Walmart 401(k): The 6% Match, Merrill, and Payout Rules From the Plan’s Own Filings

By Craig Wear, CFP® | Last reviewed: November 1, 2026

The Walmart 401(k) is the Walmart 401(k) Plan (sponsor EIN 71-0415188, plan number 003), recordkept by Merrill. Associates may defer 1% to 50% of pay from hire; after a first year with 1,000 hours, Walmart matches 100% of contributions up to 6% of eligible pay, vested immediately. The plan held $59.07 billion on January 31, 2026.

Who runs the Walmart 401(k), and which login and phone number are official?

Walmart Inc. is both the plan sponsor and the ERISA plan administrator, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith is the recordkeeper, Northern Trust Company is the trustee, and Bank of America, N.A. is custodian for payouts. That division of roles is spelled out in Note 1 of the plan’s Form 11-K for the year ended January 31, 2026, filed with the SEC on July 16, 2026.

Associates log in at benefits.ml.com or One.Walmart.com. The Merrill Customer Service Center is 888-968-4015; People Services at 800-421-1362 handles employment and military-service questions, and divorce orders go to the QDRO Administrator at 877-637-7376. All three numbers are printed in the 401(k) section of the 2026 Associate Benefits Book, which serves as the plan’s Summary Plan Description effective February 1, 2026.

The plan year is not the calendar year. It runs February 1 to January 31, matching Walmart’s fiscal year, which matters for the match calculation below. The plan dates to February 1, 1997, and because its legacy profit-sharing account is an employee stock ownership plan, the PY2024 Form 5500 carries both the 401(k) code 2J and the ESOP code 2O. A separate Walmart Puerto Rico 401(k) Plan (plan 004) covers associates in Puerto Rico under the Puerto Rico Internal Revenue Code of 2011.

When does Walmart start matching, and on which dollars?

Matching starts on the first day of the month after an associate’s first anniversary, if the associate logged at least 1,000 hours of service in that first year and is deferring. Contributions made before that date are never matched retroactively. Once eligible, Walmart adds $1 for each $1 of pretax, Roth or catch-up deferrals, up to 6% of eligible pay for the plan year, under the 2026 SPD.

An associate who misses 1,000 hours in the first year is measured again on each February 1 to January 31 plan year and becomes match-eligible the following February 1. Hourly associates count hours worked plus paid leave; salaried associates and truck drivers get 190 hours per month worked, so six months clears the bar. Highly compensated employees must also be 21. The fiscal 2026 Form 10-K (Note 10) repeats the 100%-of-6% formula and immediate vesting for both U.S. and Puerto Rico associates. Another retailer’s eligibility and match timing are covered in the Home Depot 401(k) plan guide.

Walmart deposits the match every pay period, computed on cumulative pay and cumulative deferrals through that pay period within the plan year. Because the $24,500 cap resets each January 1 but the match cap resets each February 1, the SPD warns that January deferrals can go unmatched once the plan year’s 6% maximum is reached. How cumulative formulas compare with year-end corrections is covered in the explainer on 401(k) true-up contributions. How Walmart’s match compares in dollars with other large employers is shown in 401(k) match rankings by company.

Matchable pay includes overtime, holiday bonuses and paid time off but excludes signing bonuses, severance and disability pay. For very high earners, IRC section 401(a)(17) caps matchable pay at $360,000 for the plan year ending January 31, 2027, so the largest possible match is $21,600 (6% of $360,000), per IRS Notice 2025-67. General match mechanics live in the guide to how a 401(k) match works.

Worked example (Q3 calculation using 2026 IRS figures and 2026 SPD rules; hypothetical associate). An associate hired March 10, 2025 at $19.00 an hour for 30 hours a week earns about $29,640 a year and passes 1,000 hours after roughly 34 weeks. Matching begins April 1, 2026. Pay from April 1, 2026 through January 31, 2027 is about $24,700. Deferring 6% puts $1,482 into the account and draws a $1,482 match; deferring 4% draws $988. Deferrals made between March 2025 and March 2026 earned no match at either rate.

