Proposed Information Collection Request Submitted for Public Comment; Retirement Savings Lost and Found, 26932-26935 [2024-07968]

Agencies

• Employee Benefits Security Administration
• DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 74 (Tuesday, April 16, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26932-26935]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-07968]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employee Benefits Security Administration


Proposed Information Collection Request Submitted for Public 
Comment; Retirement Savings Lost and Found

AGENCY: Employee Benefits Security Administration, Department of Labor.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Department is proposing to collect information voluntarily 
in order to establish the Retirement Savings Lost and Found online 
searchable database described in section 523 of the Employee Retirement 
Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and to connect missing participants 
and other individuals who have lost track of their retirement benefits 
with such benefits. The proposal solicits specific information from 
administrators of retirement plans subject to ERISA. Pursuant to the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Department of Labor's 
Employee Benefits Security Administration (Department or EBSA) is 
soliciting comments on the proposed information collection request 
(ICR) described below.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office shown in the 
ADDRESSES section on or before June 17, 2024.

ADDRESSES: James Butikofer, U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits 
Security Administration, Office of Research and Analysis, 200 
Constitution Avenue NW, N-5718, Washington, DC 20210, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction and Summary of Burden

    This notice requests public comment on the Department's proposed 
collection of information from plan administrators of retirement plans 
subject to ERISA for the purpose of establishing the Retirement Savings 
Lost and Found online searchable database to reunite workers with 
retirement benefits earned over their working lives and to help the 
Department assist them in that effort. A summary of the current burden 
estimates follows:
    Agency: Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. Department 
of Labor.
    Title: Retirement Savings Lost and Found.
    OMB Control Number: 1210-NEW.
    Affected Public: Not-for-profit institutions, Businesses or other 
for-profits.
    Respondents: 359,368.

[[Page 26933]]

    Responses: 359,368.
    Estimated Total Burden Hours: 239,579.
    Estimated Total Burden Cost (Operating and Maintenance): $0.

II. Description

A. Background

    Section 303 of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, which was enacted on 
December 29, 2022 (SECURE 2.0),\1\ amended part 5 of subtitle B of 
title I of ERISA to add Section 523, which requires the Department, not 
later than 2 years after the date of enactment and in consultation with 
the Secretary of the Treasury, to create an online searchable database, 
to be known as the Retirement Savings Lost and Found. Among other 
things, SECURE 2.0 requires that this database allow retirement savers 
who may have lost track of their retirement plan to search for the 
contact information of their plan administrator in order to make a 
claim for benefits that may be owing to the individual under the plan.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, H.R. 2617.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Separate from the database required by SECURE 2.0, the Department 
administers the Terminated Vested Participants Project (TVPP or missing 
participant program). The TVPP has three key objectives for defined 
benefit pension plans. First, to ensure these plans maintain adequate 
census and other records necessary to determine (a) the identity and 
address of participants and beneficiaries due benefits under the plan, 
(b) the amount of benefits due under the plan, and (c) when 
participants and beneficiaries are eligible to commence benefits. 
Second, to ensure these plans have appropriate procedures for advising 
participants with vested accrued benefits of their eligibility to apply 
for benefits as they near normal retirement age and the date they must 
start required minimum distributions under federal tax law. Third, to 
ensure these plans implement appropriate search procedures for 
terminated participants and beneficiaries for whom they have incorrect 
or incomplete information. Since 2017, the Department has recovered 
more than $6.7 billion for such ``missing'' participants and 
beneficiaries.
    The Department's experience indicates that retirement plan 
administrators lose track of participants and beneficiaries, and 
participants and beneficiaries lose track of their retirement benefits 
for many reasons. For example, sometimes plans may be unable to 
communicate with individuals who separated from service with deferred 
vested benefits, or their designated beneficiaries, because of 
inadequate recordkeeping practices, ineffective processes for 
communicating with such participants and beneficiaries, and faulty 
procedures for searching for participants and beneficiaries for whom 
they have incorrect or incomplete contact information. In addition, 
sometimes after workers change jobs, their former employers that 
sponsor the retirement plans go out of business or go through corporate 
events such as a merger, consolidation, or spinoff.
    There is no more fundamental purpose of a retirement plan under 
ERISA than paying promised benefits. See 29 U.S.C. 1001. Losing track 
of individuals after long years of plan participation deprives workers 
and their families their full earned retirement benefits. The 
Department believes that it is united with plan sponsors and 
administrators in the goal of making sure that workers and their 
beneficiaries receive the retirement benefits they earned and were 
promised. By providing the data requested by this proposed ICR to 
enable the Department to establish and maintain the Retirement Savings 
Lost and Found online searchable database, retirement plans will make 
it more likely that promised benefits will be paid.
    As an initial matter, the Department is seeking voluntary 
participation in this proposed ICR. The Department had planned to use 
data that plan administrators submitted to the Internal Revenue Service 
(IRS) on Form 8955-SSA (Annual Registration Statement Identifying 
Separated Participants With Deferred Vested Benefits). However, citing 
concerns under section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code (Code),\2\ IRS 
has now indicated that it will not authorize the release of this data 
to the Department for the purpose of communicating either directly with 
participants and beneficiaries about retirement plans that may still 
owe them retirement benefits or indirectly through the Retirement 
Savings Lost and Found online searchable database. Accordingly, the 
Department is proposing to request plan administrators to voluntarily 
furnish the information specified below directly to the Department.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \2\ See 26 U.S.C. 6103 (confidentiality and disclosure of 
returns and return information).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    By collecting this data, the Department is optimistic that it can 
work together with plan administrators to further reduce the number of 
missing participants and promote the payment of promised benefits, 
thus, helping plan administrators and other fiduciaries resolve issues 
and inaccuracies in the plans' books and records, and better comply 
with their fiduciary obligations.

