ERISA section 4044/4050 mortality tables

Overview
Valuation dates on or after July 31, 2024

• 4044 mortality
• 4050 mortality — certain Missing Participants Program calculations

Valuation dates before July 31, 2024

Overview

PBGC’s ERISA 4044 regulation (29 CFR 4044) provides guidance on the actuarial assumptions used to determine the present value of benefits in involuntary and distress terminations of single-employer plans (e.g., interest, mortality, retirement age, expenses).

PBGC’s ERISA 4050 regulation (29 CFR 4050) provides guidance on the actuarial assumptions that terminating defined benefit plans must use to determine the amount to transfer to PBGC’s Missing Participant’s Program for participants with non de minimis benefits.

In 2024, PBGC issued a final rule amending both regulations to, among other things, update the mortality assumptions for valuation dates on or after July 31, 2024.

Valuation dates on or after July 31, 2024

4044 mortality

For valuation dates on or after July 31, 2024, the ERISA 4044 mortality table for healthy lives is derived from the tables set forth in the Pri-2012 Private Retirement Plans Mortality Tables Report published by the Retirement Plan Experience Committee (RPEC) of the Society of Actuaries (SOA) in 2019 and projected generationally with a prescribed mortality improvement scale. The base table distinguishes between annuitant and non-annuitant mortality rates.

Base Mortality Table Mortality Improvement Scale

For additional information about how to construct the generational mortality table, see the preamble to the final rule and the example in § 4044.53(c)(3).

The healthy lives generational table is also used for disabled participants who are not eligible for Social Security disability. If a participant is eligible for Social Security disability benefits, a static mortality table is used instead of the generational table noted above. See § 4044.53(d).

ERISA 4044 Mortality Table for Social Security Disabled Participants

4050 mortality

For Benefit Determination Dates on or after July 31, 2024, the mortality assumption for purposes of determining certain benefit transfer amounts for PBGC’s Missing Participants Program is a unisex, static version of the 4044 generational mortality table.

ERISA 4050 Mortality Table

Valuation dates before July 31, 2024

For ERISA 4044 and 4050 purposes, different mortality tables were used for valuation dates before July 31, 2024. Those tables are provided below.