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Archive-name: investment-faq/general/part11
Version: $Id: part11,v 1.61 2003/03/17 02:44:30 lott Exp lott $ Compiler: Christopher Lott See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge The Investment FAQ is a collection of frequently asked questions and answers about investments and personal finance. This is a plain-text version of The Investment FAQ, part 11 of 20. The web site always has the latest version, including in-line links. Please browse http://invest-faq.com/ Terms of Use The following terms and conditions apply to the plain-text version of The Investment FAQ that is posted regularly to various newsgroups. Different terms and conditions apply to documents on The Investment FAQ web site. The Investment FAQ is copyright 2003 by Christopher Lott, and is protected by copyright as a collective work and/or compilation, pursuant to U.S. copyright laws, international conventions, and other copyright laws. 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Please send comments and new submissions to the compiler. --------------------Check http://invest-faq.com/ for updates------------------ Subject: Retirement Plans - 401(k) Last-Revised: 9 Dec 2001 Contributed-By: Ed Nieters (nieters at crd.ge.com), David W. Olson, Rich Carreiro (rlcarr at animato.arlington.ma.us), Chris Lott ( contact me ), Art Kamlet (artkamlet at aol.com), Ed Suranyi, Ed Zollars (ezollar at mindspring.com) This article describes the provisions of the US tax code for 401(k) plans as of mid 2001, including the changes made by the Economic Recovery and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. A 401(k) plan is a retirement savings plan that is funded by employee contributions and (often) matching contributions from the employer. The major attraction of these plans is that the contributions are taken from pre-tax salary, and the funds grow tax-free until withdrawn. Also, the plans are (to some extent) self-directed, and they are portable; more about both topics later. Both for-profit and many types of tax-exempt organizations can establish these plans for their employees. A 401(k) plan takes its name from the section of the Internal Revenue Code of 1978 that created them. To get a bit picky for a moment, a 401(k) plan is a plan qualified under Section 401(a) (or at least we mean it to be). Section 401(a) is the section that defines qualified plan trusts in general, including the various rules required for qualifications. Section 401(k) provides for an optional "cash or deferred" method of getting contributions from employees. So every 401(k) plan already is a 401(a) plan. The IRS says what can be done, but the operation of these plans is regulated by the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor. For example, the Widget Company's plan might permit employees to contribute up to 7% of their gross pay to the fund, and the company then matches the contributions at 50% (happily, they pay in cash and not in widgets :-). Total contribution to the Widget plan in this example would be 10.5% of the employee's salary. My joke about paying in cash is important, however; some plans contribute stock instead of cash. There are many advantages to 401(k) plans. First, since the employee is allowed to contribute to his/her 401(k) with pre-tax money, it reduces the amount of tax paid out of each pay check. Second, all employer contributions and any growth in the capital grow tax-free until withdrawal. The compounding effect of consistent periodic contributions over the period of 20 or 30 years is quite dramatic. Third, the employee can decide where to direct future contributions and/or current savings, giving much control over the investments to the employee. Fourth, if your company matches your contributions, it's like getting extra money on top of your salary. Fifth, unlike a pension, all contributions can be moved from one company's plan to the next company's plan, or a special IRA, should a participant change jobs. Sixth, because the program is a personal investment program for your retirement, it is protected by pension (ERISA) laws, which means that the benefits may not be used as security for loans outside the program. This includes the additional protection of the funds from garnishment or attachment by creditors or assigned to anyone else, except in the case of domestic relations court cases dealing with divorce decree or child support orders (QDROs; i.e., qualified domestic relations orders). Finally, while the 401(k) is similar in nature to an IRA, an IRA won't enjoy any matching company contributions, and personal IRA contributions are subject to much lower limits; see the article about IRA's elsewhere in this FAQ. There are, of course, a few disadvantages associated with 401(k) plans. First, it is difficult (or at least expensive) to access your 401(k) savings before age 59 1/2 (but see below). Second, 401(k) plans don't have the luxury of being insured by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). (But then again, some pensions don't enjoy this luxury either.) Third, employer contributions are usually not vested (i.e., do not become the property of the employee) until a number of years have passed. Currently, those contributions can vest all at once after five years of employment, or can vest gradually from the third through the seventh year of employment. Participants in a 401(k) plan generally have a decent number of different investment options, nearly all cases a menu of mutual funds. These funds usually include a money market, bond funds of varying maturities (short, intermediate, long term), company stock, mutual fund, US Series EE Savings Bonds, and others. The employee chooses how to invest the savings and is typically allowed to change where current savings are invested and/or where future contributions will go a specific number of times a year. This may be quarterly, bi-monthly, or some similar time period. The employee is also typically allowed to stop contributions at any time. With respect to participant's choice of investments, expert (sic) opinions from financial advisors typically say that the average 401(k) participant is not aggressive enough with their investment options. Historically, stocks have outperformed all other forms of investment and will probably continue to do so. Since the investment period of 401(k) savings is relatively long - 20 to 40 years - this will minimize the daily fluctuations of the market and allow a "buy and hold" strategy to pay off. As you near retirement, you might want to switch your investments to more conservative funds to preserve their value. Puzzling out the rules and regulations for 401(k) plans is difficult simply because every company's plan is different. Each plan has a minimum and maximum contribution, and these