Harold J. Ashner who previously served as Assistant General Counsel for Legislation and Regulations at the PBGC has written a great article for the Tax Management Compensation Planning Journal entitled “Dealing with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.” The article contains a lot of practical information which practitioners may find useful in representing clients who have PBGC-related issues.
Excerpt from the section entitled “Researching PBGC Issues”:
When researching PBGC issues, it is important to go beyond the obvious sources of statutes, regulations, case law, and PBGC opinion letters. A great deal of important guidance can be found in other sources. One key source that is well-known in the actuarial community but not nearly as familiar in the legal community is the PBGC ‘‘Blue Book.’’ The Blue Book, which is analogous to the IRS ‘‘Gray Book’’ and is prepared annually in conjunction with the Enrolled Actuaries Meeting, consists of a summary of questions asked by the Enrolled Actuaries Program Committee and the answers provided by PBGC staff.
Ashner also mentions Technical Updates, FAQs, and Preambles to the proposed and final regulations (find the regulations here) as good resources for researching PBGC issues. (FAQs, I gather, are scattered throughout the PBGC’s website when you look up various topics.)