August 21, 2012 – The IRS announced today, in Revenue Procedure 2012-35, that the letter forwarding program available to plan sponsors, administrators, and qualified termination administrators (QTAs) is ending. This program was used to locate missing retirement plan participants and beneficiaries when plans or their agents lacked current address information and were unable to locate individuals by conventional means. The IRS cites “several alternative missing person locator services, including the Internet” as its rationale for discontinuing the option. The program will only be available for “a humane purpose”, which the IRS has determined will not include the delivery of unclaimed retirement plan benefits. The change is effective for letter forwarding requests that are postmarked on or after August 31, 2012 (i.e., immediately). Rev. Proc. 2012-35 is not yet posted at the IRS website. Watch Ascensus Latest News for more information as it becomes available.