limits are chosen in consultation with the IRS (I'm told) such that there is no discrimination between highly paid and less highly paid employees. The law requires that if low compensated employees do not contribute enough by the end of the plan year, then the limit is changed for highly compensated employees. Practically, this means that the employer sets a maximum percentage of gross salary in order to prevent highly compensated employees from reaching the limits. In any case, the employer chooses how much to match, how much employees may contribute, etc. Of course the IRS has the final say, so there are certain regulations that apply to all 401(k) plans. We'll try to lay them out here. Let's begin with contributions. Employees have the option of making all or part of their contributions from pre-tax (gross) income. This has the added benefit of reducing the amount of tax paid by the employee from each check now and deferring it until the person takes the pre-tax money out of the plan. Both the employer contribution (if any) and any growth of the fund compound tax-free. These contributions must be deposited no more than 15 business days after the end of the month in which they were made (also see the May 1999 issue of Individual Investor magazine for a discussion of this). The interesting rules govern what happens to before-tax and after-tax contributions. The IRS limits pre-tax deductions to a fixed dollar figure that changes annually. In other words, an employee in any 401(k) plan can reduce his or her gross pay by a maximum of some fixed dollar amount via contributions to a 401(k) plan. An employer's plan may place restrictions on the employees that are stricter than the IRS limit, or are much less strict. If the restrictions are less strict, employees may be able to make after-tax contributions. After-tax contributions are a whole lot different from pre-tax contributions. In fact, by definition an employee cannot contribute after-tax monies to a 401(k)! Monies in excess of the limits on 401(k) accounts (i.e., after-tax monies) are put into a 401(a) account, which is defined to be an employee savings plan in which the employee contributes after-tax monies. (This is one way for an employee to save aggressively for retirement while still enjoying tax-free growth until distribution time.) If an employee elects to make after-tax contributions, the money comes out of net pay (i.e., after taxes have been deducted). While it doesn't help one's current tax situation, funds that were contributed on an after-tax basis may be easier to withdraw since they are not subject to the strict IRS rules which apply to pre-tax contributions. When distributions are begun (see below), the employee pays no tax on the portion of the distribution attributed to after-tax contributions, but does have to pay tax on any gains. Ok, let's talk about the IRS limits already. First, a person's maximum before-tax contribution (i.e., 401(k) limit) for 2001 is $10,500 (same as 2000, but will change in 2002). It's important to understand this limit. This figure indicates only the maximum amount that the employee can contribute from his/her pre-tax earnings to all of his/her 401(k) accounts. It does not include any matching funds that the employer might graciously throw in. Further, this figure is not reduced by monies contributed towards many other plans (e.g., an IRA). And, if you work for two or more employers during the year, then you have the responsibility to make sure you contribute no more than that year's limit between the two or more employers' 401k plans. If the employee "accidentally" contributes more than the pre-tax limit towards his or her 401(k) account, the employer must move the excess, or the excess contribution amount due to a smaller limit imposed by an imbalance of highly compensated employees, into a 401(a) account. Next there are regulations for highly compensated employees. What are these? Well, when the 401(k) rules were being formulated, the government was afraid that executives might make the 401(k) plan at their company very advantageous to themselves, but without allowing the rank-and-file employees those same benefits. The only way to make sure that the plan would be beneficial to ordinary employees as well as those "highly compensated," the law-writers decided, was to make sure that the executives had an incentive to make the plan desirable for those ordinary employees. What this means is that employees who are defined as "highly compensated" within the company (as guided by the regulations) may not be allowed to save at the maximum rates. Starting in 1997, the IRC defined "highly compensated" as income in excess of $80,000; alternately, the company can make a determination that only the top 20% of employees are considered highly compensated. Therefore, the implementation of the "highly compensated employee" regulations varies with the company, and only your benefits department can tell you if you are affected. Finally the last of the IRS regulations. IRS rules won't allow contributions on pay over a certain amount (the limit was $170,000 in 2001, and will change in 2002). Additionally, the IRS limits the total amount of deferred income (i.e., money put into IRAs, 401(k) plans, 401(a) plans, or pension plans) each year to the lesser of some amount ($30,000 in 1996, and subject to change of course) or 25% of your annual compensation. Annual compensation defined as gross compensation for the purpose of computing the limitation. This changes an earlier law; a person's annual compensation for the purpose of this computation is no longer reduced by 401(k) contributions and salaray redirected to cafeteria benefit plans. The 401(k) plans are somewhat unique in allowing limited access to savings before age 59 1/2. One option is taking a loan from yourself! It is legal to take a loan from your 401(k) before age 59 1/2 for certain reasons including hardship loans, buying a house, or paying for education. When a loan is obtained, you must pay the loan back with regular payments (these can be set up as payroll deductions) but you are, in effect, paying yourself back both the principal and the interest, not a bank. If you take a withdrawal from your 401(k) as money other than a loan, not only must you pay tax on any pre-tax contributions and on the growth, you must also pay an additional 10% penalty to the government. There are other special conditions that permit withdrawals at various ages without penalty; consult an expert for more details. However, in general it's probably not a good idea to take a loan from your own 401(k) simply because your money is not growing for you while it is out of your account. Sure, you're paying yourself some bit of interest, but you're almost certainly not paying enough. Participants who are vested in in 401(k) plans