"This guide is for people who are trying to divide a benefit in a PBGC-trusteed defined benefit pension plan as part of a divorce. This guide can help you navigate the QDRO process, ensuring the participant and alternate payee will receive the benefits as determined in the divorce proceeding. PBGC's QDRO guidance: Qualified Domestic Relations Orders (QDRO) and PBGC, provides significantly more detail than this practical guide, and will control if there is a conflict between the two" MORE >>
"The Program is open to employers, plan sponsors, unions, and supporting practitioners (like lawyers and actuaries).... Submissions to the Program are made electronically.... The Program also includes a searchable database that will serve as a public repository of opinion letters issued by the Office of the General Counsel from 1974 to date." MORE >>
"The [PBGC] today announced the relaunch of its Opinion Letter Program. This initiative provides meaningful compliance assistance to the public by answering questions about how PBGC would apply the law to specific factual circumstances." MORE >>
"The [DOL] and [PBGC] still have not published inflation-adjusted civil monetary penalties for employee benefit plans for 2026.... [T]he 2026 penalties are supposed to be calculated by multiplying the 2025 penalty amounts by the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U) from October 2024 through October 2025. However, due to the government shutdown, the [BLS] never released CPI-U figures for October 2025. This has left the agencies without a multiplier to apply to their 2025 penalties." MORE >>
23 pages. "The Fiscal Year 2025 Annual Report of the [PBGC] contains a summary of the results of the September 30, 2025, actuarial valuation. The purpose of this separate Actuarial Valuation Report is to provide greater detail concerning the valuation of future benefits than is presented in PBGC's Annual Report." MORE >>
"Starting with plan years that begin in 2026, all premium payments must be made electronically, either through pay.gov or by electronic funds transfer (EFT) such as ACH or Fedwire.... If you choose to mail your [Form 5558] please note that postmarks may not accurately reflect the date the U.S. Postal Service accepts your mail.... Four new codes were added [to Form 5500] for DB plans[.]" MORE >>
"Annuity purchases for retirees with small benefit amounts can be an easy and highly effective way to reduce PBGC premiums and save money at no cost to plan participants. For plan sponsors not subject to the PBGC Variable Rate Premium Cap, purchasing annuities for retirees receiving less than $380 monthly will save the plan money. For plan sponsors subject to the cap, purchasing annuities for retirees receiving less than $1,070 monthly will save the plan money." MORE >>
"The net financial position of the single-employer insurance program is projected to increase significantly over the next 10 years ... The net financial position of the multiemployer insurance program is likely to remain positive for more than 40 years." MORE >>
"Delphi Technologies ... was spun off from General Motors (GM) in 1999. In May 2009, Delphi's pension plans were terminated, and responsibility for the payment of plan participants' benefits was turned over to the [PBGC]... Some participants in Delphi pension plans whose benefits were reduced by PBGC claimed that their pension plans were wrongly terminated and have sought relief via both judicial and legislative processes." [IF12171 updated Feb. 5, 2026] MORE >>
149 pages. "In fiscal year 2025, [PBGC] made benefit payments of over $6.4 billion to 926,000 participants in trusteed single-employer plans, provided $168.5 million in traditional financial assistance to multiemployer plans covering 60,244 participants, and made SFA payments of $6.2 billion[.]" MORE >>
68 pages. "This report projects the financial status of both programs under a range of future financial scenarios through FY 2034; additional projections are made through FY 2064 for the Multiemployer Program.... The financial outlook for PBGC's Multiemployer Program improved compared to last year's report, and the Program is likely to remain solvent for the next 40 years.... The Single- Employer Program is projected to remain in a positive net financial position over the next decade in all modeled scenarios, and significant growth in net position is projected." MORE >>
The computation of the 4044 expense loads was changed by PBGC’s final rule ... issued August 15, 2025. The 4044 expense is now computed as specified dollar amounts per participant for the first 100 participants and per additional participant. These dollar amounts will change annually. PBGC has determined the 4044 expense load factors applicable for valuation dates after 1/30/2026 but before 1/31/2027. A new webpage for ERISA 4044 expense load has been created and is now available. MORE >>
