29 U.S.C. § 1083 — Minimum funding standards for single-employer defined benefit pension plans

(a) Minimum required contribution. For this section and section 1082(a)(2)(A), except as subsection (f) provides, the "minimum required contribution" for a plan year of a single-employer plan is calculated as follows. (1) If the plan's assets, after the reduction required by subsection (f)(4)(B), are less than the plan's funding target, the contribution is the total of: (A) the target normal cost; (B) any shortfall amortization charge calculated under subsection (c); and (C) any waiver amortization charge calculated under subsection (e). (2) If those reduced assets equal or exceed the funding target, the contribution is the target normal cost minus the excess assets, but it cannot be less than zero. (b) Target normal cost. (1) Generally. Except for the at-risk rule in subsection (i)(2), "target normal cost" is the excess of: (A) the total of (i) the present value of all benefits expected to accrue or be earned during the plan year and (ii) plan expenses expected to be paid from plan assets during that year; over (B) mandatory employee contributions expected during the year. (2) Increase in compensation. If a benefit for services in an earlier plan year increases because compensation increases during the current plan year, the increase is treated as accruing during the current plan year. (c) Shortfall amortization charge. (1) Generally. The charge for a plan year is the total, but not less than zero, of the shortfall amortization installments for that year on every shortfall amortization base that has not been fully amortized under this subsection. (2) Installments. (A) The installments are the amounts needed to pay off the shortfall amortization base in equal yearly installments over the 7-plan-year period beginning with that plan year. (B) For each year in that period, the installment for a base is the annual installment calculated under subparagraph (A). (C) The plan sponsor must use the segment rates under subsection (h)(2)(C), applying rules similar to subsection (h)(2)(B). (D) Special election for eligible plan years. (i) If the plan sponsor elects this rule for a shortfall amortization base for an eligible plan year (called an "election year" here and in paragraph (7)), the installments are determined under clause (ii) or (iii), as the election specifies, instead of under (A) and (B). Each installment during the applicable 9-year or 15-year period is the annual installment determined under the selected clause. (ii) Under the 2-plus-7 schedule, the first 2 years of the 9-year period carry interest on the election-year base, using the plan's effective interest rate. The last 7 years pay the remaining balance in equal annual installments, using the election-year segment rates. (iii) Under the 15-year schedule, the base is paid in equal annual installments over the 15-plan-year period beginning with the election year, using that year's segment rates. (iv) The sponsor may elect this rule for no more than 2 eligible plan years. A plan described in section 106 of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 may use it only for a plan year beginning in 2011. The election must state which schedule applies. If it covers 2 years, the same schedule must be used for both. The election must be made at the time and in the form and manner prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. It may be revoked only with that Secretary's consent. Before approving revocation, the Secretary must give the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation an opportunity to comment on how any still-unamortized election-year base should be treated. (v) An "eligible plan year" is one beginning in 2008, 2009, 2010, or 2011, but only if the due date under subsection (j)(1) for that year's minimum contribution is on or after June 25, 2010. (vi) A sponsor making the election must notify the plan's participants and beneficiaries and inform the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation in the form and manner its Director prescribes. (vii) Paragraph (7) contains rules increasing installments for excess compensation, extraordinary dividends, or stock redemptions. (3) Shortfall amortization base. For a plan year, the base is the plan's funding shortfall minus the present value of the total shortfall-amortization and waiver-amortization installments determined for that year and later years with respect to bases from earlier plan years. The present value uses the segment rates under subsection (h)(2)(C), applying rules similar to subsection (h)(2)(B). (4) Funding shortfall. A plan's shortfall is the excess, if any, of (A) its funding target over (B) its plan assets held on the valuation date, after the subsection (f)(4)(B) reduction. (5) No new base. If assets after the subsection (f)(4)(A) reduction equal or exceed the funding target, the base for that year is zero. (6) Earlier bases treated as amortized. If the funding shortfall is zero for a plan year, all bases from earlier plan years, and all installments for those bases, are reduced to zero for calculating charges for that year and later years. (7) Increases for excess compensation, extraordinary dividends, or redemptions. (A) If an installment acceleration amount exists for a plan year in the restriction period for an election year, the otherwise required installment under paragraph (2) is increased by that amount, subject to (B). (B) The increase cannot make an installment larger than the present value of that installment and all later installments for the same base, calculated without the increase but