Migrations · TriNet to Rippling
Leaving TriNet, without losing a payroll.
A PEO exit is not a platform migration with a different logo on it. Here is what comes back to you, and the order it has to happen in.
Exit calendarFrom your notice date
- Map the deadlineWeek 1
- RegisterWeeks 1 to 3
- Plan benefitsWeeks 2 to 5
- Build and loadWeeks 3 to 6
- Parallel and cutWeeks 6 to 7
Go-liveJanuary 1 by default
Why companies leave
Rarely one reason. Usually these three.
Moment 01
The renewal quote arrived.
PEO pricing is a percentage or a per-employee fee, and both scale with a headcount that has grown since you signed. The renewal is the first time anyone recalculates.
Moment 02
Diligence asked a question the portal cannot answer.
An investor wants clean people data, and it lives in someone else’s system under someone else’s tax IDs. Co-employment is explainable, at the worst possible moment.
Moment 03
You outgrew the portal, not the payroll.
Payroll still runs. What stopped working is everything around it: onboarding, approvals, permissions, the reporting a board asks for. At some size you need a system.
What a PEO exit returns to you
Five things, and the contract is the least of them.
- 01
The contract is the easy part
TriNet’s standard agreement is terminable by either party on thirty days’ written notice, effective at the end of the following month. Negotiated and older agreements differ, so read yours. For most companies it is the shortest pole in the tent.
- 02
You register as an employer again, in every state
Under a PEO you often run under its state tax IDs. Leaving means registering for withholding and unemployment in every state where you have an employee. Some issue an ID in days, others take a month, and the slowest sets your cutover date.
- 03
Benefits do not transfer, they get re-sourced
Your people are on the PEO’s master plans. Leaving means quoting, selecting and enrolling your own, on carrier timelines, not yours. Started late, this is what forces a delay or a mid-year move.
- 04
The 401(k) is a separate project on the same deadline
PEO retirement plans are usually multiple-employer plans. Coming off one means establishing your own and running a plan-to-plan transfer, with its own notices, blackout window and fiduciary decisions. Routine, and not fast.
- 05
A mid-year exit means two W-2s
Wages under the PEO’s tax ID and wages under yours are reported separately. We plan go-live for January 1 by default, because payroll tax wage bases are annual and a mid-year exit can restart some of them. The fallback is the start of a quarter. Your tax advisor confirms the position.
- None of these are reasons to stay. They are why an exit is sequenced backwards from a date, not forwards from a decision.
Our playbook
Five phases, scheduled from one date.
The benefits plan year and the slowest state registration are the fixed points. The contract usually is not.
The date Before anything
Read the agreement for the notice terms, then pick the target date from the benefits plan year and the tax calendar. On a standard TriNet agreement the notice is rarely the binding constraint.
Registrations and benefits Starts first, runs longest
State registrations and broker quoting begin at once and in parallel, because neither can be compressed. The slowest state and the carrier calendar decide what is possible.
Build The part we control
Rippling configured for a company without a PEO: employer of record back with you, permissions by role, and the approval chains the portal used to own.
Parallel One full cycle
A complete payroll run in both places and compared line by line before anything cuts over. The first live run should be a repeat, not a first attempt.
Cutover and the first close Go-live
The first live payroll under your own tax IDs, with hypercare, and the year-end position documented while it is fresh.
Every step is timed back from go-live, January 1 by default.
What it costs
PEO exit, all-in, from $55k
At 45 people and under, sized to your team on a fit call.
- Covers
- One entity, up to 3 states
- Your HRIS
- Rippling, built in
- Who owns it
- Your lead, with a named backup
PEO exit from $55k, all-in, priced by complexity, for one entity and up to 3 states. Your new HRIS is built in, because leaving a PEO means running your own system on day one.
What people ask before giving notice.
How long does it take to leave TriNet?
The Rippling build is the part we control, and its scope sets its length. The exit is set by two things we do not: the notice period in your agreement, and how quickly each state issues your employer registrations. Most companies are looking at a few months from decision to first independent payroll, and the honest answer for yours comes from reading your agreement, which we do on the first call.
When is the best time to leave a PEO?
We plan go-live for January 1 by default, because payroll tax wage bases are annual and leaving a PEO mid-year can restart some of them. If January 1 is not possible, the fallback is the start of a quarter, which keeps quarterly payroll filings simpler. We plan the move off your PEO's benefit plans with your broker and carriers, timed to avoid a gap in coverage.
What happens to our benefits and 401(k)?
Both get re-established under your own name. Benefits are quoted and placed through a broker on carrier timelines; the 401(k) usually means leaving a multiple-employer plan and setting up your own with a plan-to-plan transfer. Neither is unusual, and both have to start early because neither can be rushed at the end.
Will our employees get two W-2s?
If the exit lands mid-year, yes: one for wages paid under the PEO’s tax ID and one under yours. It is correct, and the only problem it causes is surprise, so it belongs in a communication that goes out well before January.
Do we have to move to Rippling?
No. Rippling and HiBob are the two platforms we are deepest in, and we take ADP Workforce Now, Dayforce, Workday and Paycom case by case when you have already chosen one. Our fee is the same whichever you land on.
What does it cost?
From $55k, all-in, for one entity and up to 3 states, with your new HRIS built in. Extra entities, states beyond 3, carriers, prior years of data or custom integrations are quoted in writing.
People Street coordinates the PEO exit and does not provide tax, legal or benefits advice; Client should rely on its own tax advisor, counsel and broker for those decisions. Terms
20 minutes. No deck. No pitch.
You talk. We map what you’re running and where to start. The fixed quote follows the call, in writing.
Book the call