Premium E-Filing Tips (PBGC.gov)

As a security measure, you will be automatically logged out of My PAA after 20 minutes of inactivity (i.e., if you do not click any buttons or links). In addition, you will lose the work you have done since you last “permanently” saved your filing. To avoid this, be sure to click a “save” button regularly (at least every 20 minutes) and permanently save your data prior to leaving your desk or logging out of My PAA by:
- clicking the “Continue” button until you reach the Filing Manager Page.
- clicking the “Save & Exit” button (if displayed on the screen) to reach the Filing Manager Page.
When an e-filing is created using My PAA’s data entry screens or imported into My PAA’s editing screens and saved, the e-filing is completed via the Filing Manager Page. For more information, see the FAQ “How do I access/use the Home Page, Plan Page, and Filing Manager Page?”.
When an e-filing is created using My PAA’s data entry screens or imported into My PAA’s editing screens and saved, the filing coordinator can retrieve a filing that has been routed to another team member (e.g., in order to route the filing to another team member or to submit the filing) by clicking on the “Retrieve Filing” button on the Filing Manager Page.
Attachments cannot be submitted. Instead, there are text boxes available within the e-filing itself in which explanations are to be entered (i.e., near the applicable data elements).
If you are unable to submit your e-filing timely, be sure to send in your payment on time and then submit your e-filing as soon as possible thereafter.
If you are new to e-filing, start the process early (before the filing due date) so you have time to address any questions/issues that may arise during PBGC’s business hours (8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday except for federal holidays).

Managing Your Account

Be careful when you set up your user ID and secret question/answer because they cannot be changed later (even if you inadvertently misspelled them).
Keep your user ID, password, and secret question/answer in a secure place for ready access as you will need them for your next filing.
If you forget your user ID or password, click on the appropriate link(s) on the right side of My PAA’s Log In screen. If this does not resolve the issue (e.g., your account becomes locked for security reasons), contact PBGC's representatives at 1-800-736-2444 (select the premium option) or send an e-mail to premiums@pbgc.gov. Note that PBGC’s business hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday (except federal holidays).
For details, go to the section in the My PAA Users Manual entitled “Manage Your Account (Information that Can/Cannot be Changed).”

Managing Your Plans and E-Filing Teams (Filing Coordinators Only)

Filing coordinators can add plans, invite practitioners, remove practitioners, and edit permissions. These tasks are typically done from your Home Page or Plan Page. The Home Page contains buttons to “add a plan” or “invite a practitioner.” The Plan Page contains buttons to “invite a practitioner,” “remove a practitioner,” and to edit a person’s permissions (by clicking on the person’s name).

Here are a few tips to help filing coordinators manage their plans and filing teams:

Set up or verify your e-filing team as early as possible before the plan’s premium filing due date so that there is sufficient time to make any needed changes, to confirm that all team member accounts have been set up correctly, and to resolve any unexpected issues.
Be careful when typing in the plan name when you add a plan. To correct a misspelled plan name on the Home Page, you will need to submit an e-filing that is created within My PAA’s data entry/editing screens or imported into My PAA’s editing screens with the corrected plan name. Note that if you use the upload method to submit your filing, a plan name change contained in the uploaded filing will not correct the plan name on the Home Page.
Each role (including the filing coordinator role) should have multiple people assigned to help ensure smooth transitions as changes in personnel occur.
If the filing coordinator will change, the current filing coordinator should first invite the new filing coordinator and then remove himself/herself from the filing team.
One filing coordinator can remove another filing coordinator but cannot edit another filing coordinator’s permissions.
If a plan is left without a filing coordinator, you will need to contact PBGC’s representatives at 1-800-736-2444 (select the premium option) or send an e-mail to premiums@pbgc.gov. Note that PBGC’s business hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday (except federal holidays).
For additional details, go to the section of the My PAA Users Manual entitled “Manage Your Plans and e-Filing Team (Filing Coordinators Only).”

My PAA E-Mails

If you do not receive an expected e-mail from My PAA (e.g., with your temporary user ID and password), the e-mail may be blocked by your systems security software (e.g., treated as “spam”). To receive the e-mail, we suggest that you first check with your system’s security staff to see if an e-mail from “@pbgc.gov” is blocked. If so, request that it be unblocked so you can receive it and also ask (for the future) that e-mails from “@pbgc.gov” be added as a “trusted site” to your systems. If this is not an option or does not resolve the issue, contact PBGC’s representatives at 1-800-736-2444 (select the “premium” option) or send an e-mail to premiums@pbgc.gov. Note that PBGC’s business hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday (except federal holidays).

When you route an e-filing to another person, that person will receive an e-mail notifying him/her of your action. You will be given the opportunity to enter text that will be included in this e-mail so you can include a brief message to that person. This message cannot be greater than 256 characters. If you exceed this maximum, you will receive an error message that says “Your entry or selection for the 'Additional Message' indicated is invalid, or you have left it blank. Please try again.” To resolve the issue, reduce the length of your message and resend the filing (with message).

My PAA System Messages

The following are examples of the types of messages that you may see from My PAA:

If you receive a message that says “system unavailable,” this typically means that My PAA is not available at that time (e.g., while system maintenance is being done). If you continue to receive this message over an extended period of time, contact PBGC for assistance.
If you receive a message that says you are locked out of My PAA, this means that you have tried to enter an incorrect user ID and/or password three times or the incorrect secret answer three times. If the issue is not resolved by clicking on the link(s) on the right side of the Log in Page (e.g., “Forgot Your Password?”), contact PBGC for assistance.
If you receive a message that you have been “logged out” of My PAA, this means that you have been inactive within My PAA for at least 20 minutes (i.e., have not clicked any My PAA buttons or links). To resolve this condition, you will need to start over and enter your user ID and password into My PAA’s Log In Screen.

For assistance, call 1-800-736-2444 (select the “premium” option) or send an e-mail to premiums@pbgc.gov. PBGC’s business hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday, except federal holidays.

System Compatibility with My PAA

Since My PAA is a Web-based application, it works best if your computer has standard software that is up-to-date and if you use a traditional browser that is fully supported and verified by PBGC. Otherwise, you may experience unexpected and unsupported problems when trying to use My PAA. The browsers supported and fully verified by PBGC are:

Microsoft Internet Explorer (Version 6.0)
Firefox (Versions 1.5 and 2.0)

Printing from My PAA

You can print any displayed My PAA screen at any time. To do so, you can:

Click on the print icon if available.
Right-click with your mouse and select the “Print” option.
Select “File/Print” from your browser’s menu.

If you want to print a specific section of a screen (e.g., if you want to print just one paragraph of an instruction screen):

Highlight the portion you would like to print.
Right-click with your mouse and select the “Print” option OR select “File/Print” from your browser’s menu.
When the print dialog box is displayed, click once on the option to print only the “Selection.”
Click the “Print” button on the print dialog box.

Navigating My PAA

It is best to only use navigation buttons on the My PAA screens (typically on the top and the bottom right of the screen) rather than the buttons provided by the browser software you are using. Using the browser-provided buttons can sometimes result in your receiving a system message that will not allow you to continue. If this occurs, you will need to close My PAA and start over with the Log In process.

Also, be sure to click My PAA buttons only once (e.g., the Submit button). After you click on a button on a My PAA screen, it may take a short time for the action to complete (e.g., to navigate to another page). You should not try to shorten the wait time by repeatedly clicking on the button because it may lead to the page “freezing” and you will not be able to continue. If the page does “freeze,” you will need to close My PAA and start over with the Log In process.

^ Top

Return to Online Premium Filing (My PAA) main page