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Treasury Regulation Section 1.401(a)(4)-5(b) limits the annual amount of pension payments made to one of the plan sponsor's 25 most highly compensated current or former employees ("restricted employees") in any plan year to the amount that would have been paid to the restricted employee in that year if he or she had received a straight life annuity. This restriction ensures that a pension plan will not discriminate in favor of highly compensated employees by paying out their full benefits, while leaving insufficient plan assets to pay out the benefits of lower-paid employees. The restriction does not apply if (i) the value of the distribution is less than 1% of the value of the plan's current liablilities before distribuion is made, (ii) after the distribution the plan assets will equal or exceed 110% of the plan's current liabilities, or (iii) the plan terminates with sufficient assets to pay out benefits to all participants. Treas Reg. Section 1.401(a)(4)(b)(3)(v) states "any reasonable and consistent method may be used for determining the value of current liabilities and the fhe value of plan assets" for purposes of the high-25 restriction. Guidance issued to date under MAP-21 describes specific cases where MAP-21 rates apply and specific cases where they do not apply. However the guidance does not address whether the modified segment rates under MAP-21 may be used to determine a plan's "current liabilities" for purposes of applying the restriction on lump sum payments to the top 25 most highly compensated employees. Is it reasonable for a plan to use the modified segment rates under MAP-21 for this purposes? Summaries prapred by actuaries and consulting firms list this as an open issue. I heard that either Mike Spaid or Tony Montanaro stated it was reasonable in the course of Qs and As following an IRS phone forum, but can't verify this.