When submitting your employee payroll contributions, you have three options for entering that information.
- Manually enter the required data directly into the contribution grid.
- Upload a payroll file.
- Copy from the previously completed payroll contribution submission of the same type, e.g., regular or off-cycle.
In this article we will review manually entering the data directly into the contribution grid.
The contribution grid will be pre-populated with your current active participants, plus any participant who has terminated in the current or previous plan years. Make sure to scroll to the right to see all the pre-populated columns.
Understanding the Grid
The grid is broken down into 2 sections. The Non-Editable columns section of core information gathered from each employee. The Editable Columns Section of information that may or may not need to be updated on a per payroll basis.
Non-Editable Columns
- SSN (Social Security Number): Pre-populated
- First Name: Pre-populated
- Last Name: Pre-populated
- DOB (Date of Birth): Pre-populated
- Pre-Tax Deferral Election Amount: Pre-populated; the amount/percentage elected by an employee to defer in Pre-Tax funds on a per pay period basis.
- Roth Deferral Election Amount: Pre-populated; the amount elected by an employee to defer in Roth funds on a per pay period basis.
Editable Columns
- Pre-Tax Contribution Amount: the amount withheld from the employee’s paycheck for Pre-Tax retirement contributions.
- Roth $ Amount: the amount withheld from the employee’s paycheck for Roth retirement contributions.
- Employer Safe Harbor Contribution: an employer contribution in the form of either a mandatory matching amount or a mandatory non-elective amount based on a predetermined formula within the plan’s rules.
- Employer Discretionary Match: the contribution that an Employer elects to make on behalf of a participant.
- Profit Sharing Contribution: used if your company is contributing profit-sharing funds to your employees’ retirement accounts.
- QNEC: Qualified Non-Elective Contribution
- Loan Payment: Loan amount being repaid for the pay period.
- Period Hours Worked: Employee hours worked for the pay period.
- Period Gross Pay: Employee gross pay for the pay period.
- Date of Hire: Editable
- Date of Termination: Include the termination date to update the record-keeping system.
- Date of Rehire: Include rehires date to update the record-keeping system.
- Address Line 1: Pre-populated
- Address Line 2: Pre-populated
- City: Pre-populated
- State: Pre-populated
- Postal Code: Pre-populated
- Country: Pre-populated
- Work Email: Employee work email. Pre-populated. Editable for updates.
- External Payroll ID (optional) - If your payroll provider uses an identifier than a SSN, you may choose to include that identifier.
Please Note: Column headers will vary by plan depending on plan features. Only the contribution types that are appropriate to your plan will display.
From here, you can add the contribution and loan repayment amounts (if applicable) for plan savers(employees). Please select a box directly in the grid to enter the contribution and loan repayment amount for each employee.
Note: Catch-Up Contributions aren't segregated into a separate column. Please combine catch-up and regular contribution amounts together.
Once complete, review the contribution totals summarized at the bottom of the screen, then click Send & Validate to move on to the next step.
Note: if the Send & Validate button is still grey, then it is inactive. Review the screen for any red fields, indicating an error that needs to be resolved.
On the contribution grid, you can sort any column by clicking on that column header (please see the below image). After you enter the contribution values, click on the column header and you will see an arrow up or down. Click again on the same column header to change the direction of the sorting. This feature is applicable to all column headers.
- The columns will sort by:
- Greatest value to least value
- Least value to greatest value
Review Submission
On the Review Submission page you will have the opportunity to take several actions:
- "Edit Submission" = Go back and make further edits to the submission
- "Cancel" = Delete the submission and start over
- "Complete Submission" = Fully submit the contributions
If you do not need to make any edits to the contributions and are ready to submit, select Complete Submission and the following screen will pop up as a confirmation that you have successfully submitted the contributions for further processing.
Click the "Back to Transaction" button and you will be returned to the Contribution Dashboard.
If you have any questions, please reach out to us at clientsuccess@vestwell.com.