can begin to access their savings without withdrawal penalties at various ages, depending on the plan and on their own circumstances. If the participant who separates from service is age 55 or more during the year of separation, the participant can draw any amount from his or her 401(k) without any calculated minimums and without any 5-year rules. Depending on the plan, a participant may be able to draw funds without penalty at or after age 59 1/2 regardless of whether he or she has separated from service (i.e., the participant might still be working; check with the plan administrator to be sure). The minimum withdrawal rules for a participant who has separated from service kick in at age 70 1/2. Being able to draw any amount and for any length of time without penalty starting at age 55 (provided the person has separated from service) is one of the least understood differences between 401ks and IRAs. Note that this paragraph doesn't mention "retire" because the person's status after leaving service with the company that has the 401(k) doesn't seem to be relevant. Anyone who has separated from service from a company with a 401(k), and is entitled to withdraw funds without penalty, may take a lump sum withdrawal of the 401(k) into a taxable account, and depending on their age may use an income averaging method. Currently anyone eligible may use an averaging method which spreads the lump sum over 5 years, and if born before 1937, may average over 10 years. Or, if a lump sum is chosen, it can be immediately rolled into an IRA (but they withhold tax) -- or transferred from the 401(k) custodian to an IRA custodian, and the account will continue to grow tax deferred. Note that 401(k) distributions are separate from pension funds. Like IRAs, participants in 401(k) plans must begin taking distributions by age 70 1/2. Also, the IRS imposes a minimum annual distribution on 401(k)s at age 70 1/2, just to guarantee that Uncle Sam gets his share. However, there's an exception to the minimum and required distribution rules: if you continue to work at that same company and the 401(k) is still there, you do not have to start withdrawing the 401(k). Since a 401(k) is a company-administered plan, and every plan is different, changing jobs will affect your 401(k) plan significantly. Different companies handle this situation in different ways (of course). Some will allow you to keep your savings in the program until age 59 1/2. This is the simplest idea. Other companies will require you to take the money out. Things get more complicated here, but not unmanageable. Your new company may allow you to make a "rollover" contribution to its 401(k) which would let you take all the 401(k) savings from your old job and put them into your new company's plan. If this is not a possibility, you may roll over the funds into an IRA. However, as discussed above, a 401(k) plan has numerous advantages over an IRA, so if possible, rolling 401(k) money into another 401(k), if at all possible, is usually the best choice. Whatever you do regarding rollovers, BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL!! This can not be emphasized enough. Legislation passed in 1992 by Congress added a twist to the rollover procedures. It used to be that you could receive the rollover money in the form of a check made out to you and you had a 60 days to roll this cash into a new retirement account (either 401(k) or IRA). Now, however, employees taking a withdrawal have the opportunity to make a "direct rollover" of the taxable amount of a 401(k) to a new plan. This means the check goes directly from your old company to your new company (or new plan). If this is done (ie. you never "touch" the money), no tax is withheld or owed on the direct rollover amount. If the direct rollover option is not chosen, i.e., a check goes through your grubby little hands, the withdrawal is immediately subject to a mandatory tax withholding of 20% of the taxable portion, which the old company is required to ship off to the IRS. The remaining 80% must be rolled over within 60 days to a new retirement account or else is is subject to the 10% tax mentioned above. The 20% mandatory withholding is supposed to cover possible taxes on your withdrawal, and can be recovered using a special form filed with your next tax return to the IRS. If you forget to file that form, however, the 20% is lost. Naturally, there is a catch. The 20% withheld must also be rolled into a new retirement account within 60 days, out of your own pocket, or it will be considered withdrawn and subject to the 10% tax. Check with your benefits department if you choose to do any type of rollover of your 401(k) funds. Here's an example to clarify an indirect rollover. Let us suppose that you have $10,000 in a 401k, and that you withdraw the money with the intention of rolling it over - no direct transfer. Under current law you will receive $8,000 and the IRS will receive $2,000 against possible taxes on your withdrawal. To maintain tax-exempt status on the money, $10,000 has to be put into a new retirement plan within 60 days. The immediate problem is that you only have $8,000 in hand, and can't get the $2,000 until you file your taxes next year. What you can do is: 1. Find $2,000 from somewhere else. Maybe sell your car. 2. Roll over $8,000. The $2,000 then loses its tax status and you will owe income tax and the 10% tax on it. Caveat: If you have been in an employee contributed retirement plan since before 1986, some of the rules may be different on those funds invested pre-1986. Consult your benefits department for more details, The rules changed in mid 2001 in the following ways: * The 2001 contribution limit of $10,500 per year rises to $11,000 in 2002, then $12,000 in 2003, a lucky $13,000 in 2004, $14,000 in 2005, and finally $15,000 in 2005. Thereafter the limit is indexed for inflation. * Vesting periods for employer's matching contributions are shortened starting in 2002. Monies will vest after 3 years of service (compare with 5 years now), or can be vested gradually from the second through the sixth year (compare with 3..7 years now). * Beginning in 2002, a catch-up provision is available to employees who are over 50 years old. This provision allows these employees to contribute extra amounts over and above the limit in effect for that year. The additional contribution amount is $1,000 in 2002 and increases by $1,000 annually until it reaches $5,000 in 2006; thereafter, it increases $500 annually. * Participants are supposed to be able to move between plans (like when switching employers) more easily than now. I believe it makes roll-overs from a 401 to a 403 plan possible. * A new option for 401(k) participants appears in 2002. This option is being called a Roth-style 401(k); it allows deductions to be taken after-tax in exchange