Is any money in a Walmart 401(k) not vested?

Every dollar of deferrals, rollovers and Walmart’s 6% match is 100% vested immediately. The only account with a vesting schedule is the legacy Company Funded Profit Sharing Account, which holds discretionary Walmart contributions for plan years ended on or before January 31, 2011; it vests 20% per year from the second through the sixth year of service.

A profit-sharing vesting year is a February to January plan year with at least 1,000 hours, not an anniversary year. Retirement at 65 or later, death, total and permanent disability (listed in the 11-K) or plan termination makes the account 100% vested. The unvested part is forfeited on the date a separated associate takes a total payout, according to the 2026 SPD. Statutory cliff and graded limits are explained in the 401(k) vesting schedule rules.

What do the Walmart 401(k)’s Form 5500 and 11-K filings show?

The most recent Form 5500 in the Department of Labor’s public dataset covers February 1, 2024 to January 31, 2025: 1,970,230 participants, of whom 1,161,254 had an account balance, $50.75 billion in net assets, and $1.83 billion of Walmart contributions. The table below sets that filing beside the 11-K for the following year and Walmart’s two smaller retirement plans.

Q3 tabulation of the DOL EBSA Form 5500 and Schedule H datasets, plan year 2024 (sponsor EIN 71-0415188), and of the Walmart 401(k) Plan and Puerto Rico plan Form 11-K filings for the year ended January 31, 2026. “Funded account” means a participant with an account balance. PY2024 for the Walmart plans runs February 1, 2024 to January 31, 2025; the Jet.com trust uses the calendar year.

Four numbers stand out under 2026 rules. First, 41% of the 1.97 million people counted had no balance: the Form 5500 counts eligible associates as participants whether or not they defer, and the 2026 SPD describes enrollment only as an election the associate makes, with no automatic enrollment. Plans like this one, established before December 29, 2022, are exempt from the SECURE 2.0 automatic enrollment mandate under IRC section 414A(c)(2)(A)(i), so the plan is not required to add it.

Second, Walmart contributed 71 cents per dollar deferred, not $1, because deferrals above 6% of pay, catch-up dollars past the cap and first-year deferrals before match eligibility are unmatched. Third, $4.03 billion left the plan in PY2024, 9.7% of starting assets, consistent with 296,480 separated participants (278,941 not yet in pay status plus 17,539 receiving benefits). Fourth, Walmart stock still made up 10.7% of assets on January 31, 2026, even though the SPD bars new purchases outside the legacy profit-sharing account; those shares are what make the net unrealized appreciation option discussed below relevant.

The $35.53 per funded account covers only direct Schedule H expenses, about 8.9 basis points of average net assets in PY2024; fund costs inside the collective trusts ($46.36 billion at January 31, 2026) are separate and listed in the Annual Participant Fee Disclosure Notice.

Pretax, Roth, or in-plan Roth conversion: what does the plan allow in 2026?

The Walmart 401(k) accepts pretax and Roth deferrals from 1% to 50% of pay up to the 2026 limit of $24,500, plus catch-up contributions of $8,000 at 50 or $11,250 for associates turning 60 to 63 in 2026, so the ceiling is $32,500 or $35,750. Associates can also convert vested pretax money to Roth inside the plan.

Starting January 1, 2026, an associate who will be at least 50 by year end and had more than $150,000 of FICA wages from Walmart in 2025 must make any catch-up as Roth, under IRC section 414(v)(7) and the threshold in Notice 2025-67. Walmart’s 2026 SPD adds an operational rule: once pretax deferrals hit $24,500, all pretax elections stop for the year, so a high earner wanting the extra $8,000 needs a Roth election on file; stopped elections restart in 2027.

