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How to review past payroll contribution collections
How to review past payroll contribution collections
Updated over a week ago

As a 401(k) plan administrator, you may need to review past payroll contributions for reconciliation purposes or to diagnose deduction errors.

If so, there are two ways you can access contribution reporting:

Where to find payroll collection information

Contribution confirmation email notifications

When payroll journals are received and Guideline begins the contribution collection process from your organization’s bank account, certain administrators will receive an email notification of the upcoming ACH withdrawal, detailing the breakdown of contributions for the specified pay date.

These confirmation emails will be sent to the Trustee, Primary Benefit Administrator, and all finance admins on the plan. You can find more information on administrative permission levels or adding and removing collaborators.

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Two dates will be listed in the upper left corner of the email: Pay Date(s) and Transaction Date. The Pay Date is the date employees received wages from the company. The Transaction Date is the date Guideline begins the ACH collection process from the bank account on file. Note that some contribution confirmation emails may contain more than one Pay Date if multiple contributions from past pay dates are collected at once.

The email will also show the contribution totals to be collected from your organization’s bank account that’s listed within your Guideline administrator dashboard, along with a breakdown of employee pre-tax, employee Roth, and employer pre-tax contributions. Additionally, if any employees have outstanding loan repayments, this will also be displayed.

You can see the total amount that will be collected from your organization’s bank account next to “Withdrawn from Bank.” The total debited from “plan cash” represents amounts that had previously been collected from the company’s bank account and were subsequently moved to an unallocated account (not tied to a specific participant) as a result of a correction or forfeiture. Amounts in plan cash will be used to offset future contributions until depleted.

Contribution reports

As an administrator, you also have access to contribution reports in the Reports tab of your Guideline administrator dashboard.

Contribution reports provide information on fulfilled contribution collections and are listed by the transaction date (or the date the ACH withdrawal was initiated). Clicking on a date will reveal the transaction date, the date that funds were withdrawn from the bank account, the total pulled from the bank account, amount of plan cash applied, and the total contributions. Each report will also provide a breakdown of contributions per employee.

How to correct errors

If after reviewing payroll contributions, you determine that corrections are necessary, you must contact Guideline support before taking corrective action. Improper corrective action may lead to further operational failures and expenses.

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