| Notice 2006-89 |
October 23, 2006 |
Transition Relief for Indian Tribal Governmental Plans
This notice summarizes the changes made to § 414(d) of the
Internal Revenue Code (the Code) by section 906 of the Pension Protection
Act of 2006 (PPA ’06) under which plans established and maintained by
Indian tribal governments and certain related entities are governmental plans.
This notice also provides transition relief under a reasonable and good faith
standard with respect to compliance with the PPA ’06 changes to § 414(d)
pending further guidance, and invites comments from the public on whether
additional transition issues need to be addressed. In addition, this notice
provides approaches that give Indian tribal governments until September 30,
2007, to implement a new plan for commercial employees to satisfy the reasonable
and good faith compliance standard as part of this transitional relief.
Section 414(d) of the Code generally provides that a “governmental
plan” includes a plan established and maintained for its employees by
the Government of the United States, by the government of any State or political
subdivision thereof, or by any agency or instrumentality of any of the foregoing.
A governmental plan is exempt from many of the plan qualification requirements
under § 401(a) and other sections of the Code. For example, governmental
plans are exempt from the minimum participation and vesting requirements under
§§ 410 and 411, certain nondiscrimination and coverage requirements,
funding requirements under § 412, and the joint and survivor annuity
rules under § 417. See the last sentence of § 401(a) (the
flush language following § 401(a)(36)).
PPA ’06 changed § 414(d)[1] to amend the definition of “governmental plan” with
respect to plans of an Indian tribal government, a subdivision of an Indian
tribal government, or an agency or instrumentality thereof (ITG). Section
906(a)(1) of PPA ’06 states:
The term ‘governmental plan’ includes a plan which is established
and maintained by an Indian tribal government (as defined in section 7701(a)(40)),
a subdivision of an Indian tribal government (determined in accordance with
section 7871(d)), or an agency or instrumentality of either, and all of the
participants of which are employees of such entity substantially all of whose
services as such an employee are in the performance of essential governmental
functions but not in the performance of commercial activities (whether or
not an essential government function).
The Joint Committee on Taxation’s Technical Explanation[2] provides that an employee all of whose services for an ITG are
in the performance of essential governmental services and not in the performance
of commercial activities (whether or not such activities are an essential
governmental function) is an employee who can be covered under a governmental
plan as described in § 414(d) of the Code. For example, a governmental
plan includes a plan of a tribal government all of the participants of which
are teachers in tribal schools, but a governmental plan does not include a
plan covering tribal employees who are employed by a hotel, casino, service
station, convenience store, or marina operated by a tribal government.
Section 906(c) of PPA ’06 provides that the amendments made by
section 906 apply to any year beginning on or after the date of enactment,
which is August 17, 2006. The Joint Committee on Taxation’s Technical
Explanation (p. 244) states that the amendments apply to plan years beginning
on or after the date of enactment.
Under section 1107 of PPA ’06, a plan amendment made pursuant
to any amendment made by PPA ’06 may be retroactively effective, and
does not violate the anti-cutback rules of § 411(d)(6) of the Code,
except as provided by the Secretary of the Treasury, if, in addition to meeting
the other applicable requirements, the amendment is made on or before the
last day of the first plan year beginning on or after January 1, 2009 (2011
in the case of a governmental plan). Thus, an ITG must operate in accordance
with the applicable changes to § 414(d) made by PPA ’06 as
of the related PPA ’06 effective date, i.e., the
first day of the first plan year beginning on or after August 17, 2006. Further,
a plan established and maintained by an ITG that is designed to be a governmental
plan under § 414(d) as amended by PPA ’06 must be amended
to the extent necessary to reflect these changes by the last day of the first
plan year beginning on or after January 1, 2011. This relief applies only
if the amendment is effective as of the related PPA ’06 effective date
and the plan has been operated in accordance with the amendment.
A. Reasonable Good Faith Compliance Pending Guidance
1. In General. The IRS and the Department of the
Treasury anticipate issuing guidance on § 414(d) of the Code, including
the amendment made by section 906 of PPA ’06. Until such guidance is
issued, a plan established and maintained by an ITG for its employees (ITG
plan) will be treated as satisfying the requirements of section 906(a)(1)
of PPA ’06 to be a governmental plan under § 414(d) of the
Code if it complies with those requirements based on a reasonable and good
faith interpretation of the amendment made by section 906(a)(1) of PPA ’06.
2. Commercial Activities. The reasonable and good
faith interpretation standard extends to the question of whether activities
are commercial for purposes of § 414(d) of the Code. However, for
purposes of section III.A.1, it is not a reasonable and good faith interpretation
of section 906(a)(1) of PPA ’06 that an ITG plan is a governmental plan
if employees who perform the following commercial activities continue to accrue
benefits under the ITG plan. These are employees who are employed by a hotel,
casino, service station, convenience store, or marina operated by the ITG
from the first day of the first plan year beginning on or after August 17,
2006 (disregarding employees substantially all of whose services as an employee
of the ITG are in the performance of essential governmental functions but
not in the performance of services for a hotel, casino, service station, convenience
store, or marina operated by the ITG).
B. Relief for Mixed ITG plans that Cover Both Governmental and Commercial
Employees
Some ITG plans (“mixed ITG plans”) provide benefits both
to employees substantially all of whose work is in essential governmental
functions that are not commercial activities (“governmental ITG employees”)
and to employees who perform commercial activities (“commercial ITG
employees”). Furthermore, section 906(a)(1) of PPA ’06 is effective
for some ITG plans soon after its enactment. The IRS and the Department of
the Treasury recognize that mixed ITG plans may have substantial difficulty
in complying in operation with this provision by the provision’s effective
date. Accordingly, this section III.B provides guidance under which, until
September 30, 2007, an ITG plan for commercial ITG employees will be treated
as a continuation of the mixed ITG plan.
