2024-26664. Submission of Information Collection for OMB Review; Comment Request; Qualified Domestic Relations Orders Submitted to Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation

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Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation

AGENCY:

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

ACTION:

Notice of request for extension of OMB approval of an information collection, with modifications.

SUMMARY:

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is requesting that the Office of Management and Budget extend approval, under the Paperwork Reduction Act, of the collection of information (with modifications) (OMB Control Number 1212-0054, expires January 31, 2025) related to PBGC's booklet, Qualified Domestic Relations Orders & PBGC. This notice informs the public of PBGC's intent and solicits public comment on the collection of information.

DATES:

Comments must be submitted by December 16, 2024.

ADDRESSES:

Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice to www.reginfo.gov/​public/​do/​PRAMain. Find this particular information collection by selecting “Currently under 30-day Review—Open for Public Comments” or by using the search function.

All comments received will be posted without change to PBGC's website, www.pbgc.gov, including any personally identifiable information provided. Do not submit comments that include any personally identifiable information or confidential business information.

A copy of the request will be posted on PBGC's website at www.pbgc.gov/​prac/​laws-and-regulation/​federal-register-notices-open-for-comment. Itmay also be obtained without charge by writing to the Disclosure Division ( [e-mail]), Office of the General Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 445 12th Street SW, Washington, DC 20024-2101; or, calling 202-229-4040 during normal business hours. If you are deaf or hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Karen Levin ( [e-mail]), Attorney, Regulatory Affairs Division, Office of the General Counsel, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 445 12th Street SW, Washington, DC 20024-2101; 202-229-3559. If you are deaf or hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A defined benefit pension plan that does not have enough money to pay benefits may be terminated if the employer responsible for the plan faces severe financial difficulty, such as bankruptcy, and is unable to maintain the plan. In such an event, PBGC becomes trustee of the plan and pays benefits, subject to legal limits, to plan participants and beneficiaries.

The benefits of a pension plan participant generally may not be assigned or alienated. Title I of ERISA provides an exception for domestic relations orders (DRO) that relate to child support, alimony payments, or marital property rights of an alternate payee (a spouse, former spouse, child, or other dependent of a plan participant). The exception applies only if the DRO meets specific legal requirements that make it a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO).

When PBGC is trustee of a plan, it reviews submitted domestic relations orders to determine whether the order is qualified before paying benefits to an alternate payee. The requirements for submitting a domestic relations order and the contents of such orders are established by statute. The models and the guidance provided by PBGC assist parties by making it easier for them to ( print page 90321) comply with ERISA's QDRO requirements in plans trusteed by PBGC; they do not create any additional requirements and result in a reduction of the statutory burden.

The existing collection of information was approved under OMB control number 1212-0054, expiring on January 31, 2025. On August 8, 2024, PBGC published in the Federal Register (at 89 FR 64965), a notice informing the public of its intent to request an extension of this collection of information, as modified. PBGC is adding one term and is clarifying other terms in the Glossary and is making other clarifying changes to the QDRO booklet. No comments were received. PBGC is requesting that OMB extend approval of the collection with modifications for 3 years. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

PBGC estimates that it will receive approximately 253 domestic relations orders each year from prospective alternate payees and participants. PBGC further estimates that the total average annual burden of this collection of information will be approximately 190 hours and $177,100.

Issued in Washington, DC.

Hilary Duke,

Assistant General Counsel for Regulatory Affairs, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.