Advising Clients since 1980
Company 401K Plans
401K plans allow employees to make an election between receiving current compensation as cash or having part of it contributed to a profit sharing or stock bonus plan. These plans are named after section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code. Besides employees making contributions by electing to have part of their salary contributed to the plan, employers may contribute to a 401K plan through employer matching contributions or a profit sharing program. For income tax purposes, employee and employer contributions are not considered salary for employees.
The contributions and earnings in a 401K plan grow tax-deferred (tax isn’t due until distribution). An alternative to the traditional 401K is the Roth 401K in which income taxes are paid on the contributions but all distributions grow on a tax-deferred basis and no taxes are paid on withdrawals. The Roth provision was created effective January 1, 1998 as part of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. Congress made the Roth option permanent in 2006.
Self-Employed 1-Person Plan Options
A special kind of 401K Plan (the Individual 401K) is available for self-employed individuals and their spouses. These generally allow for much greater contributions that the often uses SEP-IRA and offer additional benefits like borrowing against the value (for any purpose including real estate, college funding, etc.) and are both low cost and low administration intensive.
The general tax rules described below are the federal income tax rules as of January 1, 2007 and may be subject to exceptions. Always check your state (and local) income tax rules on 401K plans. Finally, since tax laws may (and probably will) change from time to time, always check with your tax advisor before making major decisions regarding your 401K plan.
Eligibility
Employees may need to:
be at least age 21, and
have completed one year of service with the employer
The term “year of service” means at least 1,000 hours of work.
Employers can include more employees by reducing these requirements.
Contribution Limits
There are several yearly contribution limits. However, you are not required to meet the contribution limits:
1. The employee pre-tax contribution limit may be up to $19,500 in the year 2021 plus an additional $6,500 “catch up” provision for those over age 50.
2. The maximum amount of all contributions from you and your employer and all other additions to your account cannot exceed the lesser of:
a. 25% of compensation, or
b. $58,000
3. An employer can deduct up to 15% of the compensation of all plan participants.
In addition, there are special rules if you own 5% or more of the company or you are a highly compensated employee (e.g. compensation in 2021 over $290,000 affects an employee’s contribution limit in the year 2021).
Vesting
Vesting depends upon the type of contribution made to the 401(k) plan.
Employee contributions and the earnings from those contributions are 100% vested. Your ownership of the employer contributions and the related earnings depends upon the vesting period set up in the 401(k) plan.
Benefits of the 401K Plan
Many variables determine whether you’ll meet, exceed or fall short of your retirement income goal. These variables include:
Employee pre-tax contributions can be as much as $19,500 per year plus an additional $6,500 “catch up” provision for those over age 50
Employers usually match at least part of the employee contributions
Contributions aren’t considered part of an employee’s salary for income tax purposes
Earnings and contributions grow tax-deferred without any reduction for income tax each year
Employee contributions and related earnings are 100% vested
Special creditor protection may be available
You may be able to delay the start of distributions if you continue to work past age 70 ½
Negatives of the 401K Plan
Distributions of earnings and previously untaxed contributions are taxed at ordinary income tax rates (from 15% to 40% for federal tax plus state tax as of 1 January 2021)
Employer contributions and related earnings may not be vested or fully vested for a period of years
There is a penalty for early withdrawal unless an exception applies (see section below on exceptions to early withdrawal penalty)
Beneficiary Designations
Legal and tax advice is useful when determining how to complete beneficiary designations. Properly completed designations can help save estate (death) tax, avoid probate, allow better income tax opportunities and avoid creditor claims on retirement assets.
Extra care needs to be taken in naming trusts as a beneficiary of most retirement assets in case of a death. Sometimes, naming trusts as a beneficiary can trigger income tax sooner than it would otherwise be owed and reduce the amount ultimately shielded from death tax.
Note that many plans require the participant’s spouse to be the beneficiary, unless the spouse provides written permission for another beneficiary to be named.
Creditor Protection
Retirement plans and accounts may have special creditor protection under federal and/or state laws. Different types of plans and accounts may have varying degrees of protection. State protection rules may also vary from state to state.
If you convert from one type of plan to another (e.g., from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA), you may be changing how much protection you have. This may be also be the case if you move to another new state where the new state rules are different.
Consulting with an attorney for guidance on the creditor protection issue may be helpful.
Estate & Death Taxes
Retirement assets are added to your other assets and may be subject to federal and/or state death (estate) tax. It depends upon the size of your overall estate and the estate planning done for you. Consult with your advisor about ways to defer or avoid estate tax.
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Charles M. Bloom, Registered Principal offers securities and advisory services through Centaurus Financial, Inc. - Member FINRA and SIPC - 775 Avenida Pequena, CA, 93111 (mailing address: 3905 State Street Suite 7173, Santa Barbara, CA, 93105) - CA Life Insurance License No. 0A52786 - Centaurus Financial, Inc. and Shoreline Wealth & Investment Management are not affiliated companies.
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