[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 108 (Monday, June 8, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27182-27183]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-13299]



[[Page 27182]]

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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Office of the Secretary


Submission for OMB Review: Comment Request

June 2, 2009.
    The Department of Labor (DOL) hereby announces the submission of 
the following public information collection requests (ICR) to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in 
accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 
U.S.C. chapter 35). A copy of each ICR, with applicable supporting 
documentation; including among other things a description of the likely 
respondents, proposed frequency of response, and estimated total burden 
may be obtained from the RegInfo.gov Web site at http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain or by contacting Darrin King on 202-
693-4129 (this is not a toll-free number)/e-mail: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#a7e3e8ebf8f7f5e6f8f7f2e5ebeee4e7c3c8cb89c0c8d1"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="04404b485b5456455b545146484d4744606b682a636b72">[email protected]</span></a>.
    Interested parties are encouraged to send comments to the Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs, Attn: OMB Desk Officer for the 
Department of Labor--Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), 
Office of Management and Budget, Room 10235, Washington, DC 20503, 
Telephone: 202-395-7316/Fax: 202-395-5806 (these are not toll-free 
numbers), E-mail: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#014e4853405e7274636c687272686e6f416e6c632f646e712f666e77"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="e4abadb6a5bb979186898d97978d8b8aa48b8986ca818b94ca838b92">[email protected]</span></a> within 30 days from the 
date of this publication in the Federal Register. In order to ensure 
the appropriate consideration, comments should reference the OMB 
Control Number (see below).
    The OMB is particularly interested in comments which:
    <bullet> Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility;
    <bullet> Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the 
burden of the proposed collection of information, including the 
validity of the methodology and assumptions used;
    <bullet> Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
    <bullet> 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., permitting 
electronic submission of responses.
    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration.
    Type of Review: Extension without change of a currently approved 
collection.
    Title of Collection: Definition of Plan Assets--Participant 
Contributions.
    OMB Control Number: 1210-0100.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 1.
    Total Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 1.
    Total Estimated Annual Costs Burden (excludes hourly wage costs): 
$1,025.
    Description: The Department's regulation at 29 CFR 2510.3-102 
states that monies that a participant pays to, or has withheld by, an 
employer for contribution to an employee benefit plan become ``plan 
assets'' for purposes of Title I of Employee Retirement Income and 
Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the related prohibited transaction 
provisions of the Internal Revenue Code (the Code) as of the earliest 
date on which such monies can be reasonably segregated from the 
employer's general assets. With respect to employee pension benefit 
plans, the regulation further sets a maximum time limit for such 
contributions: the 15th business day following the end of the month in 
which the participant contribution amounts are received or withheld by 
the employer. Under ERISA, ``plan assets'' cannot be held by the 
employer as part of its general assets, but must be contributed to the 
employee benefit plan to which they belong and, with few exceptions, 
held in trust.
    The regulation includes a procedure through which an employer 
receiving or withholding participant contributions for an employee 
pension benefit plan may obtain a 10-business-day extension of the 15-
day maximum time period if certain requirements, including information 
collection requirements, are met. The regulation requires, among other 
things, that the employer provide written notice to plan participants, 
within 5 business days after the end of the extension period and the 
employer's transfer of the contributions to the plan, which the 
employer elected to take the extension for that month. The notice must 
explain why the employer could not transfer the participant 
contributions within the maximum time period, state that the 
participant contributions in question have in fact been transmitted to 
the plan, and provide the date on which this was done. The employer 
must also provide a copy of the participant notice to the Secretary, 
along with a certification that the notice was distributed to 
participants and that the other requirements under the extension 
procedure were met, within 5 business days after the end of the 
extension period. The information collections imposed under the 
regulation include third-party disclosures and disclosures to the 
government.
    The information collection is intended to protect participants by 
ensuring that they and the Department are aware of an employer's 
failure to meet the regulatory time limits for transferring participant 
contributions to the employee pension benefit plan they are intended to 
fund. The Department and the affected participants can then take 
appropriate action to protect the plan assets. Requiring employers to 
make the disclosures also ensures that they follow the protective 
requirements that are part of the extension procedure.
    For additional information, see related notice published at Vol. 74 
FR13476 on March 27, 2009.
    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration.
    Type of Review: Extension without change of a currently approved 
collection.
    Title of Collection: Termination of Abandoned Individual Account 
Plans.
    OMB Control Number: 1210-0127.
    Affected Public: Businesses or other for-profits.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 100.
    Total Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 7,433.
    Total Estimated Annual Costs Burden (excludes hourly wage costs): 
$3,366,300.
    Description: This ICR is for three final regulations under the 
Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) that facilitate 
the termination of, and distribution of benefits from, individual 
account pension plans that have been abandoned by their sponsoring 
employers. The first regulation establishes a procedure for financial 
institutions holding the assets of an abandoned individual account plan 
to terminate the plan and distribute benefits to the plan's 
participants and beneficiaries, with limited liability. The second 
regulation provides a fiduciary safe harbor for making distributions 
from terminated plans on behalf of participants and beneficiaries who 
fail to make an election regarding a form of benefit distribution. The 
third regulation establishes a simplified method for filing a terminal 
report for abandoned individual account plans.
    The ICR also takes into account to a class prohibited transaction 
exemption (PTE 2006-06) that permits a ``qualified termination 
administrator'' (QTA) of an

[[Page 27183]]

individual account plan that has been abandoned by its sponsoring 
employer to select itself or an affiliate to provide services to the 
plan in connection with the termination of the plan, to pay itself or 
an affiliate fees for those services, and to pay itself for services 
provided prior to the plan's deemed termination, and class Prohibited 
Transaction Exemption 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.
    For additional information, see related notice published at Vol. 74 
FR13478.

    Dated: March 27, 2009.
Darrin A. King,
Departmental Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. E9-13299 Filed 6-5-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-29-P


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