for the right to withdraw (like a Roth IRA) both contributions and earnings without tax at some distant point in the future. Finally, here are some resources on the web that may help. * The Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor offers some (although not much) information. http://www.dol.gov/dol/pwba/public/guide.htm * A brief note from the IRS http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/plain/tax_edu/teletax/tc424.html * Fidelity offers an introduction to 401k plans http://www.401k.com/ * 401Kafé is a community resource for 401(k) participants. http://www.401kafe.com/ --------------------Check http://invest-faq.com/ for updates------------------ Subject: Retirement Plans - 401(k) for Self-Employed People Last-Revised: 23 Jan 2003 Contributed-By: Daniel Lamaute, Chris Lott ( contact me ), This article describes the provisions of the US tax code for the 401(k) plan for Self-Employed People, also called the Solo 401(k). These plans were established by the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. A Solo 401(k) plan provides a great tax break to the smallest business owners. In addition to the possibility to shelter from taxes a large portion of income, some Solo 401(k) plans offer a loan feature for cash-strapped small business owners. Eligibility for a Solo 401(k) plan is limited to those with a small business and no employees, or only a spouse as an employee. This includes independent contractors with earned income, freelancers, sole proprietors, partnerships, Limited Liability Companies (LLC) or corporations. The key benefits of the Solo 401K plan include: * High limits on contributions: The limits for elective salary deferrals and employer contributions enable sole proprietors in tax year 2003 to contribute up to the lesser of 100% of aggregate compensation or $40,000 ($42,000 if age 50 or older). * Contributions are fully-tax deductible and are based on compensation or earned income. * Assets can be rolled from other plans or IRAs to a Solo 401K. There is no limit on roll-overs. * The account holder can take a loan that is tax-free and penalty free from the Solo 401K, if allowed by the plan, up to the lesser of 50% or $50,000 of the account balance. The contribution limits depend on how the business is established: * For businesses that are not incorporated, the employer and salary deferral contributions are based on the net earned income. Contributions are not subject to federal income tax, but remain subject to self-employment taxes (SECA). The owner receives a tax deduction for both salary deferral and employer contributions on IRS Form 1040 at filing time. The maximum contribution limit is calculated based on salary (max deferral of about $12,000) and profit sharing (to get you up to the current max contribution). * For corporations, the employer contribution is based on the W-2 income and is contributed by the business. The maximum employer contribution is 25% of pay. It is not subject to federal income tax or Social Security (FICA) taxes. The salary deferral contributions are withheld from your pay and are excluded from federal income tax but are subject to FICA. The business receives a tax deduction for both salary deferral and employer contributions. The maximum elective salary deferral amount for 2003 is 100% of pay up to $12,000 ($14,000 if age 50 or older). Fees for establishing and maintaining the Solo-401(k) type accounts vary by plan provider and administrator. The plan providers are mostly mutual fund companies with loaded funds. The plan fees are also a function of the features of the Solo-401(k). For example, plans fees tend to be less expensive if they have no loan feature. Plans that allow assets other than mutual funds in the plan would also be more costly to maintain. On average, the cost to set up and maintain a Solo-401(k) is modest for a 401(k) plan; fees on various plans range from $35 to $1,200 per year. A solo 401(k) offers several key advantages when compared to Keogh plans (see the article elsewhere in the FAQ). The solo 401(k) allows higher contribution limits for most individuals, allows for catch-up salary deferral contributions (for those 50+ years), and allows loans to owners. Rather than raiding their 401K to finance their business - and paying a big penalty to the IRS - small business owners can take a tax-free loan and keep their hard earned money working for them. This plan offers small business owners all the benefits of a big-company 401K without the administrative expense and complexity. Small business owners should ask their accountants about this plan and how it may benefit them. Each Solo 401K must be set up no later than December 31 of the calendar year to be eligible for tax deductions in that tax year. Please visit Daniel Lamaute's web site for more information. There he offers a Solo-401(k) plan with no set up fee and an administration fee of $100 per year. That plan includes the loan feature; plan investments are restricted to mutual funds by Pioneer Investments. http://www.InvestSafe.com --------------------Check http://invest-faq.com/ for updates------------------ Subject: Retirement Plans - 403(b) Last-Revised: 29 Jan 2003 Contributed-By: Joseph Morlan (jmorlan at slip.net) A 403(b) plan, like a 401(k) plan, is a retirement savings plan that is funded by employee contributions and (often) matching contributions from the employer. 403(b) plans are not "qualified plans" under the tax code, but are generally higher cost "Tax-Sheltered Annuity Arrangements" which can be offered only by public school systems and other tax-exempt organizations. They can only invest in annuities or mutual funds. They are very similar to qualified plans such as 401(k) but have some important differences, as follows. The rules for top-heavy plans do not apply. Employer contributions are exludable from income only to the extent of employees "exclusion allowance." Exclusion allowance is the total excludable employer contribution for any prior year minus 20% of annual includible compensation multiplied by years of service (prorated for part-timers). Whew! I have no idea what this means. In my own case there is no extra employer contribution, but rather a salary reduction agreement. So the so-called employer contribution is actually my own contribution. At least I think it is. Employer contributions must also be the lesser of 25% of compensation or $30,000 annually. Excess contributions are are includible in gross income only if employee's right to them is vested. I also don't know what this means. Contributions to a custodial account invested in mutual funds are subject to a special 6% excise tax on the amount by which they exceed the maximum amount excludable from income. (This sounds scary as the calculation for excludable income seems quite complex. E.g. I already