[Federal Register: March 27, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 58)]
[Notices]
[Page 13478-13479]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr27mr09-89]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Employee Benefits Security Administration
Proposed Extension of Information Collection; Comment Request
Final Rules and Class Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2006-16 Relating
to Terminated Individual Account Plans
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA
95) (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)), the Department of Labor (the Department)
conducts a preclearance consultation program to provide the general
public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed
and continuing collections of information. This program helps to ensure
that the data the Department gathers can be provided in the desired
format, that the reporting burden on the public (time and financial
resources) is minimized, that the public understands the Department's
collection instruments, and that the Department can accurately assess
the impact of collection requirements on respondents.
Pursuant to this notice, the Department is soliciting comments
concerning the information collection provisions of final rules
relating to the Termination of Abandoned Individual Account Plans,\1\
the Safe Harbor for Distributions From Terminated Individual Account
Plans,\2\ the Terminal Report for Abandoned Individual Account
Plans,\3\ and Class Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2006-16, relating
to the Terminal Report for Abandoned Individual Account Plans, and
2004-14, relating to automatic rollovers.
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\1\ 29 CFR 2578.1.
\2\ 29 CFR 2550.404a-3.
\3\ 29 CFR 2520.103-13.
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A copy of the ICR may be obtained by contacting the office listed
in the ADDRESSES section of this notice.
DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office shown in the
ADDRESSES section below on or before May 26, 2009.
ADDRESSES: Interested parties are invited to submit written comments
regarding the information collection request and burden estimates to:
G. Christopher Cosby, Office of Policy and Research, U.S. Department of
Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration, 200 Constitution
Avenue, NW., Room N-5647, Washington, DC 20210. Telephone:
[[Page 13479]]
(202) 693-8410; Fax: (202) 219-4745. These are not toll-free numbers.
Comments may also be submitted electronically to ebsa.opr@dol.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has
promulgated three regulations and a prohibited transaction class
exemption (PTE) that address the problem of abandoned individual
account pension plans. The abandoned plan initiative includes the
following actions, which impose the following information collections:
1. Qualified Termination Administrator (QTA) Regulation: The QTA
regulation creates an orderly and efficient process by which a
financial institution that holds the assets of a plan that is deemed to
have been abandoned may undertake to terminate the plan and distribute
its assets to participants and beneficiaries holding accounts under the
plan, with protections and approval of the Department under the
standards of the regulation. The regulation requires the QTA to provide
certain notices to the Department, to participants and beneficiaries,
and to the plan sponsor (or service providers to the plan, if
necessary), and to keep certain records pertaining to the termination.
2. Abandoned Plan Terminal Report Regulation: The terminal report
regulation provides an alternative, simplified method for a QTA to
satisfy the annual report requirement otherwise applicable to a
terminating plan by filing a special simplified terminal report with
the Department after terminating an abandoned plan and distributing its
accounts to participants and beneficiaries.
3. Terminated Plan Distribution Regulation: The terminated plan
distribution regulation establishes a safe harbor method by which
fiduciaries who are terminating individual account pension plans
(whether abandoned or not) may select an investment vehicle to receive
account balances distributed from the terminated plan when the
participant has failed to provide investment instructions. The
regulation requires the fiduciaries to provide advance notice to
participants and beneficiaries of how such distributions will be
invested, if no other investment instructions are provided.
4. Abandoned Plan Class Exemption: The exemption permits a QTA that
terminates an abandoned plan under the QTA regulation to receive
payment for its services from the abandoned plan and to distribute the
account balance of a participant who has failed to provide investment
direction into an individual retirement account (IRA) maintained by the
QTA or an affiliate. Without the exemption, financial institutions
could be unable to receive payment for services rendered out of plan
assets without violating ERISA's prohibited transaction provisions and
would therefore be highly unlikely to undertake the termination of
abandoned plans. The exemption includes the condition that the QTA keep
records of the distributions for a period of six years and make such
records available on request to interested persons (including the
Department and participants and beneficiaries). If a QTA wishes to be
paid out of plan assets for services provided prior to becoming a QTA,
the exemption requires that the QTA enter into a written agreement with
a plan fiduciary or the plan sponsor prior to receiving payment and
that a copy of the agreement be provided to the Department.
5. PTE 2004-16 (Automatic Rollover Exemption): Also included in
this ICR are the notice and recordkeeping requirements contained in PTE
2004-16, which permits a pension plan fiduciary that is a financial
institution and is also the employer maintaining an individual account
pension plan for its employees to establish, on behalf of its separated
employees, an IRA at a financial institution that is either the
employer or an affiliate, which IRA would receive mandatory
distributions that the fiduciary ``rolls over'' from the plan when an
employee terminates employment.
Because all of these regulations and exemptions relate to
terminating or abandoned plans and/or to distribution and rollover of
distributed benefits for which no participant investment election has
been made, the Department has combined the paperwork burden for all of
these actions into one ICR. In the Department's view, this combination
allows the public to have a better understanding of the aggregate
burden imposed on the public for these related regulatory actions. OMB
approved the ICR under OMB control number 1210-0127, which is scheduled
to expire on June 30, 2009.
II. Desired Focus of Comments
The Department is particularly interested in comments that:
Evaluate whether the collections of information are
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency,
including whether the information will have practical utility;
Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the
burden of the collections of information, including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used;
Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; and
Minimize the burden of the collection of information on
those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection
techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., by
permitting electronic submission of responses.
III. Current Action
The Department is requesting an extension of the currently approved
ICR titled Termination of Abandoned Individual Account Plans. The
Department is not proposing or implementing changes to the regulation
or to the existing ICR. A summary of the ICR and the current burden
estimates follows:
Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection of
information.
Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of
Labor.
Title: Termination of Abandoned Individual Account Plans.
OMB Number: 1210-0127.
Affected Public: Individuals or households; Business or other for-
profit; Not-for-profit institutions.
Respondents: 164,240.
Frequency of Response: On occasion.
Responses: 164,240.
Estimated Total Burden Hours: 7,313.
Total Annual Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $997,000.
Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized
and/or included in the request for OMB approval of the information
collection request; they will also become a matter of public record.
Dated: March 23, 2009.
Joseph S. Piacentini,
Director, Office of Policy and Research, Employee Benefits Security
Administration.
[FR Doc. E9-6838 Filed 3-26-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-29-P