The Board of Trustees of the Sheet Metal Workers' National Pension Fund - Page 28




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          1990, petitioner decided to change the COLA payments from a                 
          series of ad hoc payments into a permanent part of the plan.  On            
          these facts, we cannot say that, under section 1.411(d)-4, Income           
          Tax Regs., the two ad hoc payments made to supplement the COLA              
          for 1989 and 1990 represented a pattern of amendments that                  
          requires us to deem those two ad hoc payments as part of the NFC            
          Plan before 1991.  We recognize that, absent the required                   
          prospective application of the 1988 regulation, the chronic                 
          shortfall of the COLA funding from 1985 through 1991 might                  
          suffice to show that the persistent shortfalls were not really              
          separate or transitory business events, but were rather                     
          indications of a continuous feature of the plan.  As noted,                 
          however, section 1.411(d)-4, Q&A-1(c)(2), Income Tax Regs.,                 
          precludes us from considering events before July 11, 1988.                  
               We conclude that the 1995 plan amendments, although they               
          removed COLA benefits which had been provided to the pre-1991               
          retirees, did not violate the anticutback provisions of section             
          411(d)(6).  In so concluding, we find without merit all arguments           
          not discussed herein.  Accordingly,                                         
                                             Decision will be entered                 
                                        for petitioner.                               











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