have another tax-deferred retirment plan which probably needs to be calculated into the total allowed in the 403b). The usual 10% penalty on early withdrawal and the 15% excise tax on excess distributions still apply as in 401(k) plans. As of 2002, an individual may participate in a 403(b) plan and a 457(b) plan at the same time. NOTE: The above is my paraphrasing of the U.S. Master Tax Guide for 1993. Recent changes in the laws governing 401(k)-type arrangements have made these available to non-profit institutions as well, and this has made the old 403(b) plans less attractive to many. The following sites address the new law and compare 401(k) with 403(b) plans: * http://www.hayboo.com/briefing/cowart2.htm * The following is a link to the IRS special publication on 403b plans http://www.benefitslink.com/403b/index.html --------------------Check http://invest-faq.com/ for updates------------------ Subject: Retirement Plans - 457(b) Last-Revised: 29 Jan 2003 Contributed-By: Chris Lott ( contact me ) A 457(b) plan is a non-qualified, tax-deferred compensation plan offered by many non-profit institutions to their employees. This plan, like a 401(k) or 403(b) plan, allows you to save for retirement. Contributions are made from pre-tax wages, and the Internal Revenue Code sets the maximum contribution limits. The limit for 2003 is the lesser of $12,000 or 100% of an employee's salary. Catch-up provisions apply to those 50 or older; these people can contribute an extra $2,000. Because contributions are made before tax, naturally this means that taxes are due when withdrawals are made. However, these plans do not impose a penalty on early withdrawals. Funds in a 457(b) plan can be rolled into another 457(b) plan if you change employers. Alternately, a 457(b) account can be rolled into a different type of retirement-savings plan such as an IRA or a 401(k). As of 2002, an individual may participate in a 457(b) plan and a 403(b) plan at the same time. --------------------Check http://invest-faq.com/ for updates------------------ Subject: Retirement Plans - Co-mingling funds in IRA accounts Last-Revised: 19 Feb 1998 Contributed-By: Art Kamlet (artkamlet at aol.com), Paul Maffia (paulmaf at eskimo.com) The term "co-mingling" refers to mixing monies that were saved under different plans within a single IRA account. You may co-mingle as much as you want within your IRAs. Although the bookkeeping is not a problem, there are disadvantages; one example is discussed below. Remember that you can have as many IRA accounts as you wish, although there are strict limits on contributions to IRA accounts; see the FAQ article on ordinary IRA accounts for more details. The most common situation where co-mingling becomes an issue is if you have what is known as a "conduit" IRA. This happens if you change employers, and in doing so, move monies from the old employer's 401(k) plan into an IRA account in your name. If the IRA is funded with only 401(k) monies, then it is called a conduit IRA. Further, if a later employer allows it, the entire chunk can be transferred into a new 401(k). Of course you can mix (co-mingle) the conduit monies with monies from other IRA accounts as much as you want. The major disadvantage of co-mingling is that if your 401(k) monies get co-mingled with non-401(k) monies, you can never place the original monies from the old 401(k) back into another 401(k). You may also want to read the article on 401(k) plans in the FAQ. Hre's a summary of the issues that might motivate you to maintain separate IRA accounts: 1. Legitimate investment needs such as diversification. 2. Estate planning purposes 3. With passage of the new tax law, to keep your Roth IRA money separate from regular IRA money and/or Education IRA money. 4. And of course to keep 401K rollover monies separate if you want to retain the ability to reroll as noted above. --------------------Check http://invest-faq.com/ for updates------------------ Subject: Retirement Plans - Keogh Last-Revised: 23 Apr 1998 From: A. Nielson, Chris Lott ( contact me ), James Phillips A Keogh plan is a tax-deferred retirement savings plan for people who are self-employed, and is much like an IRA. The main difference between a Keogh and an IRA is the contribution limit. Although exact contribution limits depend on the type of Keogh plan (see below), in general a self-employed individual may contribute a maximum of $30,000 to a Keogh plan each year, and deduct that amount from taxable income. The limits for IRAs are much less, of course. The following information was derived from material T. Row Price sends out about their small company plan. There are three types of Keogh plans. All types limit the maximum contribution to $30K per year, but additional constraints may be imposed depending on the type of plan. Profit Sharing Keogh Annual contributions are limited to 15% of compensation, but can be changed to as low as 0% for any year. Money Purchase Keogh Annual contributions are limited to 25% of compensation but can be as low as 1%, but once the contribution percentage has been set, it cannot be changed for the life of the plan. Paired Keogh Combines profit sharing and money purchase plans. Annual contributions limited to 25% but can be as low as 3%. The part contributed to the money purchase part is fixed for the life of the plan, but the amount contributed to the profit sharing part (still subject to the 15% limit) can change every year. Like an IRA, the Keogh offers the individual a chance for his or her savings to grow free of taxes. Taxes are not paid until the individual begins withdrawing funds from the plan. Participants in Keogh plans are subject to the same restrictions on distribution as IRAs, namely distributions cannot be made without a penalty before age 59 1/2, and distributions must begin before age 70 1/2. Setting up a Keogh plan is significantly more involved then establishing an IRA or SEP-IRA. Any competent brokerage house should be able to help you execute the proper paperwork. In exchange for this initial hurdle, the contribution limits are very favorable when compared to the other plans, so self-employed individuals should consider a Keogh plan seriously. --------------------Check http://invest-faq.com/ for updates------------------ Subject: Retirement Plans - Roth IRA Last-Revised: 31 Jan 2003 Contributed-By: Chris Lott ( contact me ), Paul Maffia (paulmaf at eskimo.com), Rich Carreiro (rlcarr at animato.arlington.ma.us) This article describes the provisions of the US tax code for Roth IRAs as of mid 2001, including the changes made by the Economic Recovery and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. Also see the articles elsewhere in the FAQ for information about the Traditional IRA . The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 established a new type