Eligibility(k) — Plan Eligibility Engine

Waiting for Census Data

Eligibility(k) receives validated census data from Census(k) Pro. Open Census(k) Pro, validate your census, then click "Eligibility(k)" to send data here.

Or upload directly

Running Eligibility Engine…

Evaluating age, service, hours & entry dates

📖 Help Center — Eligibility(k)

Welcome to Eligibility(k)

Determine which employees are eligible to participate in a 401(k) plan based on configurable age, service, hours, and entry date rules.

Import

Configure

Process

Results

Intent(k)

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Pipeline Integration

Receives validated data from Census(k) Pro automatically. No re-uploading needed.

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Configurable Rules

Set minimum age, service period, hours threshold, and plan entry dates to match your plan document.

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Instant Analysis

See eligible vs. ineligible breakdown, HCE/NHCE classification, and entry date projections.

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Forward to Intent(k)

Send eligible census data to Intent(k) to configure plan goals, employer match, profit sharing, and budget before Design(k).

Step-by-Step Guide

Import Census Data

Open Census(k) Pro, validate your census, and click the green "Eligibility(k)" button to transfer data. Or upload a CSV directly using the "Upload CSV" button in the top nav.

Review Transfer Summary

Confirm the incoming data — employee count, HCE/NHCE split, compensation averages, and source file details. Click "Continue to Settings" to proceed.

Configure Eligibility Rules

Set plan year, minimum age (up to 21), service requirement (immediate to 2 years), hours threshold (up to 1,000), and plan entry date frequency. These mirror your plan document provisions.

Review Results

The engine evaluates every employee against your rules. See summary stats, a donut chart breakdown, and a detailed table showing each employee's eligibility status, entry date, and reason.

Export or Forward

Export results as CSV, change settings to run a different scenario, or send eligible data to Intent(k) to set plan goals, match formula, profit sharing, and employer budget.

IRS Limits — Eligibility & Compensation

Year	HCE Threshold	401(a)(17) Comp Limit	402(g) Deferral	Catch-Up (50+)	Super Catch-Up (60–63)
2024	$155,000	$345,000	$23,000	$7,500	N/A
2025	$155,000	$350,000	$23,500	$7,500	$11,250
2026	$160,000	$360,000	$24,500	$8,000	$11,250

Eligibility Maximums (ERISA §202)

Provision	Maximum Permitted	Notes
Minimum Age	21 years	Plan may set lower (18, 20) or none
Service Period	1 year (or 2 years with immediate vesting)	Year = 12 months of service with 1,000+ hours
Hours of Service	1,000 per year	Standard computation period
Entry Date Frequency	Semi-annual	More frequent is allowed; less frequent is not

Annual Additions & Key Employee Limits

Year	415(c) Annual Additions	Key Employee (Officer)
2024	$69,000	$220,000
2025	$70,000	$230,000
2026	$72,000	$235,000

Glossary

HCE (Highly Compensated Employee)

Employee who owned >5% of the employer during the current or prior year, or earned ≥ the IRS threshold in the prior year ($155,000 for 2025 plan year testing).

NHCE (Non-Highly Compensated Employee)

Any participant who is not an HCE. Used as the comparison group in nondiscrimination testing (ADP/ACP).

Eligibility Requirements

Conditions an employee must satisfy to participate. ERISA maximum: age 21 and 1 year of service (2 years if immediate full vesting).

Year of Service

A 12-month computation period during which the employee completes at least 1,000 hours of service. The initial computation period begins on the hire date.

Hours of Service

Hours for which an employee is paid or entitled to pay. 1,000 hours in a computation period typically equals one year of service for eligibility.

Plan Entry Date

The date(s) on which eligible employees can begin participating. Common frequencies: immediate, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, or annual.

Plan Year

The 12-month period for plan operations and compliance testing. Usually the calendar year (Jan 1 – Dec 31).

ERISA §202

Federal law governing minimum eligibility standards. Limits how restrictive a plan's age and service requirements can be.

LTPT (Long-Term Part-Time)

SECURE 2.0 provision requiring eligibility for employees working 500+ hours in 2 consecutive 12-month periods (for plan years starting after 2024).

Ownership Percentage

An employee's direct and attributed ownership stake. Greater than 5% ownership automatically classifies the employee as an HCE.

Break in Service

A computation period with fewer than 501 hours. May affect vesting and eligibility for rehired employees under certain plan provisions.

401(a)(17) Compensation Limit

Maximum compensation that can be considered for plan purposes ($350,000 for 2025). Amounts above this are ignored in contribution calculations.

Frequently Asked Questions

When you click the green "Eligibility(k)" button in Census(k) Pro, it opens Eligibility(k) in a new tab and sends your validated census data automatically via a secure browser-to-browser transfer (postMessage). You'll see a Transfer Confirmation modal with your data summary.

Yes! Use the "Upload CSV" button in the top nav to import a census file directly. The app will auto-detect common column names (First Name, DOB, Hire Date, Hours, Compensation, Ownership). For best results, include header names the app can recognize.

Under ERISA §202, the maximum age requirement for a 401(k) plan is 21 years. Plans can set it lower (18, 20) or have no age requirement at all.

"Pending" means the employee meets age, service, and hours requirements but their next plan entry date falls after the current plan year ends. They will become eligible at the entry date shown in the results table.

An employee is classified as HCE if they owned more than 5% of the employer during the current or prior year, OR earned at or above the IRS compensation threshold in the prior year ($155,000 for 2025 testing). All others are NHCE.

When hours of service are not provided, the engine defaults to 2,000 hours (a full-time equivalent). This means the employee will pass the hours check by default. For more accurate results, provide actual hours data.

Absolutely. Click "Change Settings" in the actions bar or the Settings button in the top nav. Adjust any rules and click "Apply & Run Eligibility" to re-process instantly with the same census data.

All processing happens locally in your browser. No census data is sent to any external server. Click the Security button in the top nav to review the full Security & Trust Center for details on encryption, data handling, and AI provider policies.

What's New

v1.1 March 2026

AI Review — Post-engine anomaly detection powered by Claude. Flags data quality issues (bad ages, $0 comp, suspicious distributions) in a non-blocking inline banner. No PII leaves the browser.
Help Center — Full 6-tab help modal with Quick Start, Getting Started guide, IRS limits reference, glossary, FAQ, and changelog.
Eligibility Donut Chart — Visual breakdown of eligible, pending, and ineligible counts in the results view.
NOX Constellation Spinner — Animated processing overlay while the eligibility engine runs.
Stat Card Animations — Staggered fade-in animation on result stat cards.
Row Tinting — Subtle green tint on eligible employee rows in the results table.
Age Parsing Fix — Fixed a bug where date-format DOBs (e.g. 5/7/1971) were parsed as age 5 instead of the actual age. All date-based ages now calculate correctly.

v1.0 February 2026

Core Engine — Eligibility determination with age, service, hours, and entry date rules.
Pipeline Integration — Census(k) Pro → Eligibility(k) via postMessage, forward to Design(k) via localStorage.
Standalone Mode — Direct CSV upload with auto-column detection.
Export — CSV export of full results table.
Security Center — Integrated Security & Trust Center iframe.