§ 4010.4 Filers.

(a) General. Unless a waiver in § 4010.11 of this part applies, a contributing sponsor of a plan and each member of the contributing sponsor's controlled group on the last day of the information year is a filer with respect to an information year (unless exempted under paragraph (c) of this section) if—

(1) For any plan (including an exempt plan) maintained by the members of the contributing sponsor's controlled group on the last day of the information year, the 4010 funding target attainment percentage for the plan year ending within the information year is less than 80 percent;

(2) Any member of the controlled group fails to make a required installment or other required payment to a plan and, as a result, the conditions for imposition of a lien described in ERISA section 303(k) or 306(g) and Code section 430(k) or 433(g) have been met during the information year, and the required installment or other required payment is not made within ten days after its due date; or

(3) Any plan maintained by a member of the controlled group has been granted one or more minimum funding waivers under ERISA section 302(c) and Code section 412(c) totaling in excess of $1 million, and as of the end of the plan year ending within the information year, any portion thereof is still outstanding.

(b) 4010 Funding target attainment percentage—

(1) General. The 4010 funding target attainment percentage for a plan for a plan year equals the funding target attainment percentage as provided under ERISA section 303(d)(2) and Code section 430(d)(2) determined without regard to the interest rate stabilization provisions of ERISA section 303(h)(2)(C)(iv) and Code section 430(h)(2)(C)(iv).

(2) Assets used to determine 4010 funding target attainment percentage. For purposes of determining the 4010 funding target attainment percentage for a plan for the plan year, the value of plan assets determined under ERISA section 303(g)(3) and Code section 430(g)(3) may (but need not) be substituted for the asset value determined without regard to the interest rate stabilization provisions of ERISA section 303(h)(2)(C)(iv) and Code section 430(h)(2)(C)(iv).

(3) Prefunding balance and funding standard carryover balance elections. For purposes of determining the 4010 funding target attainment percentage for a plan for the plan year, prefunding balances and funding standard carryover balances must reflect any elections (or deemed elections) under ERISA section 303(f) and Code section 430(f) that affect the value of such balances as of the beginning of the plan year, regardless of when the elections (or deemed elections) are made.

(c) Exempt entities. A person is an exempt entity for an information year if the conditions of paragraphs (c)(1) through (4) of this section are satisfied.

(1) The person is not a contributing sponsor of a plan (other than an exempt plan) as of the last day of the information year.

(2) The person has revenue for its fiscal year ending within the controlled group's information year that is five percent or less of the revenue of the person's controlled group for the fiscal year(s) ending within the information year.

(3) The person has annual operating income for the fiscal year ending within the controlled group's information year that is no more than the greater of—

(i) Five percent of the controlled group's annual operating income for the fiscal year(s) ending within the information year, or

(ii) $5 million.

(4) The person has net assets at the end of the fiscal year ending within the controlled group's information year that is no more than the greater of—

(i) Five percent of the controlled group's net assets at the end of the fiscal year(s) ending within the information year, or

(ii) $5 million.

(d) Minimum funding waiver —

(1) General. For purposes of § 4010.4(a)(3), a portion of the minimum funding waiver for a plan is considered outstanding unless prior to the plan year ending within the information year the statutory amortization period has ended, or, as of the valuation date for the plan year ending within the information year, the amortization bases are deemed to be reduced to zero pursuant to ERISA section 303(e)(5) and Code section 430(e)(5).

(2) Example. Company A sponsors Plan X, which received a minimum funding waiver of $700,000 for the plan year ending December 31, 2004, and another waiver of $500,000 for the plan year ending December 31, 2008. Assume that the amortization bases of the waivers are not reduced to zero pursuant to ERISA section 303(e)(5) and Code section 430(e)(5), and the waivers are therefore outstanding for the full five-year statutory amortization period. Also, assume Company A has a calendar information year. For the 2009 information year, Company A must report under ERISA section 4010. However, for the 2010 information year, Company A, assuming no other obligation to report under ERISA section 4010, is not required to report.

(e) Certain plans to which special funding rules apply. Except for purposes of determining the information to be submitted under § 4010.8(h) (in connection with the actuarial valuation report), the following statutory provisions are disregarded for purposes of this part:

(1) Section 402(b) of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, Public Law 109–280, dealing with certain frozen plans of commercial passenger airlines and airline caterers.

(2) Section 306 of ERISA and section 433 of the Code, dealing with certain defined benefit pension plans maintained by certain cooperatives and charities.

[74 FR 11030, Mar. 16, 2009, as amended at 81 FR 15439, Mar. 23, 2016; 85 FR 6059, Feb. 4, 2020]