of individual retirement arrangement (IRA). It is commonly known as the "Roth IRA" because it was championed in Congress by Senator William Roth of Delaware. The Roth IRA has been available to investors since 2 Jan 1998; provisions were amended by the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, signed into law by the president on 22 July 1998. Plans were amended again in 2001. This article will give a broad overview of Roth IRA rules and regulations, as well as summarize the differences between a Roth IRA and an ordinary IRA. A Roth individual retirement arrangement (Roth IRA) allows tax payers, subject to certain income limits, to save money for use in retirement while allowing the savings to grow tax-free. All of the tax benefits associated with a Roth IRA happen when withdrawals are made: withdrawals, subject to certain rules, are not taxed at all. Stated differently, Roth IRAs convert earnings (dividends, interest, capital gains) into tax-free income. There are no tax benefits associated with contributions (no deductions on your federal tax return) because all contributions to a Roth IRA are made with after-tax monies. Funds in an IRA may be invested in a broad variety of vehicles (e.g., stocks, bonds, etc.) but there are limitations on investments (e.g., options trading is restricted, and buying property for your own use is not permitted). The contribution amounts are limited to $3,000 annually (as of 2003) and may be restricted based on an individual's income and filing status. In 2003, an individual may contribute the lesser of US$3,000 or the amount of wage income from US sources to his or her IRA account(s). A notable exception was introduced in 1997, namely that married couples with only one wage earner may each contribute the full $3,000 to their respective IRA accounts. These limits are quite low in comparison to arrangements that permit employee contributions such as 401(k) plans (see the article on 401(k) plans in this FAQ for extensive information about those accounts). There are absolutely no limits on the number of IRA accounts that an individual may have, but the contribution limit applies to all accounts collectively. In other words, an individual may have 34 ordinary IRA accounts and 16 Roth IRA accounts, but can only contribute $3,000 total to those accounts, divided up any way he or she pleases (perhaps $40 each, but that's a lot of little checks). Taxpayers are permitted to contribute monies to a Roth IRA only if their income lies below certain thresholds. However, participation in any other retirement plan has no influence on whether a person may contribute or not. More specifically, a person's Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) must pass an income test for contributions to the Roth IRA to be permitted. The 2003 income tests for individuals filing singly, couples with filing status Married Filing Jointly (MFJ), and couples living together with filing status Married Filing Separately (MFS) look like this: * MAGI less than 95k (MFJ 150k, MFS 0k): full contribution allowed * MAGI in the range 95-110k (MFJ 150-160k), MFS 0-10k: partial contribution allowed * MAGI greater than 110k (MFJ 160k, MFS 10k): no contribution allowed. That's right, the limits on married couples who file separate tax returns are pretty darned low. A bit of trivia: the Roth contribution phaseout, like the phaseout for the deductibility of ordinary IRA contributions, has a kink in it. As long as the MAGI is within the phaseout range, the allowable contribution will not be less than $200, even though a strict application of the phaseout formula would lead to an amount less than $200. So as your MAGI works its way into the phaseout, your contribution will drop linearly from $2000 down to $200, then will stay at $200 until you hit the end of the phaseout, where it then drops to $0. Annual IRA contributions can be made between January 1 of that year and April 15 of the following year. Because of the extra three and a half months, if you send in a contribution to your IRA custodian between January and April, be sure to indicate the year of the contribution so the appropriate information gets sent to the IRS. Remember, contributions to a Roth IRA are never deductible from a taxpayer's income (unlike a traditional IRA). The rules for penalty-free, tax-free distributions from a Roth IRA account are fairly complex. First, some terminology: a Roth account is built from contributions (made annually in cash) and conversions (from a traditinal IRA); earnings are any amounts in the account beyond what was contributed or converted. The rule are as follows: * Contributions can be withdrawn tax-free and penalty-free at any time. * There is 5-year clock 'A'. Clock 'A' starts on the first day of the first tax year in which any Roth IRA is opened and funded. * Earnings can be withdrawn tax-free and penalty-free after Clock 'A' hits 5 years and a qualifying event (such as turning 59.5, disability, etc.) occurs. * Additional 5-year clocks 'B', 'C', etc. start running for each traditional IRA that is converted to a Roth IRA. Each clock applies just to that conversion. * If you are under age 59.5 when a particular conversion is done, and you withdraw any conversion monies before the clock associated with that particular conversion hits 5 years, you are hit with a 10% penalty on the withdrawn conversion monies. If you are over age 59.5 when you did the conversion, no penalty no matter how soon you withdraw the monies from that conversion. * The order of withdrawals (distributions) has been established to help investors. When a withdrawal is made, it is deemed to come from contributions first . After all contributions have been withdrawn, subsequent withdrawals are considered to come from conversions. After all conversions have been withdrawn, then withdrawals come from earnings. I believe the conversions are taken in chronological order. * All Roth IRA accounts are aggregated for the purpose of applying the ordering rules to a withdrawal. A huge difference between Roth and ordinary IRA accounts involves the rules for withdrawals past age 70 1/2. There are no requirements that a holder of a Roth IRA ever make withdrawals (unlike a traditional IRA for which required minimum distribution rules apply). This provision makes it possible to use the Roth IRA as an estate planning tool. You can pass on significant sums to your heirs if you choose; the account must be distributed if the holder dies. What the Roth IRA allows you to do, in essence, is lock in the tax rate that you are currently paying. If you think rates are going nowhere but up, even in your retirement, the Roth IRA is a sensible choice. But if you think your tax rate after retirement will be less, perhaps much less, than your current tax rate, it might be wiser to stick with a