IRS Offers Small Businesses New Retirement Plan Resource Guide
Small business owners can now learn virtually everything they need to know
about setting up and maintaining IRA-based retirement plans for their employees,
thanks to a new, free compact disc from the Internal Revenue Service.
“This new CD is just one of the ways we’re helping small business owners
provide themselves and their employees with the information they need to save
for retirement,” said Carol Gold, director of the Employee Plans unit at the
IRS. “IRA-based retirement plans are tailor-made for small businesses, offering
them an easy way to provide retirement benefits to their employees with a
minimum of paperwork.”
The CD-ROM, Individual Retirement Arrangement (IRA) Resource Guide for Small
Business Owners and Individuals, contains information about both traditional and
Roth IRAs. It also covers IRA-based retirement plans for employers, including
simplified employee pensions (SEPs), SIMPLE IRAs, and payroll deduction IRA
plans.
"The 2005 Retirement Confidence Survey found that the number one reason for
saving in America is retirement," said Dallas L. Salisbury, president and CEO of
the Employee Benefit Research Institute, and Chairman of the American Savings
Education Council. "The IRS has just made that a lot easier with its new
one-stop resource guide CD that will help every taxpayer set a savings goal,
develop a plan and know how to implement it. The IRS is clearly on your side
when it comes to retirement planning"
The new CD pulls together into one easy-to-use tool various IRA-related print
and electronic information, from IRS as well as from other federal agencies. It
will help business owners make the right decisions about setting up a plan that
is best for their business, making contributions to the plan, investing funds,
and taking distributions. It also explains the rules for keeping these plans in
compliance with the law, including methods for correcting errors in plan
administration.
“More than one in three households are without any retirement savings, and
IRAs are an easy and effective way to save for retirement,” Gold said. “I
encourage employers and employees alike to take advantage of the benefits that
IRAs offer such as tax-deferred growth and a wide array of investment options.”
To help individuals and business owners avoid scams that can threaten their
retirement savings, the CD highlights illegal tax schemes related to retirement
plans.
Included on the CD are video clips, forms and publications, frequently asked
questions, and interactive resources that make learning about IRAs easy, It also
includes information on the basics of investing retirement savings and
checklists for business owners to use in managing their IRA-Based retirement
plans.
To get a free copy of the CD, call the IRS toll-free at 1-800-TAX-FORM
(829-3676) and ask for Publication 4395. An online version is available on the
newly-revamped “Retirement Plans” section on IRS.gov. In addition, the IRS urges
small business owners visiting the Web site to subscribe to Retirement News for
Employers, a free quarterly electronic newsletter on retirement plan issues.
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