This article is for admins who want to sync their Fidelity Advantage 401(k) plan with Gusto.
Fidelity Advantage 401(k) is a simple, affordable retirement savings plan for businesses that want to offer a 401(k) for the first time. Our integration automatically syncs employee data between Gusto and Fidelity. This improves data accuracy, reduces risk, and removes manual work. There’s no extra cost to integrate your Gusto and Fidelity Advantage 401(k) plan.
Not sure if your plan is a Fidelity Advantage 401(k) plan? Check your executed Adoption Agreement in the Documents and Forms section on Fidelity’s Plan Sponsor Webstation® (PSW). If you have a Fidelity Advantage 401(k) plan, it will read, “Fidelity Advantage 401(k).” If it reads “[Company Name] 401(k) plan” instead, you can connect your plan using these instructions.
You’ll authorize the integration from Fidelity’s employer dashboard, Plan Sponsor Webstation® (PSW).
To access PSW®, you need to be a current Fidelity Advantage 401(k) client. If you’re not yet a Fidelity Advantage 401(k) client, you can learn more about the plan and get started here.
If you’re a Fidelity Advantage 401(k) client waiting for your go-live date:
From the onboarding checklist, click Add your payroll provider and schedule.
Select Gusto as your payroll provider.
Choose Next.
Click Go to Gusto.
Enter your Gusto admin credentials and click Sign In.
Select the company you’re connecting to Fidelity and click Authorize.
PSW® will direct you back once the authorization is complete.
Continue with your plan onboarding and confirm your start date. Fidelity will email you with more steps to take before your start date.
If you’re an active Fidelity Advantage 401(k) client already remitting contributions:
Go to the Contribution center.
Click Start Authorization.
Choose Go to Gusto.
Enter your Gusto admin credentials and click Sign In.
Select the account you’re connecting to Fidelity and click Authorize.
Click Go back to Contribution Center to return to PSW®.
The next time you run payroll, we’ll automatically deduct employee contributions and apply company contributions.
To manage your 401(k), view contributions, make corrections, or review plan settings, always do so in PSW®. After you run payroll, you can find a record of all contributions by pay date and employee on the Contributions tab in your Fidelity dashboard.
When you add a new hire in Gusto, their information syncs automatically to Fidelity. Fidelity will notify you once they get the data. You’ll need to check if the new employee is eligible for the plan in PSW®. Fidelity will email the employee directly with details about the plan and how to enroll.
If contributions have not yet started for a new hire, they may not be eligible under your plan settings. This could also happen because the new hire enrolled after your company ran payroll for the pay period, or because the employee chose not to contribute. You can find more details in the Troubleshooting Fidelity Advantage 401(k) sync issues section of the article.
When you dismiss an employee in Gusto, we automatically send the dismissal date to Fidelity. Fidelity stores this in the “Termination Date” field and updates the employee’s status code to “T – Terminated.” Within ten days, Fidelity will update the dismissed employee’s deferral election to 0%. Fidelity will also contact the employee about their options for keeping the balance in the plan or rolling it over to another provider.
The Fidelity Advantage 401(k) plan requires the same method across the plan to calculate Safe Harbor employer matching contributions. Fidelity calculates the match amount with a standard method. Because of this, employer match amounts will not show on paychecks in Gusto. Employees can view match amounts in Fidelity NetBenefits®.
Employees can change their contribution amount at any time through the Fidelity NetBenefits® website or mobile app. Fidelity will send any election changes to Gusto, and we’ll automatically apply them to payroll.
You cannot change the employer match under the 401(k) plan’s policies. The company match (a standard Safe Harbor match) must apply to all payrolls that include contributions.
If you’re having trouble syncing data between Gusto and Fidelity, check below for common issues and fixes.
There are a few reasons why an employee may not have payroll deductions:
The employee may not yet be eligible to participate in the plan based on the eligibility settings.
You may have run payroll before the enrollment or deduction change took effect.
If you have monthly pay dates on the first of the month, deductions may take up to two months to start.
The employee is no longer eligible to participate in the plan per the eligibility settings (e.g., they recently ended employment or are on a leave of absence).
The employee did not work during the pay period.
We apply taxes before deductions. The employee may have had $0 in net pay after taxes.
Reimbursements are not eligible for 401(k) deductions.
The employee may have reached the IRS annual contribution limit.
The Fidelity Advantage 401(k) plan design requires the same method across the plan to calculate Safe Harbor employer matching contributions. Fidelity calculates the match amount with a standard method. Because of this, employer match amounts will not show on paychecks in Gusto. Employees can view match amounts in Fidelity NetBenefits®.
If you added data in Gusto but it’s not showing up in Fidelity, make sure the employees’ SSNs match in both platforms.
For payroll data to sync, you need to set Gusto as your payroll provider in Fidelity. If you changed your payroll provider since starting your 401(k), contact the support team.
If Gusto is still your payroll provider and your data is not syncing, check if you need to reauthorize the integration.
There are a few reasons why the connection between Gusto and Fidelity may get interrupted.
A company admin manually disconnected the integration.
We detected potentially malicious, unauthorized, or suspicious activity and revoked the integration’s access to your account as a security measure.
Other security measures
Fidelity will notify you in two ways if your connection gets interrupted and you need to reauthorize:
Fidelity will immediately email you with instructions for reauthorizing.
A “Reauthorization required” alert message will appear in the PSW® Contribution Center, letting you know the connection was interrupted. Click Start reauthorization and follow the prompts.
To reauthorize the integration:
Go to the Contribution center.
Click Start reauthorization.
Choose Go to Gusto.
Enter your Gusto admin credentials and click Sign In.
Select the account you’re connecting to Fidelity and click Authorize.
Click Go back to Contribution Center to return to PSW®.
You may get a contribution error in PSW® if you’re on multiple pay frequencies and do not run payroll for all participants each pay period.
For other PSW® contribution error types, consult the Contribution Error Resolution Guide or contact the support team.
Here are some common terms you may come across when managing your Fidelity Advantage 401(k) plan in Gusto.
Plan Sponsor Webstation® (“PSW”): Fidelity’s digital employer portal. This is the main tool employers use to manage the Fidelity Advantage 401(k) plan.
NetBenefits®: The Fidelity platform where eligible employees enroll in the plan, select their deferral election, manage their account, and access free financial wellness resources. Available on desktop and an award-winning mobile app.1
Deferral election: The percentage of pay an employee chooses to withhold from their paycheck. This can be pre-tax, Roth, or a mix of both. Sometimes called a “deferral rate” or “contribution election.”
Participant: An employee who is eligible to participate in the plan. Employees with a balance or a deferral election greater than zero are often called “actively participating” or “actively enrolled.”
Safe Harbor plan: A type of 401(k) plan that requires employer contributions. These contributions are generally tax-deductible and help the employer avoid some annual compliance testing.
Eligible compensation: The compensation employees get which Fidelity uses to calculate employee deferrals, employer match, and more.
Employers and plan admins:
Contact the Fidelity Advantage 401(k) client service team directly at [email protected].
Check out the Need Help section of PSW® for answers to common questions, troubleshooting guides, and more resources.
Participating employees: Sign in to your account at www.401k.com or through the Fidelity NetBenefits® mobile app for support.
If you’re not yet a Fidelity Advantage 401(k) customer, learn more about the plan here.
1. Source: Corporate Insight Participant Website and Mobile Awards Report, December 2023
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