As we continue to prepare for Secure 2.0 and other IRS regulation changes, we find ourselves having to modify our census request for a second year in a row. We do apologize for this inconvenience, but as regulatory requirements change, we must adapt.
If you find yourself spending a lot of time compiling your annual census, there is help!!
AFS
Nova’s sister company, Administrative Fiduciary Services (AFS), is a fiduciary service firm that can do many plan-related duties – including pulling your annual census data! If you would like to discuss AFS and/or census submission services, please contact your Nova Account Manager.
More information on AFS can be found HERE.
NovaLink
NovaLink is a new service we have launched to extract your annual census data directly from your payroll provider. NovaLink can currently work with a number of payroll providers, and new payroll providers are continually being added. If you are interested in signing up for this service, please reach out to your Nova Account Manager.
More information on Novalink can be found HERE.
Other Census Help
For other assistance with completing your census file, please contact one of the following:
- Nova’s Client Relations team is available at no additional cost to answer questions about census submission. This team can be reached at clientrelations@nova401k.com or at (713) 881-9361
If you have any other questions, or need additional assistance, please reach out to your Nova Account Manager.
- First Name*
- Last Name*
- SSN*
- Gender
- Date of Birth*
- Original Date of Hire*
- Date of Separation
- Separation Due to Death, Disability, or Retirement
- Date of Rehire
- Employee Involuntarily Separated?
- Hours
- Gross Compensation*
- W-2 Box 1 Compensation*
- Pre-Entry Compensation
- Pre-Tax Health/125 & Qualified Transportation/132f4
- Reimbursements, Allowances and Fringe Benefits
- Bonus
- Commissions
- Overtime Compensation
- Custom Excluded Compensation
- Severance Compensation
- Employee Pre-Tax Salary Deferral
- Employee Roth Salary Deferral
- Employer Match
- Safe Harbor Contribution
- Employer Contribution
- After-Tax Contribution
- Owner Percent
- Officer
- Excluded Employee
- Job Classification
- Company Division
- Union Employee
- Address 1
- Address 2
- City
- State
- Zip Code
- Personal Email
- Work Email
- Phone Number
*denotes a required field
First Name*
Enter the employee’s first name and a middle initial, if appropriate. Please include on the census file ALL EMPLOYEES and OWNERS who worked during the plan year – including employees of other companies that have adopted this plan.
Last Name*
Enter the employee’s last name and any suffix (Jr., Sr., etc.)
SSN*
Enter the employee’s Social Security number. Must be in ###-##-#### or ######### format.
Why is this important? Our system runs on full social security – anything less will stop your plan’s testing from being completed.
Gender
Choose Male (M) or Female (F) from the dropdown list or if you are using the Excel exported file, input M or F in this column as applicable.
Date of Birth*
Enter the employee’s date of birth.
Why is this Important? For plan purposes, dates of birth can affect plan eligibility, vesting, and distributions. Dates of birth are also used to determine eligibility for retirement under the Plan and required minimum distributions (RMDs).
Original Date of Hire*
Enter the employee’s original date of hire. If an employee has been rehired, enter their original date here and a rehire date in the Date of Rehire column.
Why is this Important? For plan purposes, dates of original hire and rehire can affect plan eligibility, vesting, and distributions.
Date of Separation
Enter the employee’s date of separation. (which could also be known as the termination date). The date should be either the most recent date of termination or the date prior to rehire for any rehired employees.
Why is this Important? For plan purposes, date of separation can affect plan eligibility, vesting, employer contributions, and distributions
Separation Due to Death, Disability, or Retirement
Enter Yes if separation of service was due to death, disability, or retirement
Why is this important? This is helpful for allocation requirements of employer contributions.
Date of Rehire
Enter the employee’s date of rehire. Ensure the employee also has a date entered for Original Date of Hire and Date of Separation.
Why is this important? This is helpful for allocation requirements of employer contributions.
Employee Involuntarily Separated?
Check this box for a terminated employee that was separated involuntarily (fired, laid off, division sold or transferred out …).
Why is this Important? If a certain percentage of employees are involuntarily separated during a plan year, IRS requires those employees be 100% vested for the plan to remain in compliance. We added this question to help us determine if your plan may have exceeded this percentage so we can help you update it, if necessary.
Hours
For employees working 1,000 hours or more in the plan year, enter 1,000. Otherwise enter the actual hours credited for the year (this would include paid time off and paid holidays).
