The Department of Labor issued guidance on what steps must be taken to find missing plan participants upon a retirement plan termination.
When a retirement plan terminates, the plan often holds accounts for participants who can no longer be found at their last known address. The Internal Revenue Service used to offer a letter-forwarding service to help locate missing participants and beneficiaries, but recently stopped providing this service.
The Department of Labor issued guidelines on the minimum steps a retirement plan fiduciary (generally the employer) should take to find a missing participant upon the termination of a retirement plan.
Employers should take note of the suggested steps in case plan participants go missing.