B. Overview of Requested Data

    This notice proposes to request that plan administrators (or their 
authorized representatives, such as recordkeepers) voluntarily provide 
the information described in sections III through V below. This 
information is needed by the Department to establish the Retirement 
Savings Lost and Found online searchable database no later than 
December 29, 2024. The Retirement Savings Lost and Found online 
searchable database will enable individuals to locate benefits they are 
owed by providing them with contact information for their plan 
administrator, the designated trustee or issuer described in section 
401(a)(31)(B) of the Code, or the issuer of an annuity described in 
section 523(e)(3)(C) of ERISA.
    Section 523(e) of ERISA expressly authorizes the Department to 
collect information described in sections 6057(b)(1) through (4) and 
6057(a)(2)(A) and (B) of the Code. It also authorizes the Department to 
collect the names and social security numbers of participants and 
former participants described in Code section 6057(a)(2)(C) (i.e., 
individuals who separated from service covered under their plans and 
who are entitled to deferred vested benefits) and identify those who 
were fully paid their deferred vested benefits. Finally, it also 
authorizes the Department to collect the names and social security 
numbers of each participant or former participant in the plan with 
respect to whom vested benefits were distributed under section 
401(a)(31)(B) of the Code or to whom a deferred annuity contract was 
distributed.
    Much of the foregoing information is currently reported to the IRS 
on Form 8955-SSA.\3\ The information reported on Forms 8955-SSA is 
generally provided by the IRS to the Social Security Administration 
(SSA). The SSA then provides the reported information to separated 
vested participants when they file for social security benefits. 
Pursuant to section 523(c) of ERISA, the Department consulted with the 
Secretary of the Treasury and IRS on the Retirement Savings Lost and 
Found online

[[Page 26934]]

