The groundhog isn't the only one who saw a shadow on Monday. Single-employer defined benefit plans saw the shadow cast by a new rule from the Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration on plan funding notices.
The rule, published in the Feb. 2 issue of the Federal Register, not only laid out the requirements for annual funding notices for single-employer DB plans, but provided model notices for both single- and multiemployer plans.
Until now, only multiemployer plans were required to provide funding notices, but the new rule, applicable to notices for plan years beginning on or after Jan. 1, lays out exactly what information sponsors must provide. (Lest they feel left out, multiemployer plans also came in for some tweaks.)
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The new rule requires annual notices to provide the plan's funding percentage, with single-employer plans providing their "funding target attainment percentage" and multiemployer plans their "funded percentage." The rule requires that the funding percentage must be reported for the past three plan years.
The notices must also include information on the plan's assets and liabilities, such as the values of its assets and liabilities on the same date that was used to calculate the plan's funding percentage. In addition, notices must provide a disclosure of how the plan's assets are invested as of the last day of the plan year.
Also reportable: Any amendments, scheduled increases or reductions in benefits or any other known events that have a material effect on plan assets and liabilities, if such event(s) plays a part in determining funding for the first time in the year following the notice year.
In addition, notices must provide a general description of plan benefits that are eligible to be guaranteed by the PBGC, as well as any limitations on the guarantee and determining factors for those limitations. Single-employer also have to provide a summary of the rules that govern plan termination; multiemployer plan notices have to provide a summary of the rules governing insolvency.
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