Goal
Every year you need to prove that what the record keeper reports for a plan matches your client's census, and then carry those figures into the Form 5500. This guide walks one plan from the record keeper's year-end report to a locked reconciliation and a filled-in Form 5500, all inside Stax.ai CX. Each step links to a detailed article if you need more help.
Prerequisites
The census is in CX for the plan year, from Payroll or from uploaded census reports.
You have the record keeper's year-end report. This is the transaction file or participant activity report, saved as .xlsx or .csv, 50 MB or smaller. See Record Keeper Report Guide for Asset Reconciliation for which reports to pull.
You have write access to Retirement. With read-only access you can view a reconciliation but not change it.
For the Form 5500 step: your team has Government Filings, and the plan's 5500 filing for the year is started. Government Filings is available to pilot teams. If you'd like access, contact your account manager.
Step 1: Open the plan's reconciliation
Click Reconciliation under Retirement. The queue opens on last year's plan year.
Check the plan year next to the page title. Pick a different year if you need to.
Click the plan's row.
The plan's reconciliation opens on the Schedules tab. If this is the first time anyone opened it for this year, CX starts the reconciliation for you and shows "Reconciliation started for PY 2025" (with your year).
You can also click Asset Reconciliation on the plan's Assets tab, or open it from a Reconcile Assets task in a project. See What is the reconciliation queue?.
Step 2: Add the record keeper's report as an asset schedule
Click Add Asset Schedule. The Upload Asset Schedule window opens.
Select the record keeper that produced the report, then click Continue.
Add the Transaction File / Participant Activity Report. Add a Loan Report or Forfeiture Report too if you have them.
Click Upload & Process.
CX reads the file and matches each row to a person in the census. You can leave while it works. The schedule shows its progress on the Schedules tab.
See Adding an Asset Schedule from a Record Keeper File. If you have files for many plans, see Bulk Uploading Record Keeper Files.
Step 3: Match participants and confirm
On the Match Participants step, review any row marked Needs review or Matched · name differs.
Fix a row by picking the right person in its Plan Participant dropdown, or choose Create participant from that dropdown. To unmatch a row, click the x in its Plan Participant box.
Click Confirm matches.
You see "Matches confirmed" and the plan totals appear. Until you confirm, totals are held back for the whole plan, so confirm every schedule.
See Matching Participants to Your Census.
Step 4: Review the differences
Click the Plan tab. Compare the record keeper's figures with the census for each money type, such as deferrals and employer match. A row reading No Difference ties.
Click the Accounts tab. Find the participants behind any difference.
See Reading the Plan and Accounts Tabs.
Step 5: Choose cash or accrual
At the top right of the reconciliation, click Cash or Accrual.
Confirm the change when CX asks.
The totals recalculate for the method you chose. If you choose Accrual, the Accrual rules link appears. Firm admins can set rules there that apply to every plan.
See Cash vs Accrual and Accrual Rules.
Step 6: Correct what's wrong
Decide which side is wrong for each difference.
The record keeper's figure needs adjusting. Override it on the Plan or Accounts tab. Enter the new amount and a reason. The reason is required, and it stays with the reconciliation.
The census is wrong. Fix it in the census itself. Use the census link in the Census column heading to open the plan year's census in a new tab. The reconciliation does not change the census for you.
See Overrides and Census Corrections.
Step 7: Confirm and lock the plan year
Click Confirm Reconciliation. If the button is turned off, hover over it to see what's left to do, such as "Resolve the blockers first".
Read the Confirm reconciliation window. It lists anything you're accepting, and tells you if the plan is still out by an amount.
Click Confirm Reconciliation in the window.
You see "PY 2025 locked" and a note that the 5500 can now use these figures. The plan shows Reconciliation Approved in the queue.
See Confirming and Locking a Reconciliation. To keep a copy for your files, click Export for a workbook. See Trust Report, Balance Sheet, and Exporting a Reconciliation.
Step 8: Fill the Form 5500
On the Schedules tab, find the filing card titled Reconciliation confirmed.
Click Autofill 5500 figures.
You see a message that the PY 2025 5500 was autofilled and that boxes that already had a value were kept. Autofill only fills empty boxes. It uses the reconciled figures first, then last year's return, then the plan's details.
Click Continue 5500 Filing to review the form and finish the filing.
[Image to add] 📸 SCREENSHOT: The filing card on the Schedules tab after locking, reading "Reconciliation confirmed" with Autofill 5500 figures and Continue 5500 Filing.
See Filling the Form 5500 from a Reconciliation and Filing a Form 5500 in Stax.ai CX.
Expected outcome
The plan shows Reconciliation Approved in the reconciliation queue.
The reconciliation is locked, with every override and its reason saved.
The plan's Form 5500 draft has its asset, contribution, and distribution boxes filled from the reconciled figures, ready for your review.
Related features
What is Asset Reconciliation?: what each part of the reconciliation does.
What is the reconciliation queue?: find plans, filter by status, and open reconciliations.
Government Filings Overview: build, validate, sign, and file the Form 5500.
Creating a Compliance Project: add a Reconcile Assets task to your annual compliance template.
Tips
You can lock a plan that's a few dollars out. The lock window shows the remaining difference. You can unlock later if you need to.
Need a change after locking? Click Unlock and confirm twice. The 5500 stops offering the figures until you lock again. Boxes already filled in the 5500 stay as they are.
Working through many plans? Use Bulk upload RK files on the queue first, then open each plan to confirm and lock. After you lock, Open next plan on the filing card takes you to the next plan in your queue.
Add autofill after the filing starts. If the filing card says to start the PY 5500 filing first, click Start 5500 Filing, then come back and click Autofill 5500 figures.