after applying clause (ii). Later installments are reduced, in reverse order, as needed so their present value equals no more than the present value of the remaining unamortized base. (C) Installment acceleration amount. (i) For a year in the restriction period, this amount is the total of (I) excess employee compensation for all employees and (II) extraordinary dividends and redemptions. (ii) It cannot exceed the excess, if any, of the installments for that year and earlier years in the elected amortization period calculated without paragraph (2)(D) and this paragraph over the installments calculated after applying those rules. (iii) If the amount before that limit exceeds the limit, the excess carries to the next plan year, subject to these rules: it is again limited; any further excess moves to the next year; nothing may be carried beyond the first plan year after the restriction period, or beyond the second plan year after it when 15-year amortization was elected; and current-year amounts are applied first, followed by carryovers in first-in, first-out order. (D) Excess employee compensation. (i) For an employee and plan year, this is the excess of (I) remuneration for services for the sponsor that is includible in income under chapter 1 of title 26 during the calendar year in which the plan year begins, whether or not the services occurred in that calendar year, over (II) $1,000,000. (ii) Assets set aside, reserved, or transferred by the sponsor during a calendar year to pay the employee's deferred compensation under a nonqualified deferred-compensation plan are treated as remuneration includible in that year's income, unless already includible. They are not counted again in a later year. (iii) Only remuneration attributable to services after February 28, 2010, is counted. (iv) Income from a grant after that date of service-recipient stock is not counted if the stock is subject, when granted, to a substantial risk of forfeiture for at least 5 years. The Secretary of the Treasury may apply this exception by regulation to a person other than a corporation. (v) The following are also excluded: (I) commission-based remuneration payable solely from income directly generated by the individual's own performance; and (II) nonqualified deferred compensation, restricted stock, stock options, or stock appreciation rights payable or granted under a written binding contract effective March 1, 2010, that was not materially changed before payment. (vi) "Employee" includes a self-employed person treated as an employee under section 401(c) of title 26 for the relevant taxable year, and "compensation" includes that person's earned self-employment income. (vii) For a calendar year after 2010, the $1,000,000 amount is increased by that amount multiplied by the cost-of-living adjustment under section 1(f)(3) of title 26, substituting calendar year 2009 for calendar year 1992 as directed there. An increase that is not a multiple of $1,000 is rounded down to the next $1,000 multiple. (E) Extraordinary dividends and redemptions. (i) The amount for a plan year is the excess, if any, of the sponsor's dividends declared during the year plus amounts paid to redeem the sponsor's stock, over the greater of: (I) the sponsor's adjusted net income for the preceding year, determined without reducing it for interest, taxes, depreciation, or amortization; or (II) if the sponsor used the same method to determine and declare dividends for at least 5 immediately preceding consecutive years, the amount of dividends determined and declared for the current year using that method. (ii) Only dividends declared and redemptions occurring after February 28, 2010, count. (iii) Dividends paid between members of the same controlled group are excluded. (iv) Redemptions under an employee plan, or because of an employee's or shareholder's death, disability, or termination of employment, are excluded. (v) Dividends and redemptions involving applicable preferred stock are excluded to the extent dividends accrue at a fixed rate in all events without regard to sponsor income and interest accrues on unpaid dividends. Applicable preferred stock means stock issued before March 1, 2010, or issued later and held by an employee benefit plan subject to this subchapter. (F) Other rules. (i) "Plan sponsor" includes every member of the sponsor's controlled group. (ii) For an election year, "restriction period" means the 3-year period beginning with that year, or, if later, the first plan year after December 31, 2009. If 15-year amortization was elected, it instead means the 5-year period beginning with that year, or, if later, the first plan year after December 31, 2009. (iii) If a sponsor elects for 2 or more plans, the Secretary of the Treasury must provide rules, including allocating an installment acceleration amount among the plans in proportion to each plan's relative reduction in its first-year shortfall installment, calculated without this paragraph. (iv) The Secretary must provide rules for mergers and acquisitions involving a sponsor that made the election. (8) Fifteen-year amortization. For plan years beginning after December 31, 2021, or earlier dates in 2018, 2019, or 2020 if the sponsor elects, all earlier shortfall bases and their installments are reduced to zero. Paragraph (2)(A) and (B) then use a 15-plan-year period instead of a 7-plan-year period. (d) Funding target. (1) Except for subsection (i)(1)'s at-risk rule, the funding target is the present value of all benefits accrued or earned as of the beginning of the plan year. (2) The "funding target attainment percentage" is the percentage obtained by