conventional IRA. (To be picky, you really need to think about the tax rate when you are eligible to take tax-free, penalty-free distributions, which is age 59 1/2.) Should you use a Roth IRA at all? Answering this question is tricky because it depends on your circumstances. In general, experts agree that if you have a 401(k) plan available to you through your employer, you should max out that account before looking elsewhere. Otherwise, if you are allowed to put money in a Roth IRA at all (i.e., if your income is below the limits), then making contributions to a Roth IRA is always preferable over making contributions to a nondeductible IRA. You pay the same amount of taxes now in both cases, because neither is deductible, but you don't pay taxes on withdrawal from the Roth (unlike withdrawals from an ordinary IRA). The only exception here is if you're going to need to pull the money out before the minimum holding period of 5 years. Holders of ordinary IRA accounts will be permitted to convert their accounts to Roth IRA accounts if they meet certain criteria. First, there is a limit on MAGI of $100K for that individual in the year of the conversion, single or married. Second, taxpayers whose filing status is married filing separately may not convert their ordinary IRA accounts to Roth accounts. Tax is owed on the amount transferred, less any nondeductible contributions that were made over the years. In more detail: the current law allows the income (i.e., withdrawal) resulting from a conversion in 1998 to be divided by 4 and indicated as income in equal parts on 1998--2001 tax returns (the technical corrections bill changed this from mandatory to optional). Conversions made in 1999 and subsequent years will be fully taxed in the year of the conversion. Deductible contributions and all earnings are taxed; non-deductible contributions are considered return of capital and are not taxed. If you convert only a portion of your IRA holdings to a Roth IRA, the IRS says that these withdrawals are considered to be taken ratably from each ordinary IRA account. You compute the rate by finding the ratio of deductible to non-deductible contributions (also known as computing your IRA basis). This ignores growth or shrinkage of the account's value. For example, if you stashed $9,000 in deductible contributions and $3,000 in non-deductible contributions for a total of $12,000 in contributions to your ordinary IRA, your basis would be 25% of the total contributions. When you make a withdrawal, 25% will considered to be from the non-deductible portion and 75% from the deductible portion (and hence taxable). Not certain whether the proper way to say this is that your basis is 25% or 75%, but you get the idea. The technical corrections bill of 1998 added a provision that investors could unconvert (and possibly recovert) with no penalty to cover the case of a person who converted, but then became ineligible due to unexpected income. This opened a loophole: it put no limit on the number of switches back and forth. With the decline in the markets of 1998, many people unconverted and reconverted to establish a lower cost basis in their Roth IRA accounts. The IRS issued new regulations in late October, 1998 that disallow this strategy effective 1 Nov 98, but grandfather any reconversions that predate the new regulations. Under the new regulations, IRA holders are allowed just one reconversion. If you are eligible to convert your ordinary IRA to a Roth IRA, should you? Again answering this question is non-trivial because each investor's circumstances are very different. There are some generalizations that are fairly safe. Young investors, who have many years for their investments to grow, could benefit handsomely by being able to withdraw all earnings free of tax. Older people who don't want to be forced to withdraw funds from their accounts at age 70 1/2 might find the Roth IRA helpful (this is the estate planning angle). On the other hand, for people who have significant IRA balances, the extra income could push them into a higher tax bracket for several years, cause them to lose tax breaks for some itemized deductions, or increase taxes on Social Security benefits. The following illustrated example may help shed light on the benefits of a Roth IRA and help you decide whether conversion is the right choice for you. The numbers in this example were computed by Vanguard for their pages (see the link below). In many situations the differences between the two types of accounts is quite small, which is perhaps at odds with the hype you might have seen recently about Roth IRAs. But let's let the number speak for themselves. We're going to compare an ordinary deductible IRA with a Roth IRA. Each begins with $2,000, and we'll let the accounts grow for 20 years with no further contributions. We'll assume a constant rate of return of 8%, compounded annually, just to keep things simple. We'll also assume the contribution to the ordinary IRA was deductible because otherwise the Roth is a clear winner. Here's the situation at the start; we assume the 28% tax bracket so you have to start by earning 2,778 just to keep 2,000. What Ordinary IRA Roth IRA Gross wages 2,778 2,778 Contributions 2,000 2,000 Taxable income 778 2,778 28% federal tax 218 778 What's left 560 0 So at this point, the ordinary IRA left some money in your pocket, but the Feds and the Roth IRA took it all. But we're not going to spend that money, no sir, we're going to invest it at 8% too, although it's taxed, so it's really like investing it at 72% of 8%, or about 6%. After 20 years we withdraw the full amount in each account. What's the situation? What Ordinary IRA Roth IRA Account balance 9,332 9,332 28% federal tax 2,613 0 What's left 6,719 9,332 Outside investment 1,716 0 Net result 8,435 9,332 So this worked out pretty well for the Roth IRA. A key assumption was that the use of the same tax rate at withdrawal time. If the tax rate had been significantly less, then the Ordinary IRA would have come out ahead. And of course you had the discipline to invest the money that the ordinary IRA left in your hands instead of blowing it in Atlantic City. I hope that this example illustrated how you might run the numbers for yourself. Before you do anything, I recommend you seriously consider getting advice from a tax professional who can evaluate your circumstances and make a recommendation that is most appropriate for you. If you've decided to convert your ordinary IRA to a Roth IRA, here are some tips offered by Ellen Schultz of the Wall Street Journal (paraphrased from her article of 9 Jan 1998). Pay taxes out of your pocket, not out of your IRA account. If you use IRA funds to pay the taxes incurred on the conversion (considered a withdrawal from your ordinary IRA), you've lost much of the potential tax