ERISA § 4206 (29 U.S.C. § 1386)

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Adjustment for partial withdrawal; determination of amount; reduction for partial withdrawal liability; procedures applicable

USC 2024 ed., current through 2025-01-06 · current · last amended by Pub. L. 96-364

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(a) The amount of an employer's liability for a partial withdrawal, before the application of sections 1399(c)(1) and 1405 of this title, is equal to the product of—

(1) the amount determined under section 1391 of this title, and adjusted under section 1389 of this title if appropriate, determined as if the employer had withdrawn from the plan in a complete withdrawal—

(A) on the date of the partial withdrawal, or

(B) in the case of a partial withdrawal described in section 1385(a)(1) of this title (relating to 70-percent contribution decline), on the last day of the first plan year in the 3-year testing period,

multiplied by

(2) a fraction which is 1 minus a fraction—

(A) the numerator of which is the employer's contribution base units for the plan year following the plan year in which the partial withdrawal occurs, and

(B) the denominator of which is the average of the employer's contribution base units for—

(i) except as provided in clause (ii), the 5 plan years immediately preceding the plan year in which the partial withdrawal occurs, or

(ii) in the case of a partial withdrawal described in section 1385(a)(1) of this title (relating to 70-percent contribution decline), the 5 plan years immediately preceding the beginning of the 3-year testing period.

(b)

(1) In the case of an employer that has withdrawal liability for a partial withdrawal from a plan, any withdrawal liability of that employer for a partial or complete withdrawal from that plan in a subsequent plan year shall be reduced by the amount of any partial withdrawal liability (reduced by any abatement or reduction of such liability) of the employer with respect to the plan for a previous plan year.

(2) The corporation shall prescribe such regulations as may be necessary to provide for proper adjustments in the reduction provided by paragraph (1) for—

(A) changes in unfunded vested benefits arising after the close of the prior year for which partial withdrawal liability was determined,

(B) changes in contribution base units occurring after the close of the prior year for which partial withdrawal liability was determined, and

so that the liability for any complete or partial withdrawal in any subsequent year (after the application of the reduction) properly reflects the employer's share of liability with respect to the plan.

Source credit, amendments & notes

(Pub. L. 93–406, title IV, §4206, as added Pub. L. 96–364, title I, §104(2), Sept. 26, 1980, 94 Stat. 1222.)

ERISA § 4206 (29 U.S.C. § 1386) — Adjustment for partial withdrawal; determination of amount; reduction for partial withdrawal liability; procedures applicable · USC 2024 ed., current through 2025-01-06 · https://pensionresource.website/EAMain?content=EAMain.Law&id=usc29-1386 · printed Oct 16, 2026

Cited by (code & regs)

29 C.F.R. § 4207.8 Liability for subsequent partial withdrawals.
29 C.F.R. § 4206.1 Purpose and scope.
29 C.F.R. § 4206.5 Amount of credit in plans using the modified pres…
29 C.F.R. § 4208.6 Computation of reduced annual partial withdrawal …
ERISA § 4219 (29 U.S.C. § 1399) Notice, collection, etc., of withdrawal liability
29 C.F.R. § 4206.4 Amount of credit in plans using the presumptive m…
ERISA § 4201 (29 U.S.C. § 1381) Withdrawal liability established; criteria and de…
29 C.F.R. § 4208.8 Multiple partial withdrawals in one plan year.
ERISA § 4208 (29 U.S.C. § 1388) Reduction of partial withdrawal liability
29 C.F.R. § 4208.9 Plan adoption of additional abatement conditions.

PBGC Regulations

29 C.F.R. § 4206.1 Purpose and scope.
29 C.F.R. § 4206.2 Definitions.
29 C.F.R. § 4206.3 Credit against liability for a subsequent withdrawal.
29 C.F.R. § 4206.4 Amount of credit in plans using the presumptive method.
29 C.F.R. § 4206.5 Amount of credit in plans using the modified presumptive method.
29 C.F.R. § 4206.6 Amount of credit in plans using the rolling-5 method.
29 C.F.R. § 4206.7 Amount of credit in plans using the direct attribution method.
29 C.F.R. § 4206.8 Reduction of credit for abatement or other reduction of prior partial withdrawal liability.
29 C.F.R. § 4206.9 Amount of credit in plans using alternative allocation methods.
29 C.F.R. § 4206.10 Special rule for 70-percent decline partial withdrawals.

Guidance addressing this section

No documents are primarily about this section.

Also cited in 6 other documents

PBGC

Final Rules

86 FR 1256 Jan 8, 2021 — Methods for Computing Withdrawal Liability, Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014
80 FR 54980 Sep 11, 2015 — Reportable Events and Certain Other Notification Requirements

Proposed Rules

84 FR 2075Proposed Feb 6, 2019 — Methods for Computing Withdrawal Liability, Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 Comments due Apr 8, 2019
78 FR 20039Proposed Apr 3, 2013 — Reportable Events and Certain Other Notification Requirements Comments due Jun 3, 2013

Opinion Letters

PBGC Op. Ltr. 1995-3 Dec 22, 1995 — Partial withdrawal, Reduction of liability for subsequent withdrawal
PBGC Op. Ltr. 1993-2 Jul 7, 1993 — Withdrawal liability (a)

Tax Court (0) · DOL/Federal (1)

DOL and federal courts (1)

Rulings that address this provision

Central States, SE and SW Areas Pension Fund v. Consumers Concrete Corp. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · Sep 17, 2026 Affirmed
Cites (a) (b) (b)(1) (b)(2) · 29 C.F.R. § 4206.1 · Text when decided

No private letter rulings in the library cite this provision yet.

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
Jan 4, 1995	current	USC 2024 ed., current through 2025-01-06 run 1	Pub. L. 96-364	View

Provision-level history (blame)