Obligations of the plan administrator with respect to untraceable persons
One of the plan administrator's tasks is to pay benefits and refunds to which members and beneficiaries are entitled. The plan administrator must take all the necessary steps to do so, even if it has not been informed of a change of address or does not have the beneficiary's contact information.
Control measures
The plan administrator must adopt measures to ensure the accuracy of members' and beneficiaries' contact information.
If correspondence to a member or beneficiary is returned because he or she has moved, the administrator must be informed, since it is obligated to trace the person.
Similarly, if a cheque made out to a member or beneficiary is returned or remains uncashed, it is important that the plan administrator be notified as soon as possible so that the necessary steps can be taken.
Searching for untraceable members and beneficiaries
When untraceable members or beneficiaries are entitled to a refund, a benefit or other amounts,
the plan administrator must search for them.
The plan administrator must inform Retraite Québec and file a request to locate untraceable persons.
Upon payment of the required fees, Retraite Québec will search the available information it has. When Retraite Québec is able to find a person, it contacts the person directly to inform him or her that he or she may be entitled to benefits under a plan and to ask him or her to contact the plan administrator. This way of operating is intended to preserve the confidential nature of the information Retraite Québec has about its clients. If the person is deceased, Retraite Québec will contact and notify the plan administrator of the person's death, as well as the heirs of the estate, if applicable.
The plan administrator may also seek the assistance of a tracing firm to locate untraceable persons. However, if the firm is unsuccessful, the administrator must request that Retraite Québec do a search.
Request to find untraceable persons with Retraite Québec
The
request to find untraceable members or beneficiaries must contain
as much information as possible, including his or her:
- given and family names;
- sex;
- date of birth (specify the format to avoid confusion, e.g., year/month/day);
- Social Insurance Number (SIN);
- last known address.
The request must also:
- specify the name and number of the concerned plan;
- be filed by the plan administrator;
- be sent to Retraite Québec via the
SPP Portal (if needed, contact us
by telephone or
by email).
Upon receipt of the application, a reference number will be assigned for the
payment of the
required fees.
The following template could help you make your request.
Template for a request to find untraceable persons with Retraite Québec
Information on the plan
Name of the plan: ________
Number assigned by Retraite Québec: _________
Information on each untraceable member or beneficiary
| Family name | Given name | Sex
(M-F) | Date of birth
(year/month/day) | Social Insurance Number (SIN) | Last known address |
|---|
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
Payment: $ ______
Date of the request:
Signature of the person authorized to file the request in the plan administrator's name
Name of the signatory in printed letters
Signatory's telephone number
Signatory's email address
Contact information (telephone, email and postal address) of the plan administrator's office
Remitting unclaimed property to Revenu Québec
The plan administrator must remit to Revenu Québec,
within 3 years following the due date of the amounts in question, the value of the benefits payable to members and beneficiaries who remain untraceable. The due date is either:
- 31 December of the year in which the member turns 71 years of age;
- the date as of which a member can require the refund of the
value of his or her benefits if it is less than 20% of the MPE, following a decision made by the administrator to force the refund;
- the date of the member's death. However, where a plan administrator is notified of a death that occurred more than 3 years prior, the unclaimed property must be remitted in the first quarter following the end of the plan's fiscal year during which the administrator obtained confirmation of the death.
Similarly, upon termination of the pension plan, where the only benefits payable are those of untraceable members and beneficiaries, these amounts must be remitted to Revenu Québec. However, as long as the Supplemental Pension Plans Act does not allow the plan administrator to pay the benefits of other members and beneficiaries, the amounts that are due to untraceable persons cannot be remitted. However, once the Act allows the plan administrator to pay the benefits of other members and beneficiaries, it no longer needs to wait 3 years to pay the benefits.
Nevertheless, in the case of the termination of a simplified pension plan (SIPP), the amounts that are due to members who remain untraceable must be remitted to Revenu Québec.
For more information, consult the
Unclaimed property 
section on Revenu Québec's website.
Interest on late remittances
The plan administrator must remit the value of unclaimed benefits to Revenu Québec once a year, no later than 3 months following the end of the plan's fiscal year during which those benefits became unclaimed for at least 3 years.
If these amounts are not paid to Revenu Québec within the time allotted, interest will apply.
Legal references
Other references