Solvency Funding Relief Regulations

17 (1) If a plan ceases to be funded in accordance with this Part and the plan does not have a surplus as of the first day of the plan year, section 9 of the Pension Benefits Standards Regulations, 1985 applies except as follows:

• (a) when funding ceases before the sixth plan year,

  • (i) the administrator shall have an actuarial report prepared — in which the present value of the special payments referred to in section 6 or 7 shall be zero — valuing the plan as of the first day of the plan year in which funding ceases,

  • (ii) the amount by which the aggregate amount of special payments that would have been made to the pension fund in accordance with Part 1 from the day on which the initial solvency deficiency emerged to the day on which funding ceases, as adjusted to take into account the actuarial gains that were applied under paragraph 9(9)(a) of the Pension Benefits Standards Regulations, 1985, plus interest, exceeds the aggregate amount of special payments made to the pension fund in accordance with this Part, plus interest, shall immediately be remitted to the pension fund,

  • (iii) any remaining initial solvency deficiency disclosed by the actuarial report, which shall be calculated by including the amount remitted in accordance with subparagraph (ii) as an asset of the pension fund, shall be considered to have emerged as of the day on which the initial solvency deficiency emerged,

  • (iv) the remaining initial solvency deficiency calculated under subparagraph (iii) shall be funded by special payments sufficient to liquidate that initial solvency deficiency by equal annual payments over a period not exceeding five years minus the number of years that the plan was funded in accordance with this Part, and

  • (v) the special payments set out in section 6 or 7 shall continue to be made until the first special payment required to fund the remaining initial solvency deficiency referred to in subparagraph (iii) is made to the pension fund; and

• (b) when funding ceases after the fifth plan year,

  • (i) the administrator shall have an actuarial report prepared as of the first day of the plan year in which funding ceases, and

  • (ii) the amount by which the aggregate amount of special payments that would have been made to the pension fund in accordance with Part 1 from the day on which the initial solvency deficiency emerged to the day on which funding ceases, as adjusted to take into account the actuarial gains that were applied under paragraph 9(9)(a) of the Pension Benefits Standards Regulations, 1985, plus interest, exceeds the aggregate amount of special payments made to the pension fund in accordance with this Part, plus interest, shall immediately be remitted to the pension fund.

(2) Interest shall be calculated by using the interest rate that was assumed in valuing the liabilities of the plan for the purpose of calculating the initial solvency deficiency.