The Department of Labor’s calculator handles one pay period at a time. Late deposits almost never happen once. Paste the whole schedule.
Interest at the IRC section 6621 underpayment rate in force each quarter, compounded daily, which is the method the Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program specifies. The figures you type never leave your browser; we see only broad ranges. Privacy.
One row per pay period: the date the money should have reached the plan, the amount withheld, and the date it actually arrived. Type into the cells, paste rows from a spreadsheet, or upload an .xlsx, .csv or .txt file. The example below is two pay periods; clear it to start your own.
This correction does not clear the self correction route, because lost earnings of $1,121.14 exceed the $1,000 ceiling. It runs through the full Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program instead, with an application and the retention packet that goes with it.
The correction is not finished when the principal lands. Until both the principal and the lost earnings are paid, each open year is a separate prohibited transaction carrying a 15% excise tax and its own Form 5330, and the amount keeps appearing on the Schedule H supplemental schedule.
One limit on this figure: it covers only the rows above. The $100,000 test that lifts the rate is applied across your whole correction, and crossing it raises the rate on every pay period in the filing, so if this schedule is only part of what you are correcting the figure here can be understated.
Lost earnings approximate what the late money would have earned in the plan. The program fixes the method so every correction is priced the same way:[1]
A company switches payroll providers in March 2026, and three Friday payrolls of employee deferrals sit in the company account until May 15. It could have separated each one two business days after payday, the same allowance the Department of Labor uses in its own example.[1] The late period crosses the April 1 rate change, from 7% to 6%.
Computed by the calculator above. Rates: 7% for the first quarter of 2026, 6% for the second, the IRS underpayment rates for those quarters.
Every deposit reached the plan within 180 days and the lost earnings are under $1,000, so this correction may qualify for self correction. Self correction measures from payday instead, which makes the same schedule come to $154.44 rather than $140.71. The difference is small here, but on a correction near the $1,000 limit it can decide which route you are on. The company pays the lost earnings from its own money, not from the plan.
Interest runs from the day the contribution should have reached the plan to the day it did, at the IRC section 6621 underpayment rate in force in each calendar quarter, compounded daily. Because the rate changes quarterly, a deposit that was late across a rate change accrues at more than one rate. This is the method the Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program specifies, and the same one behind the Department of Labor's own calculator.
Since March 17, 2025 there is a self correction route for deposits made within 180 days of withholding where lost earnings come to $1,000 or less. You file an electronic notice instead of a full application. The $1,000 test applies per transaction, normally each pay period, although the Department of Labor permits grouping pay periods that are close together and share one cause.
No. Section 5(c) of the program requires correction costs, lost earnings and excise taxes included, to be paid with employer money rather than from plan assets, participant accounts or forfeitures. The annual plan audit fee is a different category and can generally be paid from plan assets.
An uncorrected late deposit does not age out. It is reported on the Schedule H supplemental schedule for delinquent contributions every year until it is fully corrected, so a 2025 failure appears in the audited 2026 filing. Each open year is also its own prohibited transaction with a 15% excise tax and a Form 5330.
It depends on how you are correcting. In a full Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program application, the loss date is the date the plan lost the use of the money: the day the withholding could reasonably have been separated from company funds, which the Department of Labor's own example puts two business days after payday. Under the self correction component, the loss date is the date of withholding itself, normally payday, so the lost earnings come out slightly higher.
For self correction, yes: the 2025 program rule requires self correctors to use the Department of Labor's Online Calculator. For a full program application you may use that calculator or calculate by hand, as long as the application includes enough detail to verify the figures. A batch calculator is useful for seeing a whole schedule at once and sizing the correction, but check the final figures against the Department of Labor's tool before you file.