The SECURE 2.0-mandated Retirement Savings Lost and Found database began accepting data on Monday, Nov. 18, and is expected to go live by Dec. 29, 2024.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration on Monday issued a notice requesting information from retirement plan administrators that will allow it to begin populating the new database, an online search tool to help America’s workers locate lost retirement savings they earned.
Retirement plans, including 401(k) and pension plans, sometimes lose track of retirement plan participants owed benefits, resulting in what is known as “missing participants.” Retirement plans lose track of missing participants for a variety of reasons, including incomplete recordkeeping and workers changing jobs. In other cases, workers may lose track of their retirement plans after their former employer goes out of business or when companies merge.
“The fundamental purpose of any job-based retirement plan is to pay promised benefits to the workers who participate in those plans and plan beneficiaries. Our goal, which we believe plan sponsors and administrators and their service providers share, is to make sure that workers and their beneficiaries receive all the retirement benefits they earned and were promised through their working careers so that they can look forward to a secure and enjoyable retirement,” said Assistant Secretary for Employee Benefits Security Lisa M. Gomez. “The Retirement Savings Lost and Found database will be another tool to help plans carry out this responsibility. We all need to work together to achieve that goal, and we appreciate the partnership of the retirement plan community in moving forward.”
The SECURE 2.0 Act directed EBSA to establish the Retirement Savings Lost and Found database to help missing participants and their beneficiaries find their retirement benefits. To populate the database, the department needs retirement plan administrators, recordkeepers and other service providers to work together to voluntarily provide the information as a first step towards making the database available to the public.
EBSA will be working with plan administrators, recordkeepers and others to populate the database before it is launched to the public, which again is SECURE 2.0 mandates be live by Dec. 29, 2024.
The notice of information collection request describes the specific data elements the agency is seeking and how information can be submitted. EBSA has received comments and coordinated with stakeholders on how to best collect and protect this data.
Not everyone is happy with what all that the DOL is asking for in building the database. Back in June, the ERISA Industry Committee said the DOL is overreaching and needed to scale back from requiring retirement plans to provide what it called “excessive amounts” of participant information outside the scope of SECURE 2.0, unrelated to the purpose of the database.
ERIC also said the DOL’s proposal raises significant privacy concerns and questions about efforts to coordinate with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to access existing information needed to build the database.
EBSA conducts extensive investigations into circumstances surrounding missing participants. Since 2017, enforcement efforts have recovered more than $7 billion in retirement benefits paid directly to missing participants and beneficiaries.
• Read the full notice of information collection request.
• Read a fact sheet on the information collection request.
SEE ALSO:
• ‘Lost & Found’ Database: DOL Seeks Recordkeeper Help
• Too Much Information: Group Says DOL Overreaches with ‘Lost and Found’ Database
• 6 Steps to a Strong Missing Participant Policy
Veteran financial services industry journalist Brian Anderson joined 401(k) Specialist as Managing Editor in January 2019. He has led editorial content for a variety of well-known properties including Insurance Forums, Life Insurance Selling, National Underwriter Life & Health, and Senior Market Advisor. He has always maintained a focus on providing readers with timely, useful information intended to help them build their business.
