The Department of Labor is asking for help from retirement industry recordkeepers to establish a SECURE 2.0-mandated online search tool to help America’s workers locate lost retirement accounts.
Today the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration announced it is proposing to collect information from plan administrators on a voluntarily basis to build the new tool.
Retirement plans, including pension and 401(k) plans, sometimes lose track of people owed benefits due to incomplete recordkeeping, people changing employers and other reasons. In other cases, workers may lose track of their retirement plans after their former employer goes out of business or when companies merge. People in these situations are considered “missing participants.”
The SECURE 2.0 Act directs EBSA to establish a search tool by Dec. 29, 2024 to help missing participants and their beneficiaries find their retirement benefits.
“The agency needs assistance from plan administrators to populate its online ‘Retirement Savings Lost and Found’ database,” says a press release issued today. The notice of proposed information collection asks plan administrators to provide the information voluntarily, and it proposes that plan administrators can attach the requested information to their 2023 Form 5500 once they receive instructions on how to do so.
“The fundamental purpose of any retirement plan under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act is to pay promised benefits, and the Retirement Savings Lost and Found database will be another tool to help plans do so,” said Assistant Secretary for Employee Benefits Security Lisa M. Gomez. “Our goal, which we believe plan sponsors and administrators share, is making sure that workers and their beneficiaries receive the retirement benefits they earned and were promised. We need to work together to achieve that goal.”
The notice describes the specific data elements the agency is seeking and how information may be submitted. EBSA is seeking comments and ideas on how to improve the information request so that the database can successfully connect individuals who have lost track of their retirement plan with the benefits they are owed.
EBSA currently conducts extensive investigations into circumstances surrounding missing participants. Since 2017, enforcement efforts have recovered more than $6.7 billion for missing participants and beneficiaries. EBSA is hopeful that this new search tool will help participants and beneficiaries locate their money more quickly and more efficiently, helping plans reduce their missing participant counts.
The notice of proposed information collection request can be accessed on the Federal Register website. Written comments on the proposal should be submitted on or before June 17, 2024.
SEE ALSO:
• Too Much Information: Group Says DOL Overreaches with ‘Lost and Found’ Database
• ‘Lost & Found’ Database: DOL Seeks Recordkeeper Help
• EBSA Recovered $1.4 Billion in 2023 for Employee Benefits Plans, Participants and Beneficiaries
• How to Find—And Claim—A Lost 401(k)
• Forgotten 401(k) Accounts Hit $1.65 Trillion in Assets
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.
