Retirement Savings Lost and Found

Section 523(a) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) requires the Department of Labor (Department), in consultation with the U.S. Treasury Department, to establish an online searchable database called the Retirement Savings Lost and Found (Lost and Found) no later than December 29, 2024. The Department has the sole responsibility for establishing and maintaining the Lost and Found. The 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 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (Code), or the issuer of an annuity described in section 523(e)(3)(C) of ERISA. Plan administrators have reported much of the information needed for the establishment of the Lost and Found to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Form 8955-SSA (Annual Registration Statement Identifying Separated Participants With Deferred Vested Benefits) and its predecessor Schedule SSA to the Form 5500. However, citing concerns under section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code (Code), IRS has determined 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 Lost & Found online searchable database. Accordingly, the Department is proposing to request plan administrators to voluntarily furnish the information specified below directly to the Department.

The latest form for Retirement Savings Lost and Found expires 2027-11-30 and can be found here.