For many Americans, saving for retirement is like exercising or eating healthy, we know we should do it but most of us don’t. In fact, a survey published by the Washington Post reported that over 70% of Americans are not saving enough for retirement and a study by the US Government Accountability Office reported that as many as half of American households 55 or older have NO retirement savings at all! A recent Merrill Lynch report estimates the average cost of retirement to be nearly $750,000 but this obviously depends on your standard of living and life expectancy. With advances in technology increasing our lifespans, we need to plan accordingly in order to have what we need in retirement.
The Solo 401K is the ideal vehicle for small business owners with no full time employees to save for retirement through its generous contributions limits which can offset your taxable income. If your small business generated a profit this year and you are looking for a nice year-end tax deduction, the Solo 401K may be the perfect solution for you. We have compared the other available retirement options for small businesses and the Solo 401K consistently wins hands down. Some of the benefits include:
1. Tax Savings: In 2017, the employee contribution limit is $18,000, or $24,000 if you are 50 or over. Compare this with the contribution limit of $5,500 for IRAs. In addition, the business itself can do an employer match up to 25% of the employee’s W-2 compensation. For an example, let’s assume you have a net income of $100,000 in your s-corp business and you took $35,000 as your salary. Your contributions (traditional) and tax savings are as follows.
Employee traditional 401K Contribution <$18,000>
Employer Match at 25% of $35K <$8,750>
Total Solo K Contributions $26,750
Tax Savings (approx. 25% federal): $6,700 (approx.)
Plus State Income Tax Savings Depending on State
For a calculator that allows you to determine your contribution levels based on your income, refer to this website, check your business entity type (sole prop LLC, partnership, s-corp) and it will calculate the solo K contribution amounts.
2. The Ability to Self Direct: The solo 401Ks established by KKOS allows you to self-direct your retirement account which means, with very few exceptions, you can invest in virtually any type of investment you want. Rather than be stuck with the investment options that Merrill Lynch or Charles Schwab offers, with a self directed 401K, you can invest in “what you know.” Do you want to be a lender and get a fixed rate of interest through your 401K? Or perhaps purchase a rental property if your interest is real estate? Maybe a startup company in an industry you have an interest. All of these options are possible with a self directed 401K.
3. No Third Party Custodian: By contrast to an IRA which requires a third party custodian, the 401K owner in a solo 401K can acts as his/her own trustee. The other options to self-direct is through a self-directed IRA, however, in a self-directed IRA (without an IRA/LLC) all of your transactions needs to be processed through the third party IRA custodian. Some clients have reported that they were unable to secure a deal due to the delays of having to go through the third party custodian. On the other hand, with a solo 401K, you, as the trustee of the 401K, have the freedom enter into transactions or make investments on behalf of the 401K thereby eliminating the expense and delay of involving a third party custodian. You’ll also have a checking account and “checkbook control” such that you can sign checks or send wires to make investments or to pay expenses. With freedom, of course, comes responsibility and so you must be intimately familiar with the rules and restrictions for self directing your 401K to avoid penalties and taxes with the IRS.
4. You can take a Personal Loan from your 401K: With an IRA, there are very limited circumstances where you can use money from the retirement account for personal reasons and because of these restrictions, using IRA money for personal purposes is not a viable option. With a 401K, you can take a loan of up to $50,000 or 50% of the value of the 401K, whichever is less, and use those funds for any purpose. 401K loans must be in writing using a compliant 401(k) participant loan note and, must provide for, at a minimum, quarterly repayments within five (5) years. However, for individuals who need quick access to cash, the 401K loan is usually a much better options compared with those available for IRAs.
5. No UDFI Tax: When you leverage your investment in an IRA with borrowed funds, any income that is received that is attributable to those leveraged funds is subject to Unrelated Debt Financed Income Tax (UDFI). For example, if you buy a $100,000 rental property through your IRA, but 50% of the purchase price was from a non-recourse loan, 50% of any income from that investment will be subject to this UDFI tax. By contrast, there is no UDFI tax for 401K investments arising from debt on real estate. So any income you generate from that $100,000 property in your 401K would grow tax deferred even though you only really used $50,000 of retirement funds to generate the income. That’s having your cake and eating it too!
In order to qualify for a solo 401K, you must have a small business that generates business income (sorry, rental properties alone generally do not qualify as a small business). The 401K must be established before the end of this year in order to obtain the tax benefits for this year. For those business owners who are looking for year-end tax strategies to lower your taxes, the solo 401K may be the perfect fit.
For more information on how the Solo 401K works, take a look at our 1 hour solo 401K webinar available here.