dividing (A) plan assets after the subsection (f)(4)(B) reduction by (B) the funding target calculated without subsection (i)(1). (e) Waiver amortization charge. (1) The charge for a plan year is the total installments for that year on the waiver amortization bases from each of the 5 preceding plan years. (2) The installments are the amounts needed to pay each base in equal annual installments over 5 plan years beginning with the following plan year. Each year's installment is the annual amount determined for that base. (3) The sponsor uses the segment rates under subsection (h)(2)(C), applying rules similar to subsection (h)(2)(B). (4) The waiver amortization base is any waived funding deficiency for that year under section 1082(c). (5) If the funding shortfall is zero, earlier waiver bases and their installments are reduced to zero for calculating charges for that year and later years. (f) Reducing the contribution with balances. (1) (A) A sponsor may elect to keep a prefunding balance. (B) A sponsor of a plan described in clause (ii) may elect to keep a funding standard carryover balance until it reaches zero. (ii) The plan must have existed in a 2007 plan year and had a positive funding standard account balance at the end of that year under section 1082(b) as then in effect. (2) A maintained balance (A) may be credited against the minimum contribution through paragraph (3); (B) reduces the amount treated as plan assets as paragraph (4) provides; and (C) may be reduced at any time through paragraph (5). (3) (A) Unless (B) or (C) applies, if the sponsor elects to credit some or all of a balance against the current year's minimum contribution, up to that contribution, the contribution is reduced on the first day of the year by the credited amount. The contribution is determined after any waiver under section 1082(c). (B) While a funding-standard carryover balance is above zero, no prefunding balance may be credited. (C) This crediting rule does not apply when the preceding year's plan-assets-to-funding-target percentage is below 80 percent. For 2008, the percentage may be estimated under Treasury rules. For plan years beginning after August 31, 2009, and before September 1, 2011, certain charity plans use the greater of the ordinary preceding-year percentage or the percentage for the year beginning after August 31, 2007 and before September 1, 2008, under Treasury rules. If the valuation date is not the first day of the year, the charity rule applies to years after December 31, 2008 and before January 1, 2011, using the last year beginning before September 1, 2007. This special rule applies only to a plan maintained exclusively by organizations described in section 501(c)(3) of title 26. (4) Effect on asset value. A plan maintaining either balance treats its assets as reduced as follows. (A) For subsection (c)(5), assets are reduced by the prefunding balance only if an election to use some prefunding balance against the minimum contribution is in effect. (B) For subsections (a), (c)(4)(B), and (d)(2)(A), assets are reduced by both balances. But for subsection (c)(4)(B), assets are not reduced by a specified balance if a binding written agreement with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation says that balance cannot reduce the current contribution. "Specified balance" means the prefunding or funding-standard carryover balance. (C) For paragraph (3)(C)(i), assets are reduced by the prefunding balance. (5) The sponsor may elect to reduce either balance by any amount, but not below zero. The reduction occurs before asset value is determined and before a balance is credited against the contribution. If the carryover balance is above zero, the prefunding balance cannot be reduced under this paragraph. (6) Prefunding balance. (A) It starts at zero, changes under (B) and (C), and is further adjusted under paragraph (8). (B)(i) On the first day of each year after 2008, it increases by the amount the sponsor elects, up to the excess of employer contributions for the preceding year over that year's minimum contribution. (ii) Excess contributions are adjusted for interest between the first day of the current year and the contribution dates, using the preceding year's effective rate and treating contributions as first used for the minimum contribution. (iii) The excess is reduced by contributions required under section 1056(g)(1), (2), or (4) to avoid a benefit limitation for the preceding year, but not below zero. A contribution countable under more than one paragraph counts only once. (C) It decreases, not below zero, by (i) the amount credited against the preceding year's contribution, as of the first day of each year after 2008, and (ii) any elected reduction under paragraph (5). (7) Funding-standard carryover balance. (A) It begins with the amount in (B), decreases under (C), and is adjusted under paragraph (8). (B) Its beginning amount is the positive balance described in paragraph (1)(B)(ii)(II). (C) It decreases, not below zero, by the amount credited against the preceding year's contribution and by any elected reduction under paragraph (5), at the times specified there. (8) At the start of the year, the sponsor must adjust either balance for the preceding year's plan-asset return as Treasury regulations require. The return is based on fair market value and must account for contributions, distributions, and other plan payments. (9) Elections are made at the times and in the form and manner Treasury regulations prescribe. (g) Valuing assets and liabilities. (1) Unless this subsection provides otherwise, all determinations are made on the plan year's