savings. Worse, those funds will be considered a premature distribution and you may be hit with a 10% penalty! Consider converting only part of your IRA funds. This decision is up to you. There is no requirement to convert all of your accounts. Conversion amounts don't affect your conversion eligibility. When you convert, the withdrawal amount does not count towards the 100k limit on income. As a final note, you should be careful about any fees that the trustee of your Roth IRA account might try to impose. For comparison, Waterhouse offers a no-fee Roth IRA. Just for the record, a number of changes were made in 1998 to the original Roth provisions ("technical corrections"). One problem that was corrected was that the original law included a tax break for conversion Roth accounts. Specifically, there was no penalty on early withdrawals from conversion accounts. This means that any money converted (and any earnings after conversion) to a Roth from an ordinary IRA could be withdrawn at any time without penalty, so you could roll to a Roth IRA and use your ordinary IRA money immediately without penalty. The technical corrections bill corrected this by requiring that 5 years elapse after conversion before any sums can be withdrawn. Also, under the wording of the original law, the minimum 5-year holding period for a Roth conversion account was based on the date of the last deposit into that account. One of the consequences of the second problem was that the IRS was insisting on keeping the conversion accounts separate from contribution (new money) accounts so as to minimize the potential damage (tax collection-wise) if the correction was not made (but of course it was). Another change lowered the already low income test for couples filing MFS from 15k to 10k. The rules changed in mid 2001 in the following ways: * The contribution limit of $2,000 per year maximum rises to $3,000 in 2002; reaches $4,000 in 2005, and finally hits $5,000 in 2008. * Investors over 50 can contribute an extra $500 per year (in 2002) and eventually an extra 1,000 (in 2006) per year; this is called a catch-up provision. Here's a list of sources for additional information, including on-line calculators that will help you decide whether you should convert an ordinary IRA to a Roth IRA. * Kaye Thomas maintains a site with an enormous wealth of information about the Roth IRA. http://www.fairmark.com/rothira/ * Brentmark Software offers a Roth IRA site that provides technical and planning information on Roth IRAs. http://www.rothira.com * The Roth IRA Advisor provides guidelines for IRA owners and 401(k) participants to optimize the benefits of their retirement plans. Written by James Lange, CPA. http://www.rothira-advisor.com * Vanguard offers a considerable amount of information about the new tax laws and Roth IRA provisions, including detailed analyses of the two accounts, on their web site: http://www.vanguard.com/educ/lib/plain/pttra97.html#accounts Also see the Vanguard page that discusses conversions: http://www.vanguard.com/cgi-bin/RothConv * And also try the Vanguard calculator (no, they're not sponsoring me :-) http://www.vanguard.com/cgi-bin/NewsPrint/886025746 * An article about Roth IRAs from SenInvest: http://www.seninvest.com/article4.htm * A collection of links to sites with yet more information about Roth IRAs, with emphasis on mutual fund holders: http://www.fundspot.com/roth.htm * A conversion calculator from Strong Funds: http://www.strongfunds.com/strong/Retirement98/ind/calc/rollcalc.htm For the very last word on the rules and regulations of Roth IRA accounts, get IRS Publication 553. --------------------Check http://invest-faq.com/ for updates------------------ Subject: Retirement Plans - SEP IRA Last-Revised: 16 Feb 2003 Contributed-By: Edward Lupin, Daniel Lamaute ( http://www.InvestSafe.com ) A simplified employee pension (SEP) IRA is a written plan that allows an employer to make contributions toward his or her own (if self-employed) or employees' retirement, without becoming involved in more complex retirement plans (such as Keoghs). The SEP functions essentially as a low-cost pension plan for small businesses. As of this writing, employers can contribute a maximum of 25% of an employee's eligible compensation or $40,000, whichever is less. Be careful not to exceed the limits; a non-deductible penalty tax of 6% of the excess amount contributed will be incurred for each year in which an excess contribution remains in a SEP-IRA. Employees are able to exclude from current income the entire SEP contribution. However, the money contributed to a SEP-IRA belongs to the employee immediately and always. If the employee leaves the company, all retirement contributions go with the employee (this is known as portability). The IRS regulations state that employers must include all eligible employees who are at least age 21 and have been with a company for 3 years out of the immediately preceding 5 years. However, employers have the option to establish less-restrictive participation requirements, if desired. An employer is not required to make contributions in any year or to maintain a certain level of contributions to a SEP-IRA plan. Thus, small employers have the flexibility to change their annual contributions based on the performance of the business. For calendar year corporations with a March 15, 2003 tax filing deadline, SEP-IRA contributions must be made by the employer by the due date of the companys income tax return, including extensions. The contributions are deductible for tax year 2002 as if the contributions had actually been contributed within tax year 2002. Sole proprietors have until April 15, 2003, or to their extension deadline, to make their SEP-IRA contribution if they want a 2002 tax deduction. The SEP-IRA enrollment process is an easy one. Its generally a two page application process. The employer completes Form 5305-SEP. The employee completes the IRA investment application usually supplied by a mutual fund company or some other financial institution which will hold the funds. Nothing has to be filed with the IRS to establish the SEP-IRA or subsequently, unlike many other retirement plans that require IRS annual returns. --------------------Check http://invest-faq.com/ for updates------------------ Compilation Copyright (c) 2003 by Christopher Lott. User Contributions:Comment about this article, ask questions, or add new information about this topic:Part1 - Part2 - Part3 - Part4 - Part5 - Part6 - Part7 - Part8 - Part9 - Part10 - Part11 - Part12 - Part13 - Part14 - Part15 - Part16 - Part17 - Part18 - Part19 - Part20 [ Usenet FAQs | Web FAQs | Documents | RFC Index ] Send corrections/additions to the FAQ Maintainer: noreply@invest-faq.com (Christopher Lott)
Last Update March 27 2014 @ 02:11 PM
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