PBGC’s new e-filing portal

On February 1, 2024, the PBGC will launch a new e-Filing Portal using “Login.gov.” Login.gov will be the exclusive way to access the e-Filing Portal. Those seeking access will need to set up a Login.gov account (if they don’t already have one) and use those credentials to log in to the e-Filing Portal instead of your current e-Filing Portal login credentials. Executive Order 14028 requires federal agencies to adopt multifactor authentication for public-facing websites.

The PBGC began the transition last year by making these changes to My PAA, the PBGC’s premium filing and payment system. (See our September 6, 2023 insight, “New Login.gov System Will Affect e‑Filings and e‑Payment.”)

Filers that already have a Login.gov email address and password can use those credentials to access the PBGC’s e-Filing Portal. However, if the Login.gov email address is not the same as the one associated with the filer’s e-Filing Portal account, a filer will need to change the email associated with the current e-Filing Portal account to the one used for Login.gov before February 1, 2024, to retain automatic access to documents and filings in the current account.

To make the change, log in to the e-Filing Portal using the filer’s current ID and password, click “Manage Account” and change the email to the one the filer will use for Login.gov. If the changes are not made before February 1, 2024, the PBGC warns filers that it will be cumbersome to retrieve these earlier filings.

Adjustment of PBGC civil penalties for inflation

The PBGC annually increases its civil monetary penalties to reflect inflation as required by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015. The inflation adjustment affects penalties for failure to provide certain notices or other material information in both the single-employer and multiemployer programs.

The multiplier for 2024 is 1.03421, resulting in an adjusted maximums of $2,670 for ERISA section 4071 penalties and $356 for multiemployer plan penalties under ERISA section 4302.

2024 PBGC premiums

The PBGC has issued premium filing instructions for 2024 plan years. The filing requirements for 2024 are almost identical to the filing requirements for 2023. The only substantive change is updated premium rates.

Single-employer plans other than cooperative and small employer charity plans

The 2024 flat-rate premium is $101 per-participant, up from $96.

The cap on the variable-rate premium is $686 per person, up from $652.

Note that because legislation enacted in 2022 eliminated indexing on the variable-rate premium, the 2023 rate of $52 per $1,000 of unfunded vested benefits remains unchanged.

Premium rates for cooperative and small employer charity plans are not indexed and, consequently, have not changed.

Multiemployer plans

The 2024 flat-rate premium is $37 per-participant, up from $35.

Multiemployer plans do not pay variable-rate premiums.

2023 Form 5500 Annual Return

The PBGC, DOL and IRS have released advance informational copies of the 2023 Form 5500 Annual Return/Report and related instructions. For more information, including a summary of key changes, see the November 17, 2023 news release from the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration.

PBGC 2023 Annual Report

The PBGC has released its 2023 Annual Report, which includes information about the financial health of the Single-Employer Program and the Multiemployer Program.

Single-Employer Program

The PBGC’s Single-Employer Program had a positive net position of $44.6 billion at the end of fiscal year (FY) 2023, up from $36.6 billion at the end of FY 2022.

The Single-Employer Program had $130.9 billion in assets and $86.3 billion in liabilities as of September 30, 2023, resulting in a positive net position of $44.6 billion at the end of FY 2023, up from $36.6 billion a year earlier.

During the year, the PBGC paid more than $6 billion in retirement benefits to nearly 920,000 retirees in PBGC-trusteed plans. The Single-Employer Program covers nearly 21 million workers and retirees in about 23,500 insured pension plans.

Multiemployer Program

The Multiemployer Program had assets of $4 billion and liabilities of $2.5 billion as of September 30, 2023. The net financial position of the Multiemployer Program improved in FY 2023, to a positive net position of $1.5 billion, compared with the program’s positive net position of $1.1 billion the previous year.

Estimates from the PBGC’s FY 2022 Projections Report show the Multiemployer Program is likely to remain solvent for more than 40 years, primarily due to the enactment of the Special Financial Assistance (SFA) Program as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

During FY 2023, the PBGC also provided nearly $176 million in traditional financial assistance to 100 multiemployer plans covering over 80,000 participants receiving guaranteed benefits. The Multiemployer Program covers approximately 11 million participants in about 1,360 insured plans.

PBGC 2023 Annual Report to Congress

The PBGC Office of the Participant and Plan Sponsor Advocate issued its annual report to Congress. This is the 10^th annual report since the Office of the Advocate was created. The report focuses on recurrent problems that the Advocate claims still continue after 10 years. The basic concern is that the PBGC is slow to resolve issues while increasing legal costs for employers and making retired workers wait years before their cases are resolved.

Specifically, the Advocate’s report is critical of the fact that the General Counsel’s Office is both involved in initial benefit determinations and supervises the Appeals Office, which reviews the initial decision. The report also questions the time it takes the PBGC to negotiate with distressed companies trying to terminate their underfunded plans because those companies claim that is the only way they can remain in business.

Finally, the report asks the PBGC and Congress to look at the PBGC single-employer premium. The report points the out the large size of the current surplus, the incongruity of PBGC premiums being counted as revenue in the federal budget and the impact of the large premium in driving sponsors out of the defined benefit system.