valuation date. (2)(A) The valuation date is generally the first day of the plan year. (B) If the plan had 100 or fewer participants on every day of the preceding year, it may choose any day in the year as its valuation date for that year and later years. All single-employer defined-benefit plans maintained by the same employer or controlled group are treated as one plan, counting only participants connected with that employer or member. (C) For a first plan year, participant numbers reasonably expected during that year are used. A reference to an employer includes a predecessor. (3)(A) Asset value is fair market value. (B) A plan may average fair market values only under Treasury rules, only over a period no longer than the period beginning on the last day of the 25th month before the valuation month and ending on the valuation date (or a comparable period for another valuation date), and only if the result never falls below 90 percent or rises above 110 percent of fair market value. The averaging must be adjusted for contributions, distributions, and expected earnings using an assumed rate specified by the actuary that does not exceed the applicable third segment rate. (4)(A) A contribution made after the valuation date for an earlier plan year is counted as an asset on the valuation date. For years after 2008, only its valuation-date present value counts, using the earlier year's effective rate. (B) Contributions for the current year made before its valuation date, and interest on them through that date, are not included in assets. (h) Actuarial assumptions and methods. (1) Present values and other calculations use actuarial assumptions and methods that are each reasonable in light of plan experience and reasonable expectations and that together give the actuary's best estimate of expected plan experience. (2)(A) The "effective interest rate" is the single rate that would produce a present value of accrued or earned benefits equal to the funding target. (B) For funding target and normal-cost calculations, benefits reasonably expected during the first 5 years after the valuation date use the first segment rate; benefits during the following 15 years use the second segment rate; and benefits after that use the third segment rate. (C) Treasury determines each segment rate monthly from the corporate bond yield curve: the first covers bonds maturing during the first 5 years; the second covers the next 15 years; and the third covers periods after those 20 years. (iv) Segment-rate stabilization applies when a monthly rate is below the applicable minimum percentage or above the maximum percentage of the average rate for that segment over the 25 years ending September 30 of the preceding calendar year. The rate is set to the closest applicable boundary. Treasury determines the averages and may supply equivalent rates when needed. An average below 5 percent is treated as 5 percent. The boundaries are: 2012–2019, 90% and 110%; 2020–2030, 95% and 105%; 2031, 90% and 110%; 2032, 85% and 115%; 2033, 80% and 120%; 2034, 75% and 125%; and after 2034, 70% and 130%. (D) The "corporate bond yield curve" is prescribed by Treasury for each month and reflects average monthly yields during the preceding 24 months on investment-grade corporate bonds of varying maturities in the top three quality levels. Solely for the minimum contribution, the sponsor may elect that curve instead of segment rates, without the 24-month averaging. Once made, that election needs Treasury's consent to revoke. (E) The "applicable month" is the month containing the valuation date, or one of the 4 preceding months if the sponsor elects. The choice applies to that year and later years unless revoked with Treasury's consent. (F) Treasury must publish each month's yield curve, the specified modified curve, each segment rate, each average, and enough methodology to let plans reasonably project future rates. (3) Mortality tables. (A) Treasury must prescribe tables by regulation, based on actual pension-plan experience, projected trends, and available independent studies. (B) Treasury must revise them at least every 10 years. (C)(i) With sponsor request and Treasury approval, a qualifying substitute table may be used for up to 10 consecutive plan years specified in the request. (ii) It ends earlier if a significant participant change occurs because of a spin-off, merger, or otherwise, or if the actuary determines it no longer qualifies. (iii) It qualifies only if there are enough participants and enough plan history for credible information and it reflects the sponsor's actual plan experience and projected general mortality trends. (iv) Unless Treasury allows otherwise, a sponsor using such a table must establish and use a separate qualifying table for every other plan it maintains, and for every controlled-group member, with each table tested using only that plan's participants, history, and experience. (v) The sponsor must submit the table at least 7 months before the period begins. It is treated as effective at the start of the period unless Treasury disapproves it within 180 days and explains why it fails; the period may be extended by agreement. (D) Treasury must establish alternative tables for disabled people, with separate tables for disabilities beginning before January 1, 1995 and on or after that date. For later disabilities, the table applies only to people disabled under title II of the Social Security Act and its regulations. Treasury must revise these tables at least every 10 years. (4) Calculations must account for the probability that future benefits will be paid in optional forms offered by the