Missing Your 401(k) Check? The Government Wants to Help

Uncle Sam wants to reunite workers with money they may have left behind in retirement plans over the years.

When workers change jobs, they leave behind more than colleagues and empty desks. They can also leave behind money in their pension or 401(k). Thirty percent of workers left behind money in a 401(k) when they left their jobs, TIAA reported in 2015.

This money can sit for years, until workers hit the age they must start taking distributions from retirement plans. In general, the tax code requires retirement plans make distributions to participants by the later of April 1 following ...