§ 4041.48 Sufficient plans; notice requirements.

(a) Notices of benefit distribution. When a distribution notice is issued by the PBGC pursuant to § 4041.47, the plan administrator must issue notices of benefit distribution in accordance with the rules regarding notices of plan benefits in § 4041.24, except that—

(1) The deadline for issuing the notices of benefit distribution is the 60th day after receipt of the distribution notice; and

(2) With respect to the information described in § 4041.24 (b) through (e), the term “plan benefits” is replaced with “title IV benefits” and the term “proposed termination date” is replaced with “termination date”.

(b) Certification to PBGC. No later than 15 days after the date on which the plan administrator completes the issuance of the notices of benefit distribution, the plan administrator must file with the PBGC a certification that the notices were so issued in accordance with the requirements of this section.

(c) Notice of annuity information —

(1) In general. Unless all title IV benefits will be distributed in the form of nonconsensual lump sums, the plan administrator must provide a notice of annuity information to each affected party other than—

(i) An affected party whose title IV benefits will be distributed in the form of a nonconsensual lump sum; and

(ii) The PBGC.

(2) Spin-off/termination transactions. The plan administrator must provide the information in paragraph (c)(4) of this section to a person entitled to notice under § 4041.43(c), at the same time and in the same manner as required for an affected party described in paragraph (c)(1) of this section.

(3) Selection of different insurer. A plan administrator that decides to select a different insurer after having previously notified the affected party of the identity of insurer(s) under this paragraph must provide another notice of annuity information.

(4) Content of notice. The notice must include—

(i) The identity-of-insurer information in § 4041.27(b)(1);

(ii) The information regarding change in identity of insurer(s) in § 4041.27(b)(2); and

(iii) Unless the state guaranty coverage information in § 4041.27(b)(3) was previously provided to the affected party, such information and the extinguishment-of-guaranty information in § 4041.23(b)(9) (replacing the term “plan benefits” with “title IV benefits”).

(5) Deadline for notice. The plan administrator must issue the notice of annuity information to each affected party by the deadline in § 4041.27(d)(1).

(d) Request for IRS determination letter. To qualify for the distribution deadline in § 4041.28(a)(1)(ii) (as modified and made applicable by § 4041.50(c)), the plan administrator must submit to the IRS a valid request for a determination of the plan's qualification status upon termination (“determination letter”) by the day on which the plan administrator completes the issuance of the notices of benefit distribution.