Human Interest 401(k) audits: Audit Relief, reports and late deposits

What does Human Interest provide for a 401(k) audit?

• An audit package. Human Interest offers “immediate access to your plan’s audit package in your admin dashboard.”^[1] Its Compliance Guarantee terms describe the package as recordkeeping, payroll and custodial data, due by May 1 of the year the audit takes place, and say the guarantee “covers only delivery of such package, not the audit or its results.”^[2]
• Help working with the auditor, on Concierge. Under Premium Large Plan Audit Support, Human Interest says “we work directly with your auditor, so you don’t have to play the go-between,” and that the service is available on its Concierge package only.^[1]
• The Form 5500. The same page lists preparing, signing and filing the annual Form 5500 among Human Interest’s services.^[1] On a large plan, the auditor’s report goes in with it, so the filing waits on the audit.

How does Human Interest Audit Relief work?

Audit Relief starts with plan year 2026.^[5] It pairs a data package, which Human Interest says draws on 20 data sources and is reconciled with payroll information, with a credit toward the audit invoice.^[3] The conditions, from Human Interest’s terms:^[4]

• the plan must be active, on the Concierge service package, and use an eligible Human Interest payroll integration;
• you opt in through the dashboard, separately for each plan year;
• the auditor must have a marketplace agreement with Human Interest;
• the credit accrues one twelfth a month from the month you opt in, and the final credit is the lesser of the accrued amount or the auditor’s invoice;
• it pays only that plan year’s audit fees, unused credit does not roll over, and the plan sponsor pays any fees above it.

The terms also say the plan sponsor is “solely responsible for selecting and appointing an independent Auditor,” and that Human Interest’s listings do not endorse any auditor.^[4] Separately, Human Interest is running a 2026 promotion of a credit of up to $4,000, by invitation to new customers, with an opt-in deadline of December 31, 2026.^[3]

The credit applies only when the auditor has a marketplace agreement with Human Interest. Whether the credit outweighs a free choice of auditor is your decision as the plan’s fiduciary.

Which Human Interest reports will your auditor ask for?

• The SOC 1 report. Human Interest’s Trust Center lists SOC 1 among its compliance items and lets you request access to its security documentation.^[6] Ask for the report whose period covers your plan year, plus a bridge letter if it ends early.
• The audit package. Recordkeeping, payroll and custodial data, in the admin dashboard.^[1][2] Ask what it includes for your plan, so the auditor’s request list does not duplicate it.
• Contribution records by payroll. Gusto’s help article for its Human Interest integration says a record of all contributions is on the Contributions tab of the Human Interest dashboard.^[8]

Human Interest’s help center is not publicly readable, so we could not confirm from its own pages where trust statements and distribution reports sit outside the audit package. Ask your Human Interest contact for the year-end trust statement and the distribution and loan detail by name.

How does Human Interest’s payroll integration affect late-deposit testing?

The auditor checks whether each payroll’s deferrals reached the plan on time. Deferrals and loan repayments become plan assets on the earliest date they can reasonably be segregated from the employer’s general assets, and never later than the 15th business day of the following month.^[9] The seven business day safe harbor is limited to small plans, so a plan large enough to need an audit is generally held to the first test.^[9]

How quickly money moves depends on which payroll you use. Human Interest says it syncs with more than 600 payrolls, and that for providers it does not list, it guides you through the tasks you will need to complete yourself.^[7] Where it does publish the timing for one integration, it is quick: with Gusto payroll, Gusto says Human Interest debits the company the day after the check date for both employee deductions and company contributions, and invests the funds the following day.^[8]

We did not find a debit schedule on Human Interest’s public pages for every payroll, so the auditor will build it from your records: each payroll register’s check date against the date the contribution posted at Human Interest. Payrolls without a full integration, off-cycle runs and missed deductions made up later are where late deposits usually come from. Late deposits are reported on Schedule H line 4a, year after year until fully corrected, including lost earnings,^[10] and the DOL’s Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program covers them.^[11] If you are not sure when your plan first needs an audit, see how the count of 100 works.

What does Ledgerline audit?

401(k) and 403(b) plans, whichever platform holds them. We’re building an audit firm around those two plan types and booking engagements for the coming season, starting December 2026. How a Ledgerline audit works, or what a first auditor looks at.

Also on this site: Gusto as your payroll, Guideline 401(k) audits, and 401(k) audits by city and recordkeeper.

Frequently asked questions