plan year within the last five plan years of coverage preceding the plan year for which the penalty rate is being determined,—

(i) Any required premium filing for the plan has been made; and

(ii) PBGC has not required payment of a penalty for the plan under this section.

(2) For the plan year for which the penalty rate is being determined, the total amount of premium is paid no later than 30 days after PBGC issues the first written notice as described in paragraph (a)(1) of this section.

[64 FR 66385, Nov. 26, 1999, as amended at 65 FR 75164, Dec. 1, 2000; 71 FR 66869, Nov. 17, 2006; 72 FR 71229, Dec. 17, 2007; 73 FR 15076, Mar. 21, 2008; 79 FR 350, Jan. 3, 2014; 79 FR 13561, Mar. 11, 2014; 81 FR 65545, Sept. 23, 2016]