PBGC Tweaks Interest Rates for Ending Pension Plans
Published Date: 4/3/2026
Rule
Summary
Starting April 30, 2026, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) updates how it calculates interest rates for valuing benefits in single-employer pension plans that are ending. This change affects plan sponsors and employers by adjusting the numbers used to figure out what’s owed when plans terminate or when employers withdraw. The new rules help keep benefit values fair and in line with current market conditions.
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 0 costs, 2 mixed.
New PBGC interest spreads for plan valuations
Starting April 30, 2026, PBGC prescribes new "spreads" used to build the 4044 yield curve for valuing benefits in terminating single-employer pension plans with valuation dates of April 30, 2026 through July 30, 2026. The rule lists specific spread values by maturity (0.5–30.0 years) that plan sponsors and employers must use to calculate present values when a plan terminates or when employers withdraw.
Special-assistance multiemployer plans must use PBGC assumptions
Multiemployer plans that receive PBGC special financial assistance must, as a condition of receiving that assistance, use PBGC's interest assumption to determine withdrawal liability for a prescribed period. PBGC's published 4044 yield curve and the spreads in this rule are the assumptions referenced for that purpose.
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