Status of DOL Centralized Lost and Found Database Under the SECURE 2.0 Act and Information Collection Requests
Status of DOL Lost and Found Database to Locate Lost Retirement Benefits Under SECURE 2.0
The SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE 2.0) § 303 enacted ERISA § 523, which directs the Department of Labor (DOL) to establish by 2024 an online searchable database referred to as the Retirement Savings Lost and Found to serve as a searchable lost and found database for qualified defined contribution and defined benefit plans to help contact lost participants and to help former participants or beneficiaries who have lost track of their qualified retirement benefits.
There is currently a Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) database to find unclaimed retirement benefits, but that only applies with respect to terminated defined benefit or terminated defined contribution plans and not to active plans.
The DOL database will allow an individuals to search for any qualified retirement plans under which the individual may have a vested retirement benefit and will provide the individual with the name , contact the plan administrator of the retirement plan (or a successor plan if the plan was merged, split up, etc.) and to make a claim for such benefit. ERISA § 523(a), 29 U.S.C. § 1153(a).
The database will be updated with any changes to the plan administrator due to a plan merger, division, termination, or change in plan name. ERISA § 523(a)(1)(C), 29 U.S.C. § 1153(a)(1)(C).
The DOL database is to be established no later than December 29, 2024 under ERISA § 523(a), although it is currently doubtful if the DOL will be able to open the database to the public by that time.
For plan years beginning after 2024, retirement plan administrators will be required to provide the DOL with certain information (see below) needed for the database. ERISA § 523(e), 29 U.S.C. § 1153(e). The timing and form of plan administrator disclosure, which is to be set forth in regulations, and which must be supplied to the DOL for the database includes (i) the name of the plan; (ii) the name and address of the plan administrator; (iii) any change in the name of the plan, the plan administrator’s name and address, any plan termination, merger or consolidation; and (iv) the name and tax identification number for each participant or former participant who (A) during the current plan year or any previous plan year, was reported as a terminated and deferred vested participant on Form 8955-SSA (and who was paid in full or is in pay status during the plan year), (B) received a mandatory cash-out during the plan year that was transferred to an individual IRA, and in such case, the plan must also provide the name and address of the IRA vendor and the IRA account number or (C) received a deferred annuity contract during the plan year along with the name and address of the annuity provider and the annuity contract or certificate number. Id.
Much of the above information overlaps with information required to be reported on Form 8955-SSA (Annual Registration Statement Identifying Separated Participants with Deferred Vested Benefits). The IRS and Social Security Administration have thus far refused to forward to the DOL the information on Forms 8955-SSAs because of confidentiality concerns.
To fill in the gap, the DOL has had to turn to the sponsors and administrators with voluntary Information Collection Requests (ICRs) in 2024. At first the ICRs issued in April 2024 were very broad, but due to pushback from plan sponsors the DOL issued much narrower ICRs in September 2024 requesting from plan administrators to provide participant information only for separated vested participants age 65 or older who have received or are entitled to distributions during the plan year, as well as plan information, at least annually starting prospectively with the 2024 plan year.
Thus the new ICRs seeks the names and Social Security numbers of any separate vested participants ages 65 or older in pay status or still owed a plan benefit, which includes current separated vested participants as well as deceased participants whose beneficiaries are entitled to a benefit, but does not include terminated participants for which benefits were mandatorily rolled over to an IRA or used to purchase an annuity.
In the meantime, it is unlikely that the DOL will be able to make public its retirement savings lost and found database by December 29, 2024, although the database is accepting
In a related event, the Technology Modernization Fund, which invests in technology projects across government, providing incremental funding, technical assistance and oversight, announced in November 2024 that it is investing nearly $3.5 million at the DOL to help establish its retirement plan lost and found registry. U.S. General Services Administration News Release Nov. 13, 2024.