plan, including lump sums, based on plan experience and related assumptions, and for present-value differences caused by different assumptions used for those forms. (5)(A) A plan covered by this paragraph cannot change an actuarial assumption used for its funding target without Treasury approval. (B) It applies only if the plan is a single-employer plan covered by subchapter III, the combined unfunded vested benefits of that plan and relevant other plans exceed $50,000,000, and the change, after considering interest-rate and mortality-table changes, reduces the current funding shortfall by more than $50,000,000 or by more than $5,000,000 and at least 5 percent of the unchanged funding target. (i) Special rules for at-risk plans. (1)(A) If a plan is in at-risk status, its funding target is the sum of (i) the present value of benefits accrued or earned at the start of the year using (B)'s additional assumptions and (ii), if the plan was also at risk for at least 2 of the 4 prior years, the loading factor in (C). (B) The additional assumptions are: (i) employees not otherwise assumed to retire on the valuation date who can elect benefits during the year or the next 10 years are assumed to retire at the plan's earliest retirement date, but not before the end of the year being measured; and (ii) each employee is assumed to choose the retirement benefit producing the highest present value at the assumed retirement age. (C) The loading factor is $700 times the number of participants plus 4 percent of the ordinary funding target. (2) For an at-risk plan, target normal cost is (A) the excess of (i) the present value of benefits expected to accrue during the year using the additional assumptions plus expected plan expenses over (ii) mandatory employee contributions, plus (B) if at risk for at least 2 of the prior 4 years, 4 percent of the benefit present value used in subsection (b)(1)(A)(i). (3) At-risk funding target cannot be below the ordinary funding target, and at-risk target normal cost cannot be below ordinary target normal cost. (4)(A) A plan is at risk if the preceding year's ordinary funding-target-attainment percentage was below 80 percent and the preceding year's percentage calculated using the additional assumptions was below 70 percent. (B) For years beginning in 2008, 2009, and 2010, the first threshold is 65, 70, and 75 percent, respectively. For 2008 it may be estimated as Treasury permits. (C) The additional assumptions do not apply to an employee of a specified automobile manufacturer if the employee received a qualifying 2006 retirement offer, with retirement required by a date no later than December 31, 2010, the offer expiring by a date no later than December 31, 2006, and the employee did not accept before expiration. A specified automobile manufacturer includes an automobile maker and certain parts makers that stopped being in its controlled group after a transaction or transactions ending in 1999. (5) During fewer than 5 consecutive at-risk years, the applicable target and normal cost equal the ordinary amount plus the stated percentage of the excess of the at-risk amount over the ordinary amount. The percentage is 20 percent for 1 year, 40 percent for 2, 60 percent for 3, and 80 percent for 4. Years before 2008 do not count. (6) A plan with 500 or fewer participants on every day of the preceding year is not at risk. Related plans of the same employer or controlled group are treated as one, counting only relevant participants and applying subsection (g)(2)(C). (j) Paying minimum contributions. (1) The due date for a plan-year payment is 8 1/2 months after the plan year ends. (2) A payment made on another date is adjusted for interest between the valuation date and payment date at the plan year's effective rate. (3)(A) If the preceding year had a funding shortfall, the employer must make quarterly installments. If it does not pay an installment in full, interest on the unpaid amount uses the ordinary rate plus 5 percentage points. For 2008, the preceding shortfall may be estimated under Treasury rules. (B) The underpayment is the required installment minus the amount paid by its due date. Interest runs from that due date until the relevant portion is paid. Payments are credited to unpaid installments in due-date order. (C) There are 4 installments, due April 15, July 15, October 15, and January 15 of the following year. (D) Each is 25 percent of the required annual payment. That annual payment is the lesser of (I) 90 percent of the current year's minimum contribution, without this subsection, or (II) 100 percent of the preceding year's minimum contribution, without this subsection and without a section 1082(c) waiver. The second amount is not used if the preceding year was not 12 months. (E) For a year beginning on another date, substitute corresponding months. Treasury provides rules for short years and plans with another valuation date. (F) Quarterly contributions do not include increases under subsection (c)(7). (4) Liquidity requirement. (A) A covered plan is treated as failing to pay an installment to the extent the liquid assets paid are less than the liquidity shortfall, even if the shortfall is larger than the installment otherwise required. (B) This applies to a plan other than a small plan under subsection (g)(2)(B) that must pay installments and has a liquidity shortfall in a quarter. (C) The unpaid portion remains unpaid through the end of the quarter containing the installment's due date. (D) Any resulting increase cannot exceed the amount needed, after prior installments, to raise the current year's attainment percentage to 100 