RETIREMENT PLANS

International Paper sponsors and maintains the Retirement Plan of International Paper Company (the Pension Plan), a tax-qualified defined benefit pension plan that provides retirement benefits to substantially all U.S. salaried employees and hourly employees (receiving salaried benefits) hired prior to July 1, 2004, and substantially all other U.S. hourly and union employees who work at a participating business unit regardless of hire date. These employees generally are eligible to participate in the Pension Plan upon attaining 21 years of age and completing one year of eligibility service. U.S. salaried employees and hourly employees (receiving salaried benefits) hired after June 30, 2004, are not eligible for the Pension Plan, but receive a company contribution to their individual savings plan accounts; however, salaried employees hired by Temple Inland prior to March 1, 2007 also participate in the Pension Plan.

The Pension Plan provides defined pension benefits based on years of credited service and either final average earnings (salaried employees and hourly employees receiving salaried benefits), hourly job rates or specified benefit rates (hourly and union employees). A detailed discussion of these plans is presented in Note 16 to the consolidated financial statements included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014.

In connection with the Temple-Inland acquisition in February 2012, International Paper assumed responsibility for the Temple-Inland Retirement Plan, a defined benefit plan which covers substantially all employees of Temple-Inland. The Temple-Inland Retirement Plan merged with the Retirement Plan of International Paper Company on December 31, 2014.

The Company will freeze participation, including credited service and compensation, for salaried employees under the Pension Plan, the Pension Restoration Plan and the SERP for all service on or after January 1, 2019. In addition, compensation under the Temple-Inland Retirement Plan and the Temple-Inland Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan (collectively, the Temple Retirement Plans) will also be frozen beginning January 1, 2019. Credited service was previously frozen for the Temple Retirement Plans. This change will not affect benefits accrued through December 31, 2018. Due to the announcement of the pension freeze, the net pension plan obligations were determined on February 28, 2014, including the effect of the remeasurement and curtailment. This resulted in a net increase to the projected benefit obligation of approximately $170 million ($103 million net of tax) during the first quarter of 2014.

Net periodic pension expense for our qualified and nonqualified U.S. defined benefit plans comprised the following:



	Three Months Ended September 30						Nine Months Ended September 30,
In millions	2015			2014			2015			2014
Service cost	$	40		$	35		$	120		$	108
Interest cost	149			150			448			450
Expected return on plan assets	(196		)	(190		)	(588		)	(571		)
Actuarial loss	107			94			322			280
Amortization of prior service cost	11			7			33			23
Settlement	15			—			15			—
Net periodic pension expense	$	126		$	96		$	350		$	290

The Company’s funding policy for our pension plans is to contribute amounts sufficient to meet legal funding requirements, plus any additional amounts that the Company may determine to be appropriate considering the funded status of the plan, tax deductibility, the cash flows generated by the Company, and other factors. The Company made cash contributions of $750 million and $353 million to the qualified pension plan in the first nine months of 2015 and 2014, respectively. The nonqualified defined benefit plans are funded to the extent of benefit payments, which totaled $57 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2015.