Once you’ve submitted your contributions by pressing Send & Validate from the contributions grid, each contribution is evaluated against a set of program rules. These rules evaluate if the contribution is formatted correctly and if it is allowed based on the following criteria:
Bad Contribution Format
- Negative contributions are not allowed.
- If the contribution has more than 2 decimal places, it will get rounded to 2 decimals.
- Text is not allowed; contributions must be in numbers. If any value other than numbers is detected, we will read it as a $0.
Unallowed Contributions
- Contributions for Ineligible Employees
- Employees who have not met their 30-day waiting period, are not age 18 or older, have not completed CIP (Customer Identification Program) verification, have a “hold” on their account, or have opted out
- Contributions that are over the annual IRS Limit
- Employees may contribute to their IRA up to the IRS annual maximum IRA limit in any given year. To see current year IRS contribution limits, consult the IRS website.
- Employees are responsible for monitoring their total contributions if they have multiple accounts. Our portal only tracks the total of their contributions to their MERIT account.
Contribution Validation Sequencing
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Group 1: Bad Contribution Format
- Negative Contribution and other formatting issues as described above
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Group 2: Unallowed Contributions
- Contributions for ineligible employees
- Contributions that are over the annual IRS Limit
If any contributions fail this validation step, you will be redirected to the "Unallowed Contributions" page. Here you can see what action has been taken for each error and what your responsibilities are.
When an unallowed contribution is detected, the system automatically reduces your company’s overall contribution by the total amount of any unallowed contributions. On this page, you will see the details of each contribution that triggered a validation, as well as the dollar amount that was reduced for each employee.
If the remittance of contribution funds is pulled via ACH from your bank account, the unallowed amount will not be included in the ACH. If you submit the contribution by pushing an ACH remittance to Bank of New York-Mellon or sending in a check, it is the employer’s responsibility to ensure that you have accounted for the “Unallowed” portion before sending the final dollar amount.
For any unallowed contributions, it is the employer's responsibility to return to the employee any funds that were deducted from an employee's paycheck but were not an allowable contribution to their MERIT.
Once you’ve reviewed the "Unallowed Contributions," press Send & Continue to proceed with completing the submission of the remaining contributions.