The IRS recently released two pieces of guidance regarding the transfer of small qualified retirement plan account balances to state unclaimed property funds.

Changes over the last 15 years have created new pain points for retirement plans, such as the increase of uncashed checks and low balance accounts left behind.

Missing or non-responsive former employees can drain plan resources, impairing effective plan administration and exposing you to potential fiduciary risks. Automatic rollovers remain the industry-accepted solution for reconnecting participants with their accounts.

The DOL has increased its scrutiny of plan sponsors efforts’ to locate missing participants and prevent participants from going missing in the first place. Read about what plan sponsors can do to battle these rising concerns.  

Keeping participant data up-to-date is one of the key challenges currently facing workplace retirement plans. It’s no coincidence that this issue has also become a focus for Department of Labor (DOL) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) audits during the past year.