searchable database and had planned to use the data reported on Form 
8955-SSA to populate the database. As noted above, however, the IRS has 
now declined to give this information to the Department to establish 
and maintain the Retirement Savings Lost and Found online searchable 
database, citing concerns under section 6103 of the Code.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \3\ The Form 8955-SSA is the designated successor to Schedule 
SSA (Form 5500). The Schedule SSA attachment to the Form 5500 was 
the vehicle the IRS used to collect this information until the 
Schedule SSA was replaced by the stand-alone IRS Form 8955-SSA.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In addition to the data elements specifically described in section 
523(e) of ERISA, the Department is asking for the voluntary submission 
of additional data. The additional data requested consists mainly of 
mailing addresses, email addresses, and telephone numbers of separated 
vested participants and beneficiaries. It also includes an 
identification of any separated vested participant of normal retirement 
age or older owed a vested benefit, and who has been unresponsive to 
plan communications about their vested benefits or whose contact 
information the plan has reason to believe is no longer accurate. Based 
on its experience with the missing participant program, the Department 
believes this additional data may increase the efficiency and 
effectiveness of locating missing participants. Although this proposed 
ICR is voluntary, the Department notes that, in addition to the 
specific grant of authority in section 523(e) of ERISA, mentioned 
above, the Department has general authority to investigate and collect 
information under other sections of ERISA, including sections 504 and 
505 of ERISA, as well as to verify participants' and beneficiaries' 
identities under the Retirement Savings Lost and Found online 
searchable database. The Department further notes that, although this 
proposed ICR does not impose any new recordkeeping requirements, the 
Department expects plans that follow best practices will already have 
much of this additional information on file.
    Section 523(c) of ERISA, in relevant part, provides that in 
establishing the Retirement Savings Lost and Found online searchable 
database, the Department, in consultation with the Secretary of the 
Treasury, shall take all necessary and proper precautions to ensure 
that individuals' plan and personal information maintained by the 
Retirement Savings Lost and Found online searchable database is 
protected. Consistent with this provision, the Department will hold the 
data specifically required by section 523(e) of ERISA secure, verify 
the identity of participants and beneficiaries seeking access to the 
data, and limit disclosure to carry out the purposes of section 523 of 
ERISA. Section VI of this document describes the data security measures 
in more detail.
    To provide an easy and efficient process for plans to furnish the 
information requested by this proposed ICR, the Department is proposing 
that plan administrators would provide the information in an attachment 
to their 2023 Form 5500 Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan 
or 2023 Form 5500-SF Short Form Annual Return/Report of Small Employee 
Benefit Plan, as applicable, (collectively Form 5500) using the all-
electronic ERISA Filing Acceptance System (EFAST2). The information 
would be filed with the Form 5500 in accordance with instructions in 
EFAST2. Although the information would be submitted through EFAST2 
along with the plan's Form 5500, the attachment itself would not be 
considered part of the Form 5500 annual report filing for purposes of 
Title I of ERISA. As the agency moves forward with the program, it is 
looking into providing other simple and efficient means of furnishing 
the data to the Retirement Savings Lost and Found online searchable 
database.
    Finally, in an effort to establish the most effective Retirement 
Savings Lost and Found online searchable database possible, this 
proposed ICR asks for specific information dating back to the date a 
covered plan became subject to ERISA. The Department recognizes that 
some plans may not have retained such historical data. Nevertheless, to 
the extent that information is available, the Department encourages 
plan administrators to provide historic information from the date the 
plan first became subject to ERISA or as far back as possible, if 
shorter.

III. Plans With Separated Vested Participants

    For any plan with a participant or former participant described in 
26 U.S.C. 6057(a)(2)(C) (``separated vested participant''), provide the 
following information with respect to that plan:
    1. Name and plan number of plan as reflected on the most recent 
Form 5500 Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan or Form 5500-SF 
Short Form Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan (individually 
and collectively ``Form 5500''). If the plan had names other than the 
name on the most recent Form 5500, provide the prior names and plan 
numbers and include the date of change.
    2. Name, employer identification number (EIN), mailing address, and 
telephone number of the plan administrator as reflected on the most 
recent Form 5500. If the plan had plan administrators other than the 
plan administrator on the most recent Form 5500, provide the names and 
EINs of the prior plan administrators and include the date of change.
    3. Name, EIN, mailing address, and telephone number of the plan 
sponsor as reflected on the most recent Form 5500, if different than 
the plan administrator. If the plan had plan sponsors other than the 
plan sponsor on the most recent Form 5500, provide the names and EINs 
of the prior plan sponsors and include the date of change.
    4. Name, date of birth, mailing address, email address, telephone 
number, and social security number (SSN) of each separated vested 
participant.
    5. Nature, form, and amount of benefit of each separated vested 
participant.
    6. If the vested benefit of each such separated vested participant 
was fully paid in a form other than an annuity (i.e., lump sum payout) 
to the separated vested participant, provide the date and the amount of 
the distribution.
    7. If an annuity form of benefit, state whether the separated 
vested participant has begun receiving benefits, the date of the 
annuity commencement, and the monthly benefit.
    8. Name, date of birth, mailing address, email address, telephone 
number, and SSN of any separated vested participant of normal 
retirement age or older that is owed a vested benefit, and who has been 
unresponsive to plan communications about their benefits or whose 
contact information as set forth in paragraph 4 above, the plan has 
reason to believe is no longer accurate.
    9. Name, date of birth, mailing address, email address, telephone 
number, and SSN of any designated beneficiary of the separated vested 
participant.
    10. With respect to any participant whose benefit was transferred 
to the plan in the manner described in Line 9 of the Form 8955-SSA, 
provide the name and plan number of the transferor plan. Include the 
date of transfer to the plan.

IV. Plans That Distributed Benefits Under Section 401(a)(31)(B) of the 
Internal Revenue Code

    For any plan that distributed benefits under section 401(a)(31)(B) 
of the Code, provide the following information with respect to the 
plan:
    1. Name of plan and plan number as reflected on the most recent 
Form 5500. If the plan had names other than the name on the most recent 
Form 5500, provide the prior names and plan numbers to include the date 
of change.

