Stop Manual File Exports. Automate Every Pay Cycle.
PayKonnect's 180° integration delivers census and contribution data from your payroll system to retirement recordkeepers automatically — in whatever format they require, updated when specs change, SECURE 2.0-compliant from day one.
Technical Overview
One-way automated data flow from payroll system to retirement recordkeeper. Ingests payroll exports in any format (CSV, XML, fixed-width, API, database), transforms fields to match each recordkeeper's inbound specification, and delivers on the employer's pay cycle cadence. Handles all standard payroll frequencies: weekly, biweekly, semi-monthly, monthly.
The Pain Point This Eliminates
Payroll administrators manually export files, reformat them to each recordkeeper's specification, and upload them — a process that breaks every time a recordkeeper changes their format or a new participant type is added.
Compliance Angle
SECURE 2.0 Roth catch-up (ages 50+) and super catch-up (ages 60–63, $11,250 for 2026) require prior-year Social Security wages and super catch-up designation flags in the 180° data stream. PayKonnect has supported these fields since January 2026 per IRS final regulations (September 2025).
Who This Capability Serves
What 180° Integration Actually Does
Every pay period, your payroll system has the data a retirement recordkeeper needs: which participants contributed how much, at what deferral rate, plus updated census data for any new hires, terminations, or status changes. The challenge is getting that data from your system’s format to the recordkeeper’s required format — automatically, reliably, and with the right fields.
That’s 180° integration. One-way, payroll-to-recordkeeper, automated on every pay cycle.
The Problem It Eliminates
Without 180° integration, the process looks like this: a payroll administrator exports a file, checks the recordkeeper’s current spec sheet, reformats the file (or has a developer do it), uploads it to the recordkeeper’s portal, and monitors for errors. When the recordkeeper updates their spec — as they regularly do — the process breaks. Someone gets an error notification, tracks down the spec change, rebuilds the file, and re-uploads.
Multiply this across multiple recordkeepers and pay cycles and it becomes a significant operational burden. PayKonnect eliminates all of it.
Technical Implementation
PayKonnect’s transformation engine handles every format used in the payroll ecosystem:
- CSV / delimited files — most common payroll export; PayKonnect handles any delimiter and encoding
- Fixed-width flat files — legacy COBOL-style format used by many recordkeepers and older payroll systems
- XML — structured format for API-adjacent exchanges and SPARK Protocol variants
- JSON / REST API — direct system-to-system integration for modern payroll platforms
- Excel / XLSX — SMB payroll exports and manual upload scenarios
- SQL database — direct database queries for enterprise integrations with DB access
The output is delivered in the recordkeeper’s required inbound format — whether that’s a specific fixed-width layout, a SOAP/WSDL call, or a REST API post.
SECURE 2.0 Fields in the 180° Data Stream
The IRS issued final Roth catch-up regulations in September 2025, effective January 1, 2026. PayKonnect updated its 180° integration output to include all required SECURE 2.0 fields before the effective date:
| Field | SECURE 2.0 Requirement |
|---|---|
| Roth catch-up designation flag | Required for participants age 50+ earning $145,000+ in prior-year FICA wages |
| Prior-year Social Security wages | Required to determine mandatory Roth catch-up threshold |
| Super catch-up designation flag | Required for participants aged 60–63 (limit: $11,250 for 2026) |
| YTD Social Security wages | Required for in-year tracking of super catch-up eligibility |
Without these fields in the payroll-to-recordkeeper data stream, recordkeepers cannot validate contribution designation correctly — creating correction cycles and potential IRS compliance liability.
Learn more: SECURE 2.0 Payroll Integration | 180° vs. 360° Integration | Provider Coverage
Frequently Asked Questions
Get 180° Payroll-to-Retirement Integration working in your ecosystem
Talk to a PayKonnect integration specialist about your specific setup.
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