Treas. Reg. § 1.413-2

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Special rules for plans maintained by more than one employer.

CFR 1998 annual edition (revised as of 1998-04-01) · superseded Apr 1, 1999 · last amended by T.D. 7654, 44 FR 65065, Nov. 9, 1979

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(a) Application of section 413(c)— (1) In general. Section 413(c) describes certain plans (and each trust which is a part of any such plan) hereinafter referred to as “section 413(c) plans.” A plan (and each trust which is a part of such plan) is deemed to be a section 413(c) plan if it is described in subparagraph (2) of this paragraph. Notwithstanding any other provision of the code (not specifically in conflict with the special rules hereinafter mentioned), a section 413(c) plan is subject to the special rules of section 413(c) (1) through (6) and paragraphs (b) through (g) of this section.

(2) Section 413(c) plan. A plan (and each trust which is a part of such plan) is a section 413(c) plan if—

(i) The plan is a single plan, within the meaning of section 413(a) and § 1.413-1(a)(2), and

(ii) The plan is maintained by more than one employer.

For purposes of subdivision (ii) of this subparagraph, the number of employers maintaining the plan is determined by treating any employers described in section 414(b) (relating to a controlled group of corporations) or any employers described in section 414(c) (relating to trades or businesses under common control), whichever is applicable, as if such employers are a single employer. See § 1.411(a)-5(b)(3) for rules relating to the time when an employer maintains a plan. A master or prototype plan is not a section 413(c) plan unless such a plan is described in this subparagraph. Similarly, the mere fact that a plan, or plans, utilizes a common trust fund or otherwise pools plan assets for investment purposes does not, by itself, result in a particular plan being treated as a section 413(c) plan.

(3) Additional rules.

(i) If a plan is a collectively bargained plan described in § 1.413-1(a), the rules of section 413(c) and this section do not apply, and the rules of section 413(b) and § 1.413-1 do apply to the plan.

(ii) The special rules of section 413(b)(1) and § 1.413-1(b) relating to the application of section 410, other than the rules of section 410(a), do not apply to a section 413(c) plan. Thus, for example, the minimum coverage requirements of section 410(b) are generally applied to a section 413(c) plan on an employer-by-employer basis, taking into account the generally applicable rules such as section 401(a)(5) and section 414 (b) and (c).

(iii) The special rules of section 413(b)(2) and § 1.413-1(c) (relating to (A) section 401(a)(4) and prohibited discrimination, and (B) 411(d)(3) and vesting required on termination, partial termination, or discontinuance of contributions) do not apply to a section 413(c) plan. Thus, for example, the determination of whether or not there is a termination, within the meaning of section 411(d)(3), of a section 413(c) plan is made solely by reference to the rules of sections 411(d)(3) and 413(c)(3).

(iv) The qualification of a section 413(c) plan, at any relevant time, under section 401(a), 403(a) or 405(a), as modified by section 413(c) and this section, is determined with respect to all employers maintaining the section 413(c) plan. Consequently, the failure by one employer maintaining the plan (or by the plan itself) to satisfy an applicable qualification requirement will result in the disqualification of the section 413(c) plan for all employers maintaining the plan.

(4) Effective dates. Except as otherwise provided, section 413(c) and this section apply to a plan for plan years beginning after December 31, 1953.

(b) Participation. Section 410(a) and the regulations thereunder shall be applied as if all employees of each of the employers who maintain the plan were employed by a single employer.

(c) Exclusive benefit. In the case of a plan subject to this section, the exclusive benefit requirements of section 401(a) shall be applied to the plan in the same manner as under section 413(b)(3) and § 1.413-1(d).

(d) Vesting. Section 411 and the regulations thereunder shall be applied as if all employers who maintain the plan constituted a single employer. The application of any rules with respect to breaks in service under section 411 shall be made under regulations prescribed by the Secretary of Labor. Thus, for example, all the hours which an employee worked for each employer maintaining the plan would be aggregated in computing the employee's hours of service under the plan. See also 29 CFR Part 2530 (Department of Labor regulations relating to minimum standards for employee pension benefit plans).

(Sec. 411 (88 Stat. 901; 26 U.S.C. 411))

Source credit, amendments & notes

[T.D. 7501, 42 FR 42340, Aug. 23, 1977, as amended by 42 FR 47198, Sept. 20, 1977; T.D. 7654, 44 FR 65065, Nov. 9, 1979]

Treas. Reg. § 1.413-2 — Special rules for plans maintained by more than one employer. · CFR 1998 annual edition (revised as of 1998-04-01) · https://pensionresource.website/EAMain?content=EAMain.Law&id=cfr26-1.413-2&asof=1996-08-06 · printed Oct 16, 2026

Implements

I.R.C. § 413 Collectively bargained plans, etc.

Cited by (code & regs)

Treas. Reg. § 1.413-1 Special rules for collectively bargained plans.

Guidance addressing this section

No documents are primarily about this section.

Also cited in 5 other documents

IRS / Treasury

Proposed Rules

90 FR 3092Proposed Jan 14, 2025 — Automatic Enrollment Requirements Under Section 414A Comments due Mar 17, 2025 (a)(2)
REG-121508-18Proposed Apr 11, 2022 — Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (a)(2)(a)(2)(i)(a)(2)(i)(A)(a)(2)(i)(B)(a)(3)(ii)(a)(3)(iv)

Department of Labor (EBSA)

Final Rules

84 FR 37508 Jul 31, 2019 — Definition of “Employer” Under Section 3(5) of ERISA-Association Retirement Plans and Other Multiple-Employer Plans (a)(2)(c)
83 FR 28912 Jun 21, 2018 — Definition of “Employer” Under Section 3(5) of ERISA-Association Health Plans

Proposed Rules

83 FR 53534Proposed Oct 23, 2018 — Definition of “Employer” Under Section 3(5) of ERISA-Association Retirement Plans and Other Multiple-Employer Plans Comments due Dec 24, 2018 (a)(2)(a)(3)(ii)(a)(3)(iv)(b)(c)(d)

No court rulings in the library cite this provision yet.

Private Letter Rulings (1)

Also cite this provision (1)

PLR 201927010 Jul 5, 2019 — Applicable Defined Benefit Plans UIL 411.10-00 (a)(1) (a)(2)

Each row is a version of the text as published by the official source. Code dates are the edition/release point that first reflected the change; regulation dates are eCFR effective dates. The library checks the official sources automatically, so new versions appear here on their own; “run” opens the sync that recorded a version.

Effective	Through	Source	Amended by
Apr 1, 1997	Mar 31, 1999	CFR 1998 annual edition (revised as of 1998-04-01) run 127	T.D. 7654, 44 FR 65065, Nov. 9, 1979	View
Apr 1, 1999	Mar 31, 2006	CFR 2005 annual edition (revised as of 2005-04-01) run 127	T.D. 7654, 44 FR 65065, Nov. 9, 1979	View · Redline (sign in)
Apr 1, 2006	current	eCFR editorial change effective 2016-09-09 run 2	T.D. 7654, 44 FR 65065, Nov. 9, 1979	View · Redline (sign in)

Provision-level history (blame)