Successful methods for locating lost participants???

[Guest pjg]

Help!

I have a client that wants to send participant checks through the IRS letter forwarding program- Has anyone tried this???

Any other successful methods for locating lost participants?

[Guest Julie]

I have the same question. I'd also like to know if anyone has used the Social Security's service and what was their experience.

[KJohnson]

You don't send them checks, the IRS will forward a letter drafted by the plan informing the individual that they have benefits coming to them and giving them the contact information to receive a distribution package.

I have found the IRS letter forwardng program very effective. For one terminating plan, we sent the IRS seven letters to forward about two weeks ago and there were four calls on my voice mail this morning from these "lost" participants who had received the letter.

[R. Butler]

We always try the IRS Locator program first, but we have not had the same success as KJohnson.

There are several Participant Locator Services. The price varies, but generally cost between $25 to $40 per participant.

[Guest pjg]

Thanks - has anyone tried 100% withholding for those participants who can not be located through IRS program?

[david rigby]

With respect to the 100% withholding, please see this:

http://benefitslink.com/boards/index.php?a...=17&t=15321&hl=

[Guest FREE401k]

I have heard a lot about the IRS letter forwarding service and have seen posts about sending letters to the IRS Disclosure Officer at the Plan's local IRS office. However, I can't find anything on the IRS website about this service, about a Disclosure Officer, etc. I don't want to prepare a bunch of letters and send them to the local IRS office "Attn: Disclosure Officer" without any formal instructions for the process, directions for what the letters should say, verification that the IRS will actually do this, etc. Can someone direct me to something from the IRS, a reg, something on their website, etc. outlining how this works and specifically what we're supposed to do? Thank you!

[R. Butler]

Rev. Proc. 94-22

[chris]

I had a good experience with the IRS letter forwarding program a few years back. We had a plan that had improperly excluded approximately 48 people over the course of a few years. The IRS will not tell you if they were able to deliver the letter/info. so make sure you include every bit of contact information you can so the people will be able to get in touch with you. They basically forward the info to the last known address they have on file. I believe we ended up locating just about everybody. Some participants had to be tracked down via other family members. We may have done the 100% withholding on a few as well.

[Guest jmarini]

Chris: Thanks for the info. Specifically who at the IRS did you send the letters to? Did you send them to your local IRS office, Attn: Disclosure Officer? Did you say any "magic words" in the letter - I'm afraid of sending a letter to an unknown bureaucrat somewhere, and because I didn't use the right name to describe what I wanted, having my stuff tossed in the trash. The IRS is such a huge place I want to be sure I send my requests to the right person and ask for the right thing. Thanks so much!

[chris]

jmarini:

I pulled that file. Granted it was 1998, but the inside address is as follows:

Internal Revenue Service

North Carolina-South Carolina District Office

ATTN: Disclosure Officer

320 Federal Place, Rm. 209

Greensboro, NC 27401

The body of the letter basically began..... " Dear Sir/Madam: This request is made pursuant to Rev. Proc. 94-22. XYZ, Inc. is termnating the XYZ, Inc. ...plan. ................. Please find enclosed a form letter to be forwarded to the persons whose names, SSN's and last known addresses are set forth on the enclosed list...."

Nine days later (one week from the return receipt date) I received a response to my letter indicating that the IRS would forward the requested info....

You should be able to locate the address of the Disclosure Officer of your district. If not, try your local IRS office and see where you end up. I believe I may have started with the phone number in the Rev Proc, but ended up getting bounced around a few times before I got the info.

[rosskeene]

I think the guidance on the IRS letter forwarding program is in Rev. Proc. 94-22.