From the first day of the first plan year beginning on or after August
17, 2006, an existing mixed ITG plan will be treated for that plan year as
satisfying the reasonable and good faith compliance standard for transitional
relief under this notice if, by September 30, 2007, it takes the following
steps to provide coverage for governmental ITG employees and commercial ITG
employees under separate ITG plans. If an existing mixed ITG plan freezes
benefits for the commercial ITG employees, and adopts a new plan covering
those commercial ITG employees, in accordance with the steps below, the new
ITG plan covering the commercial ITG employees will be treated as a continuation
of the relevant portion of the mixed ITG plan that covered the commercial
ITG employees prior to the first day of the first plan year beginning on or
after August 17, 2006. These steps are:
(1) not later than September 30, 2007, the ITG adopts a separate plan
covering commercial ITG employees and that plan complies with the applicable
qualification rules under § 401(a) for plans that are not governmental
plans under § 414(d) effective as of the first day of the first
plan year beginning on or after August 17, 2006;
(2) the ITG takes action, not later than September 30, 2007, to freeze
benefit accruals under the mixed ITG plan for commercial ITG employees (including
commercial ITG employees who perform services for a hotel, casino, service
station, convenience store, or marina operated by the ITG), effective as of
the first day of the first plan year beginning on or after August 17, 2006;
and
(3) there is no reduction in the benefit formula provided to participants
in the continuing commercial ITG plan for the first plan year beginning on
or after August 17, 2006 (i.e., the level of accruals
or nonelective contributions (including matching contributions) under that
plan is not reduced for this year).
This relief applies even if benefits for commercial ITG employees for
service before the first day of the first plan year beginning on or after
August 17, 2006 are retained under the ITG plan covering governmental employees.
The following example illustrates the relief provided in A. and B. of
this section III.
Example. (i) Facts. An ITG maintains a mixed ITG plan (Plan A) for its
employees. Plan A covers governmental ITG employees substantially all of
whose services are in the performance of essential governmental functions
that are not commercial activities, and also commercial ITG employees, i.e.,
employees whose services are for commercial activities (such as a hotel, casino,
service station, convenience store, or marina operated by the ITG). The first
day of Plan A’s plan year is October 1. Accordingly, section 906(a)(1)
of PPA ’06 is effective for Plan A on October 1, 2006.
(ii) Reasonable and good faith compliance. In order
to comply with the requirements of section 906(a)(1) of PPA ’06 to be
a governmental plan, action is taken by the ITG on July 1, 2007, to freeze
benefits under Plan A with respect to the commercial ITG employees, as of
September 30, 2006, so that Plan A only provides benefits for the commercial
ITG employees for years of service before October 1, 2006. A continuing plan
(Plan B) is adopted on July 1, 2007, effective as of October 1, 2006, the
terms of which are the same as Plan A, but which only applies to the commercial
ITG employees. Since October 1, 2006, Plan B provides the same level of benefits
as were provided under Plan A before October 1, 2006, and Plan B complies
with the qualification requirements for plans that are not governmental plans
(including the operations of Plan B being consistent with the terms of Plan
B). Accordingly, Plan B is treated as a continuation of Plan A from and after
October 1, 2006.
(iii) Alternative reasonable and good faith compliance.
As an alternative to the action under (ii) of this Example, the ITG takes
action on July 1, 2007, effective as of October 1, 2006, to spin off all (or
a portion) of the assets and liabilities of Plan A with respect to commercial
ITG employees as a separate Plan B for service from and after October 1, 2006.
Since October 1, 2006, Plan B provides the same level of benefits as were
provided under Plan A before October 1, 2006, and Plan B (including benefits
for service before October 1, 2006) complies with the qualification requirements
for plans that are not governmental plans beginning on October 1, 2006 (including
the operations of Plan B being consistent with the terms of Plan B). Accordingly,
Plan B is treated as a continuation of Plan A from and after October 1, 2006.
D. Definition of Essential Governmental Function
The definition of an essential governmental function under § 7871(e)
of the Code for purposes of determining the availability of tax-exempt bond
financing for an ITG (including the summary of which activities are considered
an essential governmental function customarily performed by State and local
governments) described in the advance notice of proposed rulemaking under
§ 7871 published by the IRS on August 9, 2006[3] will be considered a reasonable and good faith interpretation
of what constitutes an essential government function under § 414(d).
E. Relief Only Applies Pending Further Guidance
The relief provided in this section III applies pending the issuance
of further guidance relating to § 414(d), including the amendment
made by section 906(a)(1) of PPA ’06.
The IRS and the Department of the Treasury request public comments on
issues relating to the amendment made by section 906(a)(1) of PPA ’06,
including transitional issues not addressed in this notice (such as issues
for ITG plans with a cash or deferred arrangement under § 401(k)).
Written comments should be submitted by January 22, 2007. Send submissions
to: CC:PA:LPD:PR (Notice 2006-89), room 5203, Internal Revenue Service, POB
7604, Ben Franklin Station, Washington, DC 20044. Submissions may be hand
delivered Monday through Friday between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
to: Crystal Mall 4 Building, 1901 S. Bell St., room 108, Arlington, VA 22202.
Alternatively, taxpayers may submit comments electronically to [email protected] (Notice
2006-89).
The principal author of this notice is Ingrid Grinde of the Employee
Plans, Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division. For further information
regarding this notice, please contact the Employee Plans taxpayer assistance
telephone service at (877) 829-5500 (a toll-free number) between the hours
of 8:30 am and 4:30 pm Eastern Time, Monday through Friday . Ms. Grinde may
be reached at (202) 283-9888 (not a toll-free number).
Internal Revenue Bulletin 2006-43
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