September 2012 

Information about PBGC Premium Filings 

This notice is for plan administrators and other practitioners who prepare premium filings and submit them to the Pension 

Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) via My Plan Administration Account (My PAA). 

Last Paper Notice: We expect this to be the last time we send a paper notice to give you information about premium 

instructions and related reminders. Instead, we plan to post future notices on our website or send them by email. To keep 

informed, we encourage you to sign up for “What‟s New for Practitioners” email notifications via the Practitioners Page of our 

website http://www.pbgc.gov/prac/whatsnew.html and provide current email addresses on your premium filings. 

2013 Premium Instructions: We expect to post the 2013 premium instructions on our website at www.pbgc.gov/premiumpayment-instructions by January 2013. 

Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21): See Technical Update 12-1 (http://www.pbgc.gov/res/otherguidance/tu/tu12-1.html) for the effect of MAP-21 on PBGC premiums. Here are the key items to note about premium rates: 

 Plan Year 2012: MAP-21 did not change the premium rates for 2012. The per-participant flat-rate premium is $35 for 

single-employer plans and $9 for multiemployer plans. The variable-rate premium is $9 per $1,000 of unfunded vested 

benefits. 

 Plan Year 2013: 

– Flat-rate Premium: The per-participant flat-rate premium will be $42 for single-employer plans and $12 for 

multiemployer plans. 

– Variable-rate Premium: The variable-rate premium will be capped at $400 per participant. Although 

MAP-21 added an indexing feature for the variable-rate premium, in all likelihood, the variable-rate premium 

(before reflecting the cap) will remain at $9 per $1,000 of unfunded vested benefits. We will confirm the rate by 

November 2012. 

Other Changes Expected for Plan Year 2013 

 Revocation of Alternative Premium Funding Target election: For the first time, certain plans that previously 

elected to use the Alternative Premium Funding Target to determine unfunded vested benefits are eligible to revoke 

that election and use the Standard Premium Funding Target. Because an election to use the Alternative Premium 

Funding Target must remain in effect for at least five years, a plan cannot revoke a prior election for the 2013 plan year 

unless the election was first effective for the 2008 plan year. 

 Breakdown of the total Premium Funding Target: The total Premium Funding Target is broken down into 

categories attributable to: (1) active participants, (2) terminated vested participants, and (3) retirees and beneficiaries 

receiving payments. 

 Additional contact information: Additional contact information is requested to help ensure that mailings, emails and 

telephone calls reach the appropriate contacts, e.g., a name to use for the “attention” line of mailings. 

 Plan effective date: All plans must provide the plan effective date, rather than just new and newly-covered plans. 

 Premium credit: The premium credit information in the comprehensive premium filing is broken down into two items 

rather than one. 

 Elimination of data items: Some data elements are no longer required, e.g., the plan sponsor‟s address, a check box 

to indicate that a name or address has changed, and the payment method for paper filers. 

Stronger My PAA Passwords: You will need to change your My PAA password the next time you log in (if you have not 

recently done so) for better data security. The password must be between 10 and 24 characters and contain at least 1 uppercase 

character, 1 lowercase character, 1 number and 1 special character. Do not include spaces or the following special characters: 

single quote („), double quote (“), equal to (=), percent (%), asterisk (*), backslash (\), plus (+), ampersand (&), greater than (>), 

less than (<), semicolon (;), or question mark (?). Please log in at least once per year; update your account when there are 

changes (e.g., email address); and email or call our premium representatives to deactivate your account when it is no longer 

needed (premiums@pbgc.gov or 1-800-736-2444 and select “premiums”).