Tally(k)Confirm your plan data
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Your first deliverable

Tally(k) unlocks once your engagement is funded

This is the step we hand you right after you sign and fund. The moment Escrow.com confirms your funds are held, this screen opens and you confirm who counts toward your credit. It takes about 5 to 10 minutes, and nothing you type leaves your browser except the answers.

You

Verify your people

Confirm HCEs, who's over the wage cap, and your employer contributions, right here.

We

Prepare the forms

We turn your answers into a signature-ready Form 8881 and 3800 package.

CPA

File it

Your own CPA files the finished package with your return. Nothing is filed without them.

Funding status: checking…
Step 1 of 4 · Employer contributions

Your biggest credit, made simple

This is where the largest dollars are. We need one quick read per participant, nothing more. There are three credits in all, and we take the biggest first.

Step 2 of 4 · Automatic enrollment

The $500 auto-enrollment credit

Small, but we take it second because it's often automatic. New plans at employers with more than 10 employees are required to auto-enroll, so for most plans this is a simple yes.

Does your plan automatically enroll new employees?

An eligible automatic contribution arrangement: employees are enrolled at a default rate unless they opt out.

⚙The rule

Required for new plans over 10

SECURE 2.0 requires new 401(k) plans to auto-enroll. Exempt: employers with 10 or fewer employees, businesses under 3 years old, churches, and governments.

💲The credit

$500 a year, 3 years

A flat $500 for the first year you include auto-enrollment and each of the next two. No per-employee math.

Step 3 of 4 · Startup costs

Up to $5,000 a year for setup costs

The administrative credit covers what you paid to start and run the plan, for the first three years. You enter the number; we apply the cap and the percentage.

Include your first-year recordkeeper fees and your TPA fees if you use one, plus plan setup and administration. Don't include investments, the employer contributions from step 1, or anything you pay Credit(k); our fee is for credit recovery, not plan administration, and it doesn't belong in this number.
$
Everyone your company paid $5,000 or more in the prior year. This is often lower than your participant count, since Form 5500 participants can include former employees who still hold balances. 50 or fewer earns the 100% rate; 51 to 100 earns 50%.
Usually just owners and a couple of top earners: anyone who owns more than 5% (family ownership counts) or earned over about $150,000 the prior year. Everyone else is non-highly-compensated, and that count sets your cap at $250 each.
How the cap works

For 1 to 50 employees the credit is 100% of your qualified startup costs; for 51 to 100 it's 50%. The count is employees who earned $5,000 or more last year, the question above. Either way it's capped at the greater of $500 or the lesser of $250 times your non-highly-compensated eligible employees or $5,000.

So 20 or more eligible employees reaches the $5,000 ceiling, and a very small plan still gets at least $500. The credit runs for the first plan year and the next two, then ends.

✅Counts

What to include

  • First-year recordkeeper fees
  • TPA and administration fees
  • Plan document and setup costs
🚫Don't include

Leave these out

  • Employer contributions (that's credit #1)
  • Investment management or fund fees
  • Your Credit(k) fee — it's for credit recovery, not plan administration
📝Not sure?

Your TPA can confirm

Your recordkeeper or TPA invoice for the first plan year is the cleanest source for this number.

Step 4 of 4 · Review & attest

Your credits, totaled

Here is everything we'll use to build your signature-ready Form 8881 and 3800. Review it, attest that it's accurate, and submit.

Filing status & disclosures

These answers shape how your package is prepared and what our verification review confirms. A yes below doesn’t stop your submission; it tells us what to look at.
Have you already filed your business return?i
Is your company part of a controlled group or affiliated service group?
In the 3 tax years before this plan started, did the company maintain another qualified retirement plan covering substantially the same employees?
Is this plan a merger of, spin-off from, or successor to another plan?

Your attestation

By checking the box below you certify that the information you've entered, the employer contributions, wage-cap reads, auto-enrollment status, and startup costs, is complete and accurate, and you authorize Credit(k) to prepare your Form 8881 and Form 3800 from it. Employer contribution amounts must exclude employee 401(k) deferrals. Your answers to the filing status and disclosure questions above are part of this certification. Your own return preparer (or you) reviews and files the finished package; Credit(k) never files anything. This certification is a representation under your Tax Credit Recovery Services Agreement.
🔎Before you send

Quick checklist

  • Every amount entered and tied to your Form 5500 in step 1
  • Wage-cap and HCE flags set in step 1
  • Auto-enrollment answered in step 2
  • Plan startup costs entered in step 3
  • Filing status and disclosures answered below
📦What happens next

Verification review, then your certificate

After you submit, your data goes into verification review. Your Certificate of Verified Credit, showing your verified total, is emailed within two business days. Your complete filing package, the signature-ready 8881 and 3800 for your CPA, releases when Step 2 of your escrow is funded.