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SMALL BUSINESS
SEP Plans and SIMPLE Plans
If you work for a small business that offers a retirement plan, your employer may offer a SEP, SIMPLE or qualified retirement plan. Small businesses are those that generally have less than 100 employees. Business owners can also participate in these plans to provide for personal retirement benefits.
These small-business retirement plans offer the same advantages of tax-deferred growth as 401(k) and other defined-contribution plans. Your contributions, or elective deferrals, are tax-deductible. Here are the basic features of each plan:
SEP plans. Employers with any number of employees can use a Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) plan. The employer opens a SEP-IRA for each eligible employee and makes contributions to the account.
For 2008, your employer can contribute up to the lesser amount of $46,000 or 25% of your compensation. If you participate in another defined-contribution plan, the overall limit increases to the lesser of 100% of compensation from all employers or $46,000, but the employer making the SEP contribution is still limited to a contribution of 25% of the compensation from that employer.
Your employer may be using a SARSEP. A SARSEP is a SEP plan set up before 1997 that includes elective contributions. SARSEPs allow you to make tax-deductible contributions to your SEP-IRA. For 2008, the most an employee can contribute in elective deferrals is the lesser amount of $15,500 or 25% of their compensation ($20,500 if age 50 or older). The employer can make matching contributions up to the lesser amount of $46,000 or 100% of the employee's compensation.
SIMPLE plans. Employers with 100 or fewer employees can use a SIMPLE plan. SIMPLEs are set up as either SIMPLE-IRA or SIMPLE 401(k) plan. With a SIMPLE-IRA, your employer opens an account for each eligible employee. For 2008, you can make up to $10,500 in elective deferrals ($13,000 if age 50 or older).
Your employer may match your contributions for up to 3% of your compensation. Alternatively, your employer may choose to make non-elective contributions equal to 2% of your compensation. Non-elective contributions are made whether or not you contribute to a SIMPLE-IRA.
Qualified plans. The smallest of small businesses, including partnerships and sole proprietorships, can use a qualified retirement plan for their owners and employees. One type of qualified plan is called a Keogh plan.
A qualified plan can be either a defined-benefit or defined-contribution plan. Defined-benefit plans pay a fixed benefit that is based on your years of service and salary history. Defined-contribution plans depend on your contributions and can be either a profit-sharing or money-purchase pension plan.
For 2008, the most an employee may receive in annual benefits with a defined-benefit plan is the lesser of $185,000 or 100% of the largest average salary that they earned over a consecutive three-year period. With a defined-contribution plan, the maximum allowable contribution is the lesser of $46,000 or 25% of compensation.
(The much-higher limit for defined-benefit plans allows employers to fund a pension that may pay benefits for the remainder of the retired employee's life.)
These are some of the basic features of the main types of small-business retirement plans. For more information, see IRS Pub. 560.
The above information is educational and should not be interpreted as financial advice. For advice that is specific to your circumstances, you should consult a financial or tax adviser.
2008-07-21 17:02:36
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Retirement Basics
When looking for retirement help, start with an understanding of the fundamentals. Retirement help begins with the basics of maximizing benefits.
- Your Social Security Benefits
- New Opportunities
- Long-Term Care Insurance
- Estate Planning and Taxes
- Taking IRA Distributions
- Defined-Contribution Plans
- SEP & SIMPLE Plans
- Converting an IRA to a Roth IRA
- Buying Variable Annuities
- Retirement From the Blogs
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