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Paychex Flex

  • Updated

Since our platform has an integration with your payroll provider, we can take a lot of work off your plate regarding the processing of your payroll files through automation.

Paychex Flex offers a 360° level of integration.

This guide will help you set up your integration, as well as help you understand your specific responsibilities for the proper administration and submission of payroll files. 

  1. How Does My Integration Work?
  2. Are There Any Reasons Why My Plan Might Not Be Eligible for an Integration? 
  3. How Do I Initiate My Integration Setup? 
  4. What Are My Responsibilities? 
  5. What Payroll Activities Do You Handle for Me?
  6. Will Paychex Flex Charge Me Any Fees to Set Up and/or Maintain Payroll Concierge?
  7. What if I Amend My Plan or Change the Frequency of My Employer Contributions?
  8. How Do I Disconnect My Integration?

How Does My Integration Work?

We have partnered Payroll Integrations to retrieve contribution data from your payroll system and communicate employee savings rate changes made by your employees in their saver portal, back to your payroll system.

Please note that the Paychex Flex integration will only allow employees to elect deferrals in percentages; dollar-amount deferrals will not be an option.

Are There Any Reasons Why My Plan Might Not Be Eligible for an Integration? 

There are some plan design features that currently prohibit the use of payroll integration, including:

  • Plans that have multiple pay groups within the payroll platform
  • Plans that do not have an established recurring pay schedule set up in both the portal and the payroll system
  • Plans that do not use the same payroll provider for all pay group(s)
  • Plans that have limitations preventing each pay group from being integrated
  • Eligibility rules that exclude certain classes of employees, types of compensation, or certain types of hours worked
  • Plans with per pay period non-mandatory employer contributions
  • Plans that allow after-tax contributions (only be available if your plan uses a third party administrator)
    • Note: After-tax and Roth contributions are not the same.

How Do I Initiate My Integration Setup? 

Let your retirement plan representative know that you'd like to integrate. There are a few action items for you to complete along the way – prompt completion of these action items is crucial to ensure a timely setup.

Please note that contribution uploads into the portal will be required until our team has notified you that the integration can begin.

  1. To begin the process, reach out to your retirement plan representative with your Paychex Flex Company ID.
    1. Your ID can be found below your company name within your Paychex portal or by contacting your Paychex representative.
  2. Please be aware that "Super Admin" permissions are required in Paychex for the next steps.
  3. Your retirement plan representative will provide a link directly to the PAYROLL INTEGRATIONS approval section within Paychex.
    1. Activate the integration by clicking Approve
  4. Copy and paste the text below into an email and send it to your Paychex Flex representative to set up the appropriate payroll codes:

Please set up the following deduction and earning codes for my new 401(k) plan:

  • 401(k) EE PreTax
    • Component Type: 401(k) EE PreTax
  • 401(k) EE Catch Up
    • Component Type: 401(k) EE Catch Up
  • Roth 401(k) EE
    • Component Type: Roth 401(k) EE
  • Roth 401(k) EE Catch Up
    • Component Type: Roth 401(k) EE Catch Up
  • 401(k) ER (if applicable)
  • 401(k) Loan Payment (if applicable)
    • Component Type: 401(k) Loan Payment

If your plan is a conversion after your last payroll before us, ensure saver deferrals and employer contributions are cleared from your payroll system.

If your plan is converting from Paychex Flex, after your last payroll before us, Paychex Flex will remove the existing retirement deduction codes from your Paychex Flex account, and your savers’ current deferral rates will be cleared from Paychex Flex.

What Are My Responsibilities? 

Our ability to successfully process your payroll files and administer your plan depends on you. It is your responsibility to:

Payroll Codes

  • Work with your payroll representative to set & maintain payroll codes within your payroll system.
    • 401(k) EE PreTax (allow catch-up contributions)
    • Roth 401(k) EE (allow catch-up contributions)
    • 401(k) ER (if applicable)
    • 401(k) Loan Payment (if applicable)
  • This includes the initial set up of any employer contribution codes which will be funded on a per-pay period basis.
  • It is important that these payroll codes do not change once the integration setup is completed.

Loans

  • Set up and maintain retirement loans within your payroll system. 

Discretionary and/or Profit-Sharing Contributions 

  • Set up and maintain non-mandatory company contributions within your payroll system.
  • Submit non-mandatory employer contributions through your portal using an off-cycle upload.

Mandatory Employer Contributions

  • Set up and maintain mandatory employer contributions that are on a frequency other than on a per-pay period basis using an off-cycle upload.

Pay Groups 

  • Make sure any pay groups in your payroll system are also set up at with us and vice versa.
  • To edit a pay group or set up new pay groups, please see our article, "How Do I Change My Pay Group With An Enabled Integration?" before your first pay date.
  • If you are removing a pay group from your payroll system, please contact us directly.
  • The number of pay groups or companies in your payroll system may affect your plan’s integration eligibility.

Saver Status Changes - Payroll System

  • Make updates in your payroll system when savers are hired, terminated, or re-hired. Include a specific date when making these status changes in your payroll system.

Saver Personal Information

  • Maintain complete, accurate, and up-to-date personal information within your payroll system - including date of birth, social security number, and email address.

Pay Frequency/Schedule Changes

  • Report any pay frequency or pay schedule changes to your retirement plan representative to ensure there is no delay in processing your payroll files upon making this change in your payroll system.

Negative Contributions/Corrections

  • Negative contributions or corrections are not able to be processed through the integration. For assistance with negative contributions or corrections, please contact us directly.

Review Payroll Data

  • We rely on you to provide us with correct, updated, and complete data about your savers, regardless of whether we receive that data directly from you or from your payroll provider. Regular audits and spot checks of the data provided to us will help you quickly identify and rectify any discrepancies.
  • We recommend ensuring accuracy of the Plan Contact Info on your employer portal as an email will be sent to notify you of any discrepancies.

What Payroll Activities Do You Handle for Me?

Saver Deferrals - First Payroll

  • Four business days prior to your first pay date with us, we will use the saver deferral rates in the portal to set saver elections in your payroll system. To guarantee saver deferral rates have been updated in your payroll system, do not run payroll prior to 4 business days before your scheduled pay date.

Saver Deferral Updates

  • Ongoing deferral changes made in the portal by eligible savers will be set in your payroll system within two business days.
  • We will communicate any deferral update requests to your payroll system. Savers may not see this reflected in their next few paychecks, as it could take time for this update to be reflected.
  • If your plan has an auto-enrollment feature, the same guidelines above apply.

Saver Status Changes in the Portal

  • When you add, rehire, or terminate savers in your payroll system, the changes will be reflected in the portal one business day after the next pay date.

Processing Contributions

  • Process saver deferrals and employer contributions which are maintained by the integration shortly after you run payroll in your payroll system.

Will Paychex Flex Charge Me Any Fees to Set Up and/or Maintain Payroll Concierge?

Please note that additional fees may apply. For more information, please contact us directly.

What if I Amend My Plan or Change the Frequency of My Employer Contributions?

If your plan has been amended or if you are considering an amendment to your original plan documents, you are responsible for informing your payroll provider of the updates.If you have changed the frequency of funding your employer contribution, you are responsible for informing your payroll provider and working with them to make this update.

How Do I Disconnect My Integration?

If you change payroll providers, it is your responsibility to inform us so that we can disconnect your integration and assess whether integration with a different payroll provider is available. Please reach out to your retirement plan representative, and we will assist you.

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