percent, taking expected newly accrued benefits into account. (E) A liquidity shortfall is the excess on the last day of the relevant quarter of (I) the base amount over (II) liquid assets. The base amount is generally 3 times adjusted disbursements for the preceding 12 months. If that result is more than twice adjusted disbursements for the preceding 36 months and an enrolled actuary certifies that the excess comes from nonrecurring circumstances, amounts related to those circumstances are left out. Disbursements include all trust payments, annuity purchases, single-sum and other benefits, and administrative expenses. Adjusted disbursements are disbursements reduced by the plan's attainment percentage times annuity purchases, single sums, and other amounts Treasury specifies. Liquid assets are cash, marketable securities, and assets Treasury regulations specify. A quarter is the 3 months before the month in which the installment is due. (F) Treasury may issue necessary regulations. (k) Lien for failure to contribute. (1) If a covered plan's required contribution is not paid by its due date and the unpaid amount including interest, added to earlier unpaid amounts including interest, exceeds $1,000,000, a lien arises in favor of the plan on all property and property rights of the person that failed to pay and every member of that person's controlled group. (2) This applies to a single-employer plan covered by section 1321 for a year in which its attainment percentage is below 100 percent. (3) The lien amount is the total unpaid required contributions under this section and section 1082. (4) The person must notify the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation within 10 days after the due date. The lien arises on the due date and continues through the last day of the first plan year in which the plan no longer meets paragraph (1)(B); it continues regardless of whether the plan meets paragraph (2) during that time. The unpaid amount is treated as taxes owed to the United States, and rules similar to section 1368(c), (d), and (e) apply. (5) Only the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, or the contributing sponsor at its direction, may perfect and enforce the lien. (6) "Contribution payment" includes required installments under subsection (j)(3) and (4). "Due date" and "required installment" have the meanings in subsection (j). "Controlled group" means persons treated as one employer under section 414(b), (c), (m), and (o) of title 26. (l) Transfers to health-benefit accounts. Assets transferred in a qualified transfer, as defined in section 420 of title 26, are not treated as plan assets for this section. (m) Community newspaper plans. (1) An eligible newspaper plan sponsor may elect the alternative standards in paragraph (4) for a plan in which no participant's accrued benefit increased because of service or compensation after April 2, 2019. (2) An eligible sponsor is the sponsor of (A) a community newspaper plan or (B) another plan sponsored on April 2, 2019 by a member of the same controlled group as a community-newspaper-plan sponsor, if that member publishes one or more newspapers. (3) The election is made as Treasury prescribes and, once made for a year, applies to later years unless Treasury consents to revocation. (4) The alternative standards are: (A)(i) Except for (ii), all three segment rates are 8 percent. (ii) For benefits accrued or earned in a year covered by the election, the present value used for the funding target and normal cost is based on Treasury's yield curve for United States obligations on the valuation date. (iii) That yield curve is one Treasury prescribes for the day using interest-bearing United States obligations. (B)(i) Earlier shortfall bases and installments are reduced to zero under rules similar to subsection (c)(6). (ii) The first new base is the year's funding shortfall calculated with the modified interest rates. (C)(i) The 7-year period in subsection (c)(2)(A) and (B) is replaced by 30 years. (ii) The special election in subsection (c)(2)(D) does not apply. (D) Subsection (i)'s at-risk rules do not apply. (5)(A) A community newspaper plan is a plan covered by this section and maintained on December 31, 2018 by an employer that maintains it for work in publishing one or more newspapers published by the employer at some time in the 11 years ending December 20, 2019; that either is not publicly traded or controlled by a publicly traded company, or was controlled throughout the 30 years ending December 20, 2019 by members of one family and does not publish or distribute a printed, carrier-distributed daily newspaper in more than 5 States; and that is controlled, directly or indirectly, by one or more people primarily residing in a State where the newspaper was published on newsprint or carrier-distributed, by family members throughout that 30-year period, by qualifying trusts whose sole trustees are such people, or by a combination of those people or trusts. (B) "Newspaper" excludes one not in general circulation, published less than 3 times weekly, never regularly published on newsprint, or lacking a genuine list of paid subscribers. (C) A person is controlled by another if the other has direct or indirect power through voting securities to direct its management, including power to elect a majority of its directors. (6) "Controlled group" means all persons treated as one employer under section 414(b), (c), (m), or (o) of title 26 as of December 20, 2019. (7) For a plan using these alternative standards, the additional premium under section 1306(a)(3)(E) is calculated as if the election had not been made.