The in-plan Roth conversion is unusual in its details. Walmart withholds no tax at conversion, so the converted amount is added to that year’s taxable income and must be covered by higher payroll withholding or estimated payments; the conversion is not subject to the 10% additional tax and cannot be reversed. Converted money that was not yet distributable stays locked until 59½, hardship or separation; money already distributable lands in the Roth Rollover Account, withdrawable any time. Because the conversion stacks on top of wages, the usual planning question is how much fits below a bracket edge such as the 2026 24% bracket top of $201,775 single or $403,550 joint, and the mechanics are in the in-plan Roth conversion guide.

How can a working associate get money out: loans, hardship, and age 59½?

While employed, an associate can borrow, take a hardship withdrawal, take a $1,000 emergency withdrawal, a $5,000 birth or adoption withdrawal, or a qualified disaster withdrawal up to $22,000, withdraw rollover money at any time, and withdraw any vested amount after age 59½. Everything else stays in the plan until separation, per the 2026 SPD.

Loans run from $1,000 up to the lesser of $50,000 or 50% of the vested balance, with one general purpose loan (one to five years) and one residential loan (up to 15 years) allowed at a time. The 11-K states the rate is fixed at the prime rate on the last day of the month before processing plus 1%, with a $50 origination fee ($95 for residential). With prime at 7.00% since September 17, 2026, a loan processed in November 2026 would carry 8.00%. Participants paid $114.8 million of loan interest back into their own accounts in the year to January 31, 2026, and $8.3 million in loan fees.

Hardship withdrawals follow an order that the plan enforces: the associate must first take every other available in-service payout, including rollover money and any age 59½ withdrawal, and, under Walmart’s plan terms, the $1,000 limited emergency withdrawal. Hardship payouts carry 10% default withholding, are not eligible for rollover, and usually owe the 10% additional tax before 59½. The emergency, birth or adoption, and disaster withdrawals avoid that 10% tax and can be repaid within three years. Generic hardship categories and proof standards are covered in the 401(k) hardship withdrawal rules.

One Walmart-specific cash source is dividends on Walmart stock in the profit-sharing account. Active associates with six or more years of service may take those dividends in cash; such dividends are deductible to Walmart under IRC section 404(k), are taxable to the associate, cannot be rolled over per the SPD, and are exempt from the 10% additional tax under IRC section 72(t)(2)(A)(vi).

What happens to a Walmart 401(k) after an associate quits or retires?

A separated associate can request a payout 30 calendar days after the termination is entered in payroll. Balances of $1,000 or less are paid out automatically in cash after about three months; larger balances can stay in the plan, subject to an annual maintenance fee, until age 72½, when Walmart pays the account out without consent.

The $1,000 line is a deliberate design choice. IRC section 401(a)(31)(B) requires a plan to send involuntary cash-outs above $1,000 (up to the $7,000 limit) to an IRA rather than mail a check, so by capping forced cash-outs at $1,000, Walmart never has to open default IRAs. A former associate with $900 left gets a taxable check, 20% withheld, unless a direct rollover is requested within the payout notice’s window.

The 72½ trigger comes before the current RMD ages of 73 (born 1951 to 1959) and 75 (born 1960 or later): a former associate born in 1962 who does nothing is cashed out two and a half years before any RMD is due. In a year that is already an RMD year, the portion equal to that year’s RMD cannot be rolled over under IRC section 402(c)(4)(B); the rest can go by direct rollover to an IRA, which is also where staged Roth conversions can continue. Step-by-step options are in the guide to what happens to a 401(k) when you leave a job.

Associates who leave in or after the year they turn 55 can take cash without the 10% additional tax, and the SPD lists “retirement after age 55” among the exceptions; the conditions are in the rule of 55 explainer. Profit-sharing money can be paid in whole Walmart shares, and the SPD notes that shares distributed and not rolled over are taxed on the plan’s cost, the treatment IRC section 402(e)(4) gives to net unrealized appreciation. Whether that beats a rollover depends on the cost basis printed on the Merrill statement, as the net unrealized appreciation guide shows.

Frequently asked questions

This article is for educational purposes only and is not individualized investment, tax, or legal advice. Consult a qualified professional about your specific situation.