NOTE: Unless your plan uses Elapsed Time or another alternate definition of hours as a service crediting method, you MUST provide hours on the annual census for all employees whose hours are tracked and maintained. You can find your plan’s definition of Service Crediting Method and Definitions of Hours of Service under Section 17 of your plan’s Adoption Agreement. If you are usure, please contact your Nova Account Manager before completing this column.
Why is this Important? Hours are used for plan eligibility, vesting, certain discrimination testing, and certain required employer contributions, if applicable. Please ensure proper hours are reported for each employee.
Gross Compensation*
As a reminder, you will need to include on the census file ALL EMPLOYEES and OWNERS who worked during the plan year – including employees of other companies that have adopted this plan.
Gross compensation includes almost all types of pay. When completing this item, provide gross compensation for the entire year. Refer to the Plan’s Adoption Agreement for your plan’s definition of compensation. Please provide gross compensation to the penny without rounding.
For S-Corporation owners, if the document does not exclude fringe benefits from compensation, the owner’s S-Corp. 125 premiums should also be included in gross compensation.
For Partnerships or Sole Props that are NOT taxed as an S-Corp, if any individual has a Schedule K-1 (Form 1065) or Schedule C, and earned no W-2 compensation for the year, enter either the amount contributed into the plan as employee pre-tax/Roth salary deferrals for this person or “1” if no contributions have been funded. Also, be sure to provide a copy of his or her Schedule K-1 or Schedule C as soon as they are prepared, so Nova can calculate the plan compensation based on that Schedule.
If the individual earned pay that is reported on a W-2 for the year, in addition to their Schedule K-1 or Schedule C, enter only their W-2 Box 1 amount in this field.
If you have a fiscal year-end plan (i.e., plan year end that is not 12/31), enter gross compensation paid during the plan year.
Why is this Important? For plan purposes, Gross Compensation must be reported in total for the plan year. We cannot use estimated amounts rounded to the nearest dollar as it will affect the results of your plan’s testing as well as any employer contribution allocations and refunds that may be necessary.
W-2 Box 1 Compensation*
Enter compensation from Box 1 of the W-2. DO NOT ROUND compensation. Leave column blank if your plan is not a calendar year plan (12/31 plan year-end).
For Partnerships or Sole Props that are NOT taxed as an S-Corp, if any individual has a Schedule K-1 (Form 1065) or Schedule C, and earned no W-2 compensation for the year, enter either the amount contributed into the plan as employee pre-tax/Roth salary deferrals for this person or “1” if no contributions have been funded. Also, be sure to provide a copy of his or her Schedule K-1 or Schedule C as soon as they are prepared, so Nova can calculate the plan compensation based on that Schedule.
If the individual earned pay that is reported on a W-2 for the year, in addition to their Schedule K-1 or Schedule C, enter only their W-2 Box 1 amount in this field.
Pre-Entry Compensation
If your plan excludes compensation prior to the date a participant initially became eligible, enter the participant’s compensation prior to their entry date. DO NOT ROUND compensation.
Why is this Important? Compensation is excluded for certain plan purposes prior to an employee’s initial plan entry date. Because of this, we need to account for this “pre-entry” plan compensation. Please do not change the Gross or Plan Compensation columns as these columns should contain full-year data. Please also DO NOT ROUND compensation. If you are unsure of the employees’ plan entry dates, please reach out to your Nova account manager.
Quick FAQ: My plan excludes pre-entry compensation. For new entrants, do I report the entire year’s pay or the pay for just the portion of the year that the individuals were participants?
This can be tricky as some tests require that we include pre-entry compensation; while it is excluded for other tests. For employees with pre-entry compensation, you will want to report the plan definition of compensation for the entire year inclusive of pre-entry compensation. But then also report just the pre-entry compensation in the “Pre-Entry Compensation” column provided on the census template. If you are unsure how to calculate an employee’s pre-entry compensation, please reach out to your Nova account manager.
Pre-Tax Health/125 & Qualified Transportation/132f4
Enter the total of all employee-paid pre-tax deductions under Section 125. This includes qualified transportation contributions from dependent care, insurance premiums, medical reimbursement accounts or HSAs (Health Savings Account). DO NOT ROUND compensation.
Reimbursements, Allowances and Fringe Benefits
Not required for plans who do not exclude auto allowances, reimbursements or fringe benefits when applying employee salary reduction elections. Otherwise, total these amounts and enter the total into this column. DO NOT ROUND compensation.
Bonus
For plans that do not exclude bonuses when applying employee salary reduction elections, this is not required. Otherwise, list bonus amount into column. DO NOT ROUND compensation.
