Home and/or Top of Page

Newsletter
June 04, 2004

IRS Introduces New Tools Aimed at Helping Small Businesses With RETIREMENT PLANS

IR-2004-69.

The IRS introduced two new tools to help small businesses keep their employee retirement plans compliant with federal tax law. These tools – a suite of retirement-plan "check-ups" and an employer newsletter – will help employers better understand their retirement plans and stay up to date with new developments.

According to the IRS, small business owners have told them that they want more information on how to choose, establish and operate their retirement plans. To ensure the compliance of their retirement plans, the IRS is encouraging business owners to review one of three check-ups – for SIMPLE IRA, SEP, or SARSEP retirement plans – which are found on the retirement plans page on IRS.gov. Each check-up is geared to one of these IRA-based retirement plans commonly operated by small businesses.

The check-ups go straight to the issues where IRS examiners most frequently find problems. For example, the SIMPLE IRA Plan checklist asks: "Is this SIMPLE IRA plan your business's only employee retirement plan?" If the answer is "No", the plan may not be compliant since a business with a SIMPLE IRA plan generally cannot also sponsor any other retirement plan, such as a 401(k) plan. Each checklist has 10 simple questions with plain language explanations of the tax law, advice on how to fix a problem and links to further information.

Retirement plans need ongoing attention in order to stay compliant. According to the IRS, small business owners can help ensure their plans stay compliant by subscribing to Retirement News for Employers, a new periodic newsletter from the IRS.

Each edition of the newsletter will address the special concerns of small businesses in relation to the plans they maintain for their employees. The debut issue, scheduled for release the week of May 17, contains articles on retirement issues for re-employed veterans, new products such as a troubleshooter for plan administrators, and a calendar of events noting filing deadlines, seminars and more.

Businesses may subscribe to the newsletter by visiting the retirement plans page on the IRS website. Subscribers will receive an e-mail containing a link to each edition of the newsletter. In addition, previous issues will be archived on the Internet site. In addition to the check-ups and newsletter, the IRS is encouraging small business owners to take advantage of other information available on the retirement plans page.
 

TO CONTACT
DON FITCH CPA

Phone Don Fitch CPA Toll Free at (877)CPA-Help or (877)272-4357 or on our Direct Line at (760)674-1722.

Email:  DonFitchCPA@paylesstax.com

Fax Don Fitch CPA (760)836-0968 or (760)406-5001.

Mail your request for help to Don Fitch CPA:

          Don Fitch CPA
          74-478 Highway 111, Suite 3
          Palm Desert, CA 92260

Complete Don Fitch's Website contact form http://www.paylesstax.com/dfacontact.html

Chat Live with Don Fitch CPA