Set up 401(k) benefits with Guideline
About 401(k) benefits with Guideline
Square Payroll partners with Guideline to help you offer 401(k) retirement benefits to your employees. Guideline handles the onboarding of your employees, administration, compliance testing, and investment management. All plans of related entities must be administered by Guideline in order to provide compliance testing.
Guideline allows employees to make both traditional pre-tax 401(k) contributions as well as post-tax Roth 401(k) contributions. When you process payroll through Square, contributions and deductions sync automatically each pay run.
Employers can make contributions through Guideline’s employer dashboard. Contributions are calculated pre-tax. You can contribute a percentage of an employee’s gross pay or match an employee’s contribution. Guideline also supports profit sharing contributions.
Before you begin
You can enroll in Guideline directly from your Square Dashboard.
Guideline is a separate partnership from the direct-to-employee benefits accessible to Square Payroll team members. Learn more about how to add employee benefits with Square Payroll.
Any contribution changes should be made directly through Guidelines. Any updates are processed on the next pay run. For support with your Guideline plan, visit the Guideline Support Center or reach out to the Guideline Sales team at square@guideline.com.
When you run payroll, Guideline debits for the full 401(k) amount (company contribution and employee deferral) the business day after payroll is processed. Learn more about how to Run payroll for W-2 employees.
Set up 401(k) benefits with Guideline
Sign in to your Square Dashboard and select Staff & payroll > Payroll > Benefits.
Fine the Retirement tile and click Get Started.
Click Start Setup. Square Payroll syncs your business information with Guideline.
Enroll in the plan and decide how much (if at all) to contribute.
Once you set up a retirement plan, you can set eligibility criteria in Guideline based on minimum age and length of tenure. Once those criteria are met, employees become eligible and Guideline will invite them to enroll via email.