§ 1350. Missing participants
(a)
General rule
(1)
Payment to the corporation
A plan administrator satisfies section
1341
(b)(3)(A) of this title in the case of a missing participant only if the plan administrator—
(2)
Treatment of transferred assets
A transfer to the corporation under this section shall be treated as a transfer of assets from a terminated plan to the corporation as trustee, and shall be held with assets of terminated plans for which the corporation is trustee under section
1342 of this title, subject to the rules set forth in that section.
(3)
Payment by the corporation
After a missing participant whose designated benefit was transferred to the corporation is located—
(A)
in any case in which the plan could have distributed the benefit of the missing participant in a single sum without participant or spousal consent under section
1055
(g) of this title, the corporation shall pay the participant or beneficiary a single sum benefit equal to the designated benefit paid the corporation plus interest as specified by the corporation, and
(B)
in any other case, the corporation shall pay a benefit based on the designated benefit and the assumptions prescribed by the corporation at the time that the corporation received the designated benefit.
The corporation shall make payments under subparagraph (B) available in the same forms and at the same times as a guaranteed benefit under section
1322 of this title would be available to be paid, except that the corporation may make a benefit available in the form of a single sum if the plan provided a single sum benefit (other than a single sum described in subsection (b)(2)(A) of this section).
(b)
Definitions
For purposes of this section—
(1)
Missing participant
The term “missing participant” means a participant or beneficiary under a terminating plan whom the plan administrator cannot locate after a diligent search.
(2)
Designated benefit
The term “designated benefit” means the single sum benefit the participant would receive—
(A)
under the plan’s assumptions, in the case of a distribution that can be made without participant or spousal consent under section
1055
(g) of this title;
(c)
Multiemployer plans
The corporation shall prescribe rules similar to the rules in subsection (a) for multiemployer plans covered by this subchapter that terminate under section
1341a of this title.
(d)
Plans not otherwise subject to subchapter
(1)
Transfer to corporation
The plan administrator of a plan described in paragraph (4) may elect to transfer a missing participant’s benefits to the corporation upon termination of the plan.
(2)
Information to the corporation
To the extent provided in regulations, the plan administrator of a plan described in paragraph (4) shall, upon termination of the plan, provide the corporation information with respect to benefits of a missing participant if the plan transfers such benefits—
(3)
Payment by the corporation
If benefits of a missing participant were transferred to the corporation under paragraph (1), the corporation shall, upon location of the participant or beneficiary, pay to the participant or beneficiary the amount transferred (or the appropriate survivor benefit) either—
(e)
Regulatory authority
The corporation shall prescribe such regulations as are necessary to carry out the purposes of this section, including rules relating to what will be considered a diligent search, the amount payable to the corporation, and the amount to be paid by the corporation.
[1] So in original. The comma probably should not appear.