Vestwell's modern technology makes the payroll journey a breeze. If data is accurate and formatted correctly, it generally takes 2-3 business days from the time contributions are submitted for account balances to update.
Payroll File Submission Timeline for Manual Contributions
What to Expect Before the Pay Date When Processing Payroll
Within 1 Week Before Pay Date:
- Process payroll in payroll system
Employers must update deferral amounts in their payroll system if employees have made changes since last pay cycle
Up to 1 Business Day Before Pay Date:
- Submit payroll contributions data on Vestwell's portal*
- Contributions data is validated by the employer and processed**
What to Expect After the Pay Date When Processing Payroll
1-2 Business Days After Pay Date:
- ACH payment is requested from the employer's financial institution and processed***
- Funds traded into employees' selected investments
1 Business Day After Pay Date:
- Employees see their contributions reflected in their account balance
*The Department of Labor (DOL) generally requires contributions to be deposited into the plan 7 days after the pay date at the latest. Large plans with more than 100 participants as of the start of the plan year may be subject to different deadlines. If an employer’s payroll file is processed after the DOL deadline, Vestwell will calculate lost earnings in accordance with the DOL’s permissible methods and credit employees’ accounts as consistent with Vestwell’s Corrections Policy.
**As stated in the Vestwell services agreement, Vestwell must receive an employer's payroll contributions file in Good Order in order to process the file without delays to the timeline shown above. The employer is responsible for properly completing and submitting all data validation steps on time during the contributions submission process.
***If an employer's bank reverses the ACH payment request for any reason, then an employer must provide new instructions for the ACH request or the investment trades will be reversed.
Payroll File Submission Timeline for Integrated Contributions
What to Expect Before the Pay Date When Processing Payroll
Within 1 Week Before Pay Date:
- Process payroll in payroll system
Up to 1 Business Day Before Pay Date:
- Contributions data is received from the payroll provider and submitted on Vestwell's portal*
- Contributions data is validated and processed**
What to Expect After the Pay Date When Processing Payroll
1-2 Business Days After Pay Date:
- ACH payment is requested from the employer's financial institution and processed***
- Funds traded into employees' selected investments
1 Business Day After Pay Date:
- Employees see their contributions reflected in their account balance
*The Department of Labor (DOL) generally requires contributions to be deposited into the plan 7 days after the pay date at the latest. Large plans with more than 100 participants as of the start of the plan year may be subject to different deadlines. If an employer’s payroll file is processed after the DOL deadline, Vestwell will calculate lost earnings in accordance with the DOL’s permissible methods
and credit employees’ accounts as consistent with Vestwell’s Corrections Policy.
**As stated in the Vestwell services agreement, Vestwell must receive an employer's payroll contributions file in Good Order in order to process the file without delays to the timeline shown above. The employer will validate data in the payroll system, and the payroll provider will ensure the file is sent in Good Order.
***If an employer's bank reverses the ACH payment request for any reason, then an employer must provide new instructions for the ACH request or the investment trades will be reversed.