Commissions
For plans that do not exclude commissions when applying employee salary reduction elections, this is not required. Otherwise, list commission amount into column. DO NOT ROUND compensation.
Overtime Compensation
For plans that do not exclude overtime compensation when applying employee salary reduction elections, this is not required. Otherwise, list overtime amount into column. DO NOT ROUND compensation.
Custom Excluded Compensation
If your plan excludes certain types of compensation that are not categorized as one of the prior compensation types, please enter the total of all other compensation for the plan year. DO NOT ROUND compensation.
Severance Compensation
List any true severance compensation paid to terminated employees (https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/wages/severancepay). This should not include the final paycheck compensation after the termination date or vacation payouts as those are not considered “Severance Compensation.” DO NOT ROUND compensation.
Quick FAQ: I have employees who were paid severance pay. Is this included in gross compensation? Should I show this anywhere else on the census?
Severance pay should be included in the “Gross Compensation” column AND should also be reported in the “Severance Compensation” column of the census.
Employee Pre-Tax Salary Deferral
Enter the employee’s salary deferral amount shown in Box 12 of Form W-2 for codes D, E or G. INCLUDE CATCH-UP CONTRIBUTIONS. Do not round salary deferral amount.
Why is this Important? Total pre-tax salary deferrals are needed for compliance testing and to properly calculate employer contributions, as applicable
Employee Roth Salary Deferral
Enter the employee’s Roth salary deferral amount shown in Box 12 of Form W-2 for codes AA, BB or EE. Include catch-up contributions. DO NOT round Roth salary deferral amount.
Why is this Important? Total Roth salary deferrals are needed for compliance testing and to properly calculate employer contributions, as applicable.
Employer Match
For 401(k), 403(b) and 457 Plans enter the total matching contributions made for the plan year. DO NOT round. NOTE: If the plan utilizes the match as Safe Harbor, enter the amounts into the Safe Harbor Contribution column instead of this column
Why is this Important? Total employer match submitted during the year is needed for compliance testing and to properly calculate and true-up employer match that might be necessary, as applicable.
Safe Harbor Contribution
For Safe Harbor Plans only. Enter the dollar amount of any employer safe harbor contributions made during the year. DO NOT round.
Why is this Important? Safe Harbor Contributions are required to retain your plan’s safe harbor status, and these contributions are used in plan testing. Improper reporting of safe harbor contributions can result in true-ups or corrections needing to be made to the plan.
Employer Contribution
For plans that contribute employer contributions other than an employer match or employer safe harbor contribution during the plan year. Enter the amount contributed that is applicable to the current plan year. DO NOT round.
After-Tax Contribution
Enter after-tax employee contributions. DO NOT round. Do not include Roth deferral amounts.
Owner Percent
Enter the ownership percentage for everyone who had ownership at any time during the plan year.
Why is this Important? Ownership – including the family of owners who work for the company – plays a large part in annual non-discrimination under the plan. If ownership is incorrect, the plan’s testing and the plan’s employer allocations (if any) may also be incorrect.
Officer
Check the box to mark the employee as an officer of the company. If you are using the Excel exported file, input a ‘Y’ for those individuals who were officers during the plan year.
Excluded Employee
Check box if employee is excluded from participating in the plan based off plan provisions. If you are using the Excel exported file, input a ‘Y’ for those individuals who were excluded employees during the plan year.
Refer to your plan’s adoption agreement or reach out to your Nova Account manager if you are not sure who, if anyone, is excluded from the plan
Job Classification
If your plan excludes any classes of employees, this field is required and must be completed. Refer to your plan’s adoption agreement or reach out to your Nova Account manager if you are not sure which Job Classification(s), if any, is excluded from the plan.
Why is this Important? If your plan excludes certain classes of employees or allocates contributions to different classes of employees, this column tells us who they are. Without proper identification, the testing and/or employer contribution allocations for the year will be incorrect.
Company Division
If you track a location for employees, please add it here. Divisions can be any combination of letters and/or numbers
Union Employee
Check the box to mark the employee as a union member. If you are using the Excel exported file, input a ‘Y’ for those individuals who were excluded union employees during the plan year.
Address 1
Enter the first line of the employee’s current address.
Address 2
Enter the second line of the employee’s current address, if applicable.
City
Enter the city of the employee’s current address.
State
Enter the state initials of the employee’s current address.
Zip Code
Enter the 5 digit Zip Code of the employee’s current address.
Personal Email
Personal email address of employee
Work Email
Work email address of employee
Phone Number
Enter the personal phone number for the employee. Do not include dashes or parenthesis.