FAQ 961: Hardship Withdrawal

Problem: How are they tracked and how is the amount calculated?

Solution: The "Available for Hardship Withdrawal" field itemname is HWDWAVAL on the Limits screen tracks the inception-to-date deferral contributions less any withdrawals from any source with a Source Type of “1 - EE Pre-Tax”, “2 - EE Post-Tax”, or “4 - 401(k) Roth”. Be aware, though, that the Available for Hardship Withdrawal field is only updated once a year (from the VALUES screens which include catchups) when an Annual Update is run on the plan, so if you want a value part way through the year, you will have to add the current year's contributions (and subtract any current year withdrawals) to the value shown in that field to determine what was available for a hardship withdrawal. In Plan Specs, the items to include in withdrawals is located in the SORCDEF screen. Inception to date numbers are only as “good” as the upkeep and history loaded on any given plan. The fields are located on the CONTRIB screen and you could get then as of the end of the prior year, the data “as updated from year to year” of solid contributions per source. Then add it to the current year's contribution. In theory this is correct, however in reality this field is not always holding pre-takeover data from plans added to ASC unless it was considered and imported for that source. The fields are located on the CONTRIB screen, fourth column over from the left. The field names are ITDCNTB with a subscript number DEFERRAL source 1 is subscript 1 and each source number is the same subscript number for this itemname. Therefore if the Roth source is #4, the subscript is 4 for this itemname. Hardship Basis for a trading platform type plan - the system will start with the amount that is populated in the 'Available for Hardship Withdrawal' field on the Limits screen in Employee. It will then add contribution transactions to source 1 since the beginning on the plan year you are in on ASC. By default, when you are requesting a dollar withdrawal the system will limit you to 90% to be sure the account doesn't get oversold. You can change the default setting by adding a setting in the ASC.INI file in your NPL folder (it's a configuration setting file). BE CAREFUL NOT TO OVERSELL- Add the following line in the [DailyVal] section: ROUNDINGMAXIMUM=.99. The .99 means 99% - you can change the percentage to whatever you want. Please be careful not to oversell the account.