§1350 Missing Participants

Summary

When a retirement plan cannot find a person who should get a payment, the plan administrator must either move that person's single-sum benefit to a government corporation that holds ended-plan assets or buy a permanent, no-return promise from an insurance company. The administrator must also give the corporation whatever information and certifications it asks for. Money moved to the corporation is treated as assets from a terminated plan and kept with other terminated-plan assets the corporation manages. When the missing person is found, the corporation must pay them. If the plan could have paid a lump sum without getting consent, the corporation pays that lump sum plus interest. If not, the corporation pays an amount based on the corporation’s rules in effect when it got the money. The law lets the corporation make similar rules for multiemployer plans and lets certain other plans choose to transfer missing-person benefits. A "missing participant" is someone the plan cannot find after a careful search. A "designated benefit" is the single-sum amount the person would get under the plan or the corporation’s rules. The corporation must write rules about what counts as a careful search and about how much is paid or collected.