Since ProgramPay, powered by Vestwell, 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. (yay!) This guide will help you with set up steps as well as help you understand your specific responsibilities for the proper submission of payroll files. Even though we offer integration with your payroll provider, Plan Sponsors have ongoing responsibilities to make sure the content is correct. Please read this whole article to understand the steps to set up integration and to learn about your initial and ongoing responsibilities.
- How Does My Integration Work?
- How Do I Initiate My Integration Set Up?
- Are There Any Reasons Why My Plan Might Not Be Eligible for an Integration?
- What Are My Responsibilities?
- What Does The Integration Handle For Me?
- Will My Payroll Provider Charge Me Fees to Set Up and/or Maintain This Payroll Integration?
- How do I disconnect my integration?
How does my integration work?
Your integration is a 180° Automated Integration. This is a one-way integration in which the ProgramPay team will automatically receive certain information about your plan and participants from your payroll system and process employee and employer contributions to the plan.
What are my responsibilities if my plan has an active payroll integration?
Our ability to successfully process your payroll files and administer your plan depends on you! It is your responsibility to:
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Payroll (Deferral/Contribution) Codes
- Work with your payroll representative to set up and maintain payroll codes within your payroll system.
- 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.
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Commonly required payroll codes include:
- Pre-Tax 401(k) & Roth 401(k) Deferral codes (both $ and %)
- Employer Contribution(s)
- Retirement Loans Repayment codes
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Continue to process payrolls via your payroll provider platform
- Please be sure that the ProgramPay deferral codes and rates are present prior to processing your first integrated payroll.
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Retirement Loans
- If applicable to your plan, set up and maintain employee retirement plan loans within your payroll system
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Discretionary and/or Profit-Sharing Contributions
- Set up and maintain mandatory employer contributions in your payroll system.
- Upload annual &/or quarterly non-mandatory company contributions through your ProgramPay portal.
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Mandatory Employer Contributions
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Set up and maintain mandatory employer contributions that are on a frequency other than on a per pay period basis, and upload these contributions through your ProgramPay portal.
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Per pay period Safe Harbor employer contribution
- Setup and maintain mandatory employer contributions that are on a pay period basis.
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Per pay period Safe Harbor employer contribution
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Set up and maintain mandatory employer contributions that are on a frequency other than on a per pay period basis, and upload these contributions through your ProgramPay portal.
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Pay Groups - Ensure that pay groups have the same name and schedule/frequency in both ProgramPay and your payroll system.
- Note: Once integration is active, you will no longer be able to edit pay groups in the ProgramPay portal as this can disrupt the processing of contributions. For further assistance, please contact voyaaba@vestwell.com.
- The number of pay groups or companies in your payroll system may affect your plan’s eligibility to integrate.
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Employee Deferral Rate Management
- Setup up and maintain employee deferral rates in your payroll system
- For the best experience, on an ongoing basis, be sure your employees are setting and maintaining their deferral rates via Voya’s participant website. Rates sent via online enrollment and the participant website will flow automatically into ProgramPay. You will be alerted about deferral rate changes 4 days before each scheduled pay date. Learn more about managing deferral changes through ProgramPay here.
- Setup up and maintain employee deferral rates in your payroll system
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Employee Status Changes
- Make updates in your payroll system when employees are hired, terminated, or re-hired, etc.
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Employee 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.
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Pay Frequency/Schedule Changes
- Report any pay frequency or pay schedule changes to ProgramPay immediately to avoid delays in payroll processing.
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Review Payroll Data
- We rely on you to provide us with correct, updated, and complete data about your employees 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.
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Validation Errors on Payrolls
- From time to time, we may receive data from your payroll company that triggers a validation error in ProgramPay and we are unable to process one or more contributions or loan payments. When that happens, you will be alerted by email about the issue with instructions on next steps to resolve the issue. These alerts will be sent from "ProgramPay@notices.vestwell.com". Please adjust spam or other filters in your email system to allow you to receive these important communications. You can learn more about the contribution validations and the types of errors that can occur here.
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Miscellaneous Service & Support
- Monitor for emails from the ProgramPay Employer Services team at VoyaABA@vestwell.com and respond to questions and outreach in a timely manner.
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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 our Employer Services team by emailing voyaaba@vestwell.com
What does ProgramPay handle for me if my plan has an active payroll integration?
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Processing Contributions & Loan Payments
- Process supported employee/employer contributions and applicable loan payments into your retirement plan based on what was processed in the payroll system. .
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Off-Cycle Submissions
- Off-cycle payroll run through your payroll system will be uploaded via the integration.
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Employee Status Changes
- When you add, rehire or terminate employees in your payroll system, the changes will be reflected in the ProgramPay portal after the integrated next pay date.
Will my payroll provider charge me any fees to set up and/or maintain my payroll integration?
Your payroll provider may charge fees in conjunction with the integration. Please check with your payroll representative for more specific details.
ProgramPay will not charge you to facilitate this integration.
How do I disconnect my Payroll Integration?
If you change payroll providers, terminate or deconvert your plan, it is your responsibility to inform us so that we can terminate the integration and assess whether integration with a different payroll provider is available. Please see this article and reach out to your Voya Representative for further assistance.