§ 4010.11 Waivers.

(a) Aggregate funding shortfall not in excess of $15 million waiver. Unless reporting is required by § 4010.4(a)(2) or (3), reporting is waived for a person (that would be a filer if not for the waiver) for an information year if, for the plan year ending within the information year, the aggregate 4010 funding shortfall for all plans (including any exempt plans) maintained by the person's controlled group on the last day of the information year (disregarding plans with no 4010 funding shortfall) does not exceed $15 million, as determined under paragraphs (a)(1) and (2) of this section.

(1) 4010 funding shortfall; in general. A plan's 4010 funding shortfall for a plan year equals the funding shortfall for the plan year as provided under section 303(c)(4) of ERISA and section 430(c)(4) of the Code, with the following exceptions:

(i) The funding target used to calculate the 4010 funding shortfall is determined without regard to the interest rate stabilization provisions of section 303(h)(2)(C)(iv) of ERISA and section 430(h)(2)(C)(iv) of the Code and without regard to the at-risk plan provisions in section 303(i) of ERISA and section 430(i) of the Code.

(ii) The value of plan assets used to calculate the 4010 funding shortfall is determined without regard to the reduction under section 303(f)(4)(B) of ERISA and section 430(f)(4)(B) of the Code (dealing with reduction of assets by the amount of prefunding and funding standard carryover balances).

(2) Multiple employer plans. For purposes of § 4010.8(c) and paragraph (a) of this section, the entire 4010 funding shortfall of any multiple employer plan of which the filer or any member of the filer's controlled group is a contributing sponsor is included.

(b) Smaller plans waiver —

(1) General. Unless reporting is required by § 4010.4(a)(2) or (a)(3), reporting is waived for a person (that would be a filer if not for the waiver) for an information year if, for the plan year ending within the information year, the aggregate number of participants in all plans (including any exempt plans) maintained by the person's controlled group on the last day of the information year is fewer than 500. For this purpose, the number of participants in any plan may be determined either as of the end of the plan year ending within the information year or as of the valuation date for that plan year.

(2) Multiple employer plans. For purposes of this paragraph (b), the aggregate number of participants in all plans maintained by a person's controlled group includes any participants covered by a multiple employer plan in which the person participates (including participants covered by the multiple employer plan who are not or were not employed by the person).

(c) Missed contributions resulting in a lien or outstanding minimum funding waivers. Reporting is waived for a person (that would be a filer if not for the waiver) for an information year if, for the plan year ending within the information year, reporting would have been required solely under § 4010.4(a)(2) or (3), provided that the missed contributions or applications for minimum funding waivers (as applicable) were reported to PBGC under part 4043 of this chapter by the due date for the 4010 filing.

(d) Other waiver authority. PBGC may waive the requirement to submit information with respect to one or more filers or plans or may extend the applicable due date or dates specified in § 4010.10. PBGC will exercise this discretion in appropriate cases where it finds convincing evidence supporting a waiver or extension; any waiver or extension may be subject to conditions. A request for a waiver or extension must be filed in writing with PBGC at the address provided in § 4010.10(c) no later than 15 days before the applicable due date specified in § 4010.10, and must state the facts and circumstances on which the request is based.

[81 FR 15440, Mar. 23, 2016, as amended at 85 FR 6060, Feb. 4, 2020]