QuickBooks Online – Vestwell Help Center

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.

Quickbooks Online Payroll 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. Is My Version of Quickbooks Compatible With the Integration?
2. How Does My Integration Work?
3. Are There Any Reasons Why My Plan Might Not Be Eligible for an Integration?
4. What Are My Responsibilities if My Plan Has an Active Payroll Integration?
5. What Do You Handle For Me if My Plan Has an Active Payroll Integration?
6. How Catch-Up Contributions Are Tracked Through the Integration
7. How Do I Connect My Integration?
8. How Do I Disconnect My Integration?
9. Will You or QuickBooks Online Charge Me Fees to Set Up and/or Maintain This Payroll Integration?

Is My Version of Quickbooks Compatible With the Integration?

Intuit offers several products that have similar names, but not all are covered by this integration.

Below is a list of all common product/version names offered by Intuit and their compatibility with the integration.

Supported

• QuickBooks Online Payroll

Not Supported

• QuickBooks Desktop
• Intuit App Center
• Intuit Online Payroll
• QuickBooks Enterprise
• QuickBooks Payroll
• QuickBooks Paycheck
• QuickBooks Payments
• QuickBooks Time

Please keep in mind that for the integration to function properly, you will need both a Quickbooks Online Subscription and a Payroll Subscription.

According to Intuit’s pricing page, the following subscription tiers are available:

Quickbooks Online Subscription - Simple Start, Essentials, Plus, Advanced

Payroll Subscription - Core, Premium, Elite

Integration works seamlessly with any subscription tier, as long as you have one for both Quickbooks Online and Payroll (2 Subscriptions Total).

Tip: You can check your subscription status by logging into QuickBooks Online, clicking the gear icon, and then selecting Billing and Subscription.

How Does My Integration Work?

Your integration is a 360° automated integration. This is a two-way integration in which we will automatically receive certain information about your plan and participants from your payroll system, process saver and employer contributions to the plan, and automatically send your savers’ selected deferral elections from their saver portal to your payroll provider.

Please note that the Quickbooks Online 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 do not have an established recurring pay schedule setup 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 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?

To connect your integration, please follow the below instructions before you process your next payroll:

1. Log in to your employer portal.
2. Navigate to the "Contributions" page.
3. Click the gear icon.
4. Click the Connect to Quickbooks button.
5. Follow the steps to authorize your connection.

We will deactivate your existing 401(k) deduction codes, please do not run payroll until you see "Vestwell Integration" retirement deduction codes.

Where to Find Retirement Deduction Codes:

Your retirement deduction codes will appear 4 business days before your first payroll with us. You can locate the codes in Quickbooks Online by following the instructions below:

1. Log in to Quickbooks Online.
2. Navigate to "Payroll."
3. Click Employee.
4. Select Deduction & Contribution.

For plans with multiple EINs:

1. Ensure at least one pay group is set up in your retirement plan portal for each company you need to connect.
2. Click Connect to QuickBooks.
3. Log in to your QuickBooks Online account, then select the company you want to connect.
4. You’ll be redirected back to the retirement plan portal to map the selected company to existing pay groups.
   • Note: Only map pay groups associated with this company. You can connect additional companies later.
5. Click Connect.
6. To connect another company, click Connect to QuickBooks again and select a different QuickBooks company.
7. Repeat steps 4–5 for each EIN.
8. A connection is complete when a green checkmark with “Connected” appears next to the pay group.

What Are My Responsibilities?

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

Discretionary and/or Profit-Sharing Contributions

• Submit non-mandatory employer contributions through your employer portal using an off-cycle upload.

Mandatory Employer Contributions

• Maintain & submit 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 with us and vice versa.
• 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 eligibility to integrate.

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 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.
• 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 Do You Handle For Me if My Plan Has an Active Payroll Integration?

Payroll Codes

• Set up and maintain certain deduction/earnings codes within your payroll system.  - Vestwell Integration - Pretax 401k Contributions
  • Vestwell Integration - Pretax 401k Catchup Contributions
  • Vestwell Integration - Roth 401k Contributions
  • Vestwell Integration - Roth 401k Catchup Contributions
  • Vestwell Integration - 401k Loan Repayment

If you have existing Pretax or Roth codes in QuickBooks, they will be deactivated. Any existing IRA codes must be deactivated by you, the employer.

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 communicated to your payroll system. It may take a few pay periods for this to be reflected in saver paychecks.
• 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 employees in your payroll system, the changes will be reflected in the portal.

Processing Contributions

• Process employee deferrals and employer contributions, which are maintained by the integration shortly after you run payroll in your payroll system.
• If you process your payroll early, we will never process the contributions file before the pay date.
• Off-cycle contributions processed in your payroll system will come through the integration & reflect in your employer portal after the pay date.

How Catch-Up Contributions Are Tracked Through the Integration

The IRS limits how much money employees can contribute to their 401(k) plan each year. Typically, contributions made towards the IRS annual limit are referred to as regular contributions. However, individuals who are 50 or older at the end of the calendar year can make additional contributions that are referred to as catch-up contributions.

Quickbooks Online does not have a feature that differentiates contributions as regular or catch-up. Therefore, in order to track the contributions, the integration accounts for employees’ ages with different outcomes based on whether contributions are made on a pre-tax or Roth (after-tax) basis:

Employees under the age of 50 are not eligible for catch-up contributions. Therefore, the catch-up contributions deduction type will be set to inactive. All contributions made, both pre-tax and Roth (after-tax), will be categorized as regular.

Employees age 50 and older are eligible for catch-up contributions. For these employees :

• If they deferred on a Roth basis: The catch-up contributions deduction type is set to active, while their regular Roth contribution deduction type will be set to inactive. All contributions will be categorized as catch-up.
• If they deferred on both a pre-tax and Roth basis: The pretax contributions will be categorized as catch-up, and the Roth contributions will also be categorized as catch-up.

Will You or QuickBooks Online Charge Me Fees to Set Up and/or Maintain This Payroll Integration?

Please note that integration fees may apply. For further information, please reach out to your representative.

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, please inform your retirement plan representative to understand what actions on your part will be required to submit and process your payroll files correctly.

If you have changed the frequency of funding your employer contribution, our team will work with your payroll provider to make any necessary updates.

How Do I Disconnect My Integration?

To deactivate your integration:

• Log in to your sponsor portal.
• Navigate to your "Contributions" page.
• Select the tools icon.
• Click Disconnect under the integration status.
• Follow the steps to authorize your connection.

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