[[Page 26935]]

    2. Name, EIN, mailing address, and telephone number of the plan 
administrator as reflected on the most recent Form 5500. If the plan 
had plan administrators other than the plan administrator on the most 
recent Form 5500, provide the names and EINs of the prior plan 
administrators and include the date of change.
    3. Name, EIN, mailing address, and telephone number of the plan 
sponsor as reflected on the most recent Form 5500, if different than 
the plan administrator. If the plan had plan sponsors other than the 
plan sponsor on the most recent Form 5500, provide the names and EINs 
of the prior plan sponsors and include the date of change.
    4. Name, date of birth, mailing address, email address, telephone 
number and SSN of each participant or former participant with respect 
to whom any amount of the vested benefit was distributed under section 
401(a)(31)(B) of the Code.
    5. With respect to such participant or former participant, the name 
of the designated trustee or issuer described in section 401(a)(31)(B) 
of the Code.
    6. With respect to such participant or former participant, the 
address of the designated trustee or issuer described in section 
401(a)(31)(B) of the Code.
    7. With respect to such participant or former participant, the 
amount of the distribution.
    8. With respect to such participant or former participant, the 
account number of the individual retirement plan to which the amount 
was distributed.
    9. With respect to such participant or former participant, the 
name, date of birth, mailing address, email address, telephone number, 
and SSN of any designated beneficiary.

V. Plans That Distributed Annuities

    For any plan that distributed benefits pursuant to an annuity 
contract described in 29 CFR 2510.3-3(d)(2)(ii), provide the following 
information with respect to the plan:
    1. Name and plan number of plan as reflected on the most recent 
Form 5500. If the plan had names other than the name on the most recent 
Form 5500, provide the prior names and plan numbers to include the date 
of change.
    2. Name, EIN, mailing address, and telephone number of the current 
plan administrator as reflected on the most recent Form 5500. If the 
plan had plan administrators other than the plan administrator on the 
most recent Form 5500, provide the names and EINs of the prior plan 
administrators and include the date of change.
    3. Name, EIN, mailing address, and telephone number of plan sponsor 
as reflected on the most recent Form 5500, if different than the plan 
administrator. If the plan had plan sponsors other than the plan 
sponsor on the most recent Form 5500, provide the names and EINs of the 
prior plan sponsors and include the date of change.
    4. Name, date of birth, SSN, mailing address, email address, and 
telephone number of each participant or former participant with respect 
to whom an annuity contract, described in 29 CFR 2510.3-3(d)(2)(ii), 
was distributed.
    5. With respect to such participant or former participant, the name 
of the issuer of the annuity contract.
    6. With respect to such participant or former participant, the 
address of the issuer of the annuity contract.
    7. With respect to such participant or former participant, the 
contract or certificate number.
    8. With respect to such participant or former participant, the 
name, date of birth, mailing, address, email address, telephone number, 
and SSN of any designated beneficiary.

VI. Method of Transmitting Data

    To minimize public burden, plan administrators (or their authorized 
representatives, such as recordkeepers) will be able to electronically 
submit this data described in this proposed ICR as an attachment to 
this year's EFAST2 filing. The Department also is looking to establish 
a portal for plan administrators to submit the information directly 
into the Lost and Found database as an alternative to submitting the 
information as an attachment to the Form 5500 using EFAST2. The 
Department will provide the spreadsheet file template (CSV format), and 
intends to make available a model format that plan administrators could 
use to submit the information.
    Multiple security measures will be in place to protect plan 
participant and beneficiary data (i.e., Social Security numbers) in the 
Department's Lost and Found online searchable database. A public user 
will have no access to sensitive data. Government access to the data 
will also be strictly controlled, which will be encrypted both at rest 
and in transit. The database will implement extensive logging and 
monitoring mechanisms, and sensitive data masking techniques will be 
implemented to mask personally identifiable information.

VII. Focus of Comments

    The Department is particularly interested in comments that:
     Evaluate whether the collections of information are 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility;
     Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the 
collections of information;
     Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
     Minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate 
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., by 
permitting electronic submissions of responses.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the ICRs for OMB approval of the information 
collection; they will also become a matter of public record.

    Signed in Washington, DC, on April 9, 2024.
Lisa M. Gomez,
Assistant Secretary, Employee Benefits Security Administration, U.S. 
Department of Labor.
[FR Doc. 2024-07968 Filed 4-15-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-29-P