"[K]ey changes for 2026 include ... [1] Elimination of the paper check payment option.... [2] Elimination of paper checks for refunds.... [3] Due dates.... [4] Changes in premium rates and caps.... The PBGC says in the new instructions that if a pension plan is covered, its administrator must submit a premium filing even [if] ... no premium is owed; the plan year is less than 12 months; or the plan was not covered by the PBGC for the entire plan year.... The new filing instructions outline what the PBGC has found to be the most common mistakes it sees and what can be done if a mistake is made." MORE >>
68 pages. "There are two kinds of annual premiums: Flat-rate Premium, which applies to all plans, and Variable-rate Premium (VRP), which applies only to Single-employer Plans. Every covered plan under ERISA section 4021 must make a premium filing each year.... Electronic filing is mandatory for all plans.... This document provides information for plans paying premiums for plan years beginning in 2026, including instructions for each data element that must be reported." MORE >>
"The [PBGC] has updated the regulation governing allocation of assets in single-employer plans in 2026; it also has updated the mortality assumption for use with the missing participants program for determination dates in 2026.... The rule ... [substitutes] a new table for determining expected retirement ages for participants in pension plans undergoing distress or involuntary termination with valuation dates falling in 2026." MORE >>
"This rule amends the [PBGC's] regulation on Allocation of Assets in Single-Employer Plans by substituting a new table for determining expected retirement ages for participants in pension plans undergoing distress or involuntary termination with valuation dates falling in 2026. This table is needed to compute the value of early retirement benefits and, thus, the total value of benefits under a plan. This rule also provides the mortality assumption for use with PBGC's missing participants program for determination dates in 2026." MORE >>
The final installment of PBGC’s 2023 Pension Insurance Data Tables is now available. This installment includes various breakdowns of the number of PBGC-insured defined benefit plans, number of plan participants, hybrid plans, frozen plans, premium revenue, plan funding, and risk transfer activity. Some of the breakdowns are by industry, location, plan size, and plan funded status. This year’s Data Tables have been revised by consolidating/removing certain tables. MORE >>
23 pages. "During this first year, my office focused on information gathering and knowledge sharing.... We will build on the work of the previous Advocate and ensure we have a deep understanding of the mechanisms and operational aspects of PBGC's work while continually building our capacity to serve PBGC's participant and plan sponsor customers.... Many of the Office of the Advocate's activities this year focused on internal processes and education: connecting and collaborating with relevant PBGC offices, ensuring we understand and have access to the technology and tools used by PBGC business areas, and creating synergies that allow my office to be more responsive and effective to customers." MORE >>
"The PBGC e-Filing Portal has been updated to make filing easier for practitioners. You can now submit: Standard termination filings, including those with missing participants, and Coverage determination request forms. These enhancements expand the types of filings available through the Portal and are designed to simplify the process for plan administrators and practitioners." MORE >>
PBGC table showing the present values applicable to benefits with annuity starting dates in 2026. A two-column spreadsheet version of the table is also available for convenient copying. MORE >>
17 pages. "[T]he PBGC's disavowal of federal protection for retirees after pension risk transfers was never authorized by Congress and conflicts with both the statute and the PBGC's own 1981 position. The authors trace the legal history, legislative intent, and policy implications demonstrating that the law already requires PBGC guarantees to continue even after pension benefits are annuitized. Their analysis calls on regulators and courts to restore this 'forgotten promise' to strengthen the integrity of the U.S. pension system." MORE >>
"As a result of the indexing rules under federal law, the guarantee limits for single-employer plans that terminate in 2026 will be 4.82% higher than the limits that applied for 2025." MORE >>
"Both the single-employer and multiemployer plan rates have increased. [A chart] shows the rates in effect for plan years beginning in 2024, 2025, and 2026." MORE >>
PBGC has determined the premium rates applicable for plan years beginning in 2026 in accordance with the indexing rules provided in section 4006 of ERISA. MORE >>
