Interpretive Bulletins Relating to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974

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This document provides guidance on in-kind contributions to employee benefit plans under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and plans under section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code (the Code). The Supreme Court addressed certain in-kind contributions to defined benefit pensions plans in Commissioner of Internal Revenue v. Keystone Consolidated Industries, Inc., ____ U.S. ____, 113 S. Ct. 2006 (1993). The Court in Keystone held that an employer's contribution of unencumbered real properties to a tax- qualified defined benefit pension plan in satisfaction of the employer's funding obligation is a ``sale or exchange'' prohibited by section 4975(c)(1)(A) of the Code Section 406(a)(1)(A) of ERISA is a parallel provision to section 4975(c)(1)(A) of the Code but applies to a different group of plans. This document sets forth the Department's view that in-kind contributions (i.e., contributions of any property other than cash) that reduce an obligation to the plan constitute prohibited transactions under section 4975(c)(1)(A) of the Code and section 406(a)(1)(A) of ERISA.