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SIMPLE IRA

Fidelity’s Savings Investment Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE IRA) makes it easier for self-employed individuals and small businesses with 100 or fewer employees to offer tax-advantaged retirement plans.

Plan features

Tax advantages

Employers:

  • Employer contributions are deductible as business expenses.

Participants:

  • Tax-deferred growth potential
  • Pretax contributions for participants
Eligibility

Employers:

  • Must have 100 or fewer employees who earned at least $5,000 in the preceding year
  • Cannot maintain any other employer-sponsored retirement plan

Participants:

  • Must have earned at least $5,000 from the employer in any two preceding years
  • Must be expected to earn at least $5,000 in the current year1
Contributions

Funded by employer contributions and elective employee salary deferrals

Plan Sponsors:

  • Mandatory 3% matching contribution or 2% non-elective contribution

Participants:

  • Up to 100% of compensation, with a maximum of $12,500 for 2015 and 2016 ($15,500 if age 50 or older)
Establishment deadline

For current tax year: Set up and notify employees by October 1.2
Administrative responsibilities

Certain annual employee notifications must be made.

No plan tax filings with the IRS are required.
Withdrawals

Minimum required distributions starting at age 70½

10% early withdrawal penalty (25% for first two years of plan participation) if under age 59½, subject to certain exceptions
Investment options

Include a wide range of mutual funds, stocks, bonds, ETFs, and FDIC-insured CDs

Only certain fund families have mutual funds that are eligible investments for SIMPLE IRAs with no minimum initial investment requirement.
Support and guidance

One-on-one guidance—in person, online, or over the phone

Research and tools to help you create a long-term plan and choose investments
Fees

$350 per plan3 collected annually from the employer; or $25 per participant3 collected annually from participants' accounts

Next steps

Open a SIMPLE IRA.
Call 800-544-5373 and select option 3 to speak with a small-business retirement specialist.

Get started on your own. Get a jump on the paperwork for your new plan.

Request Our Guide to Small-Business Retirement Plans.

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5508tridion
Rated 4.1 out of 5 by 81 reviewers.
Rated 5 out of 5 by It's SIMPLE Our company's SIMPLE IRA was totally easy to set up. Have everyone fill out the forms for their accounts and mail it to Fidelity's PO box. Didn't require a salesperson to make an onsite visit. April 9, 2016
Rated 5 out of 5 by Superior Service; Superior Options With the SIMPLE IRA from Fidelity, it's been a smooth and easy ride transitioning from an older, less useful, few options, and very costly SIMPLE IRA from a less capable firm. On behalf of the other employees who also made the move to Fidelity, I could not be happier, more satisfied, and more confident that this move to Fidelity will not only benefit folks now, but far into the future. September 9, 2015
Rated 5 out of 5 by Simple IRA I've had this open at fidelity for many years and it has been good for my few employees and for the business. Kudos to Fidelity for making it straightforward and easy. March 2, 2015
Rated 5 out of 5 by Inexpensive and easy Easy to implement as a small employer. Low fees and almost unlimited investment selections. October 21, 2014
Rated 5 out of 5 by Simple - Simple IRA We had a 401K with another company that was very difficult to follow. The funds were not listed, so the only way to check was through their site. They had high admin fees, also. Fidelity makes everything simple. Fidelity fund choices are great and you can be as flexible as you want in making trades in stocks, if you choose to go that way. Customer service advisers are always helpful, no matter what your question is. June 17, 2014
Rated 5 out of 5 by Awesome Tools, Resources, and Options Prior to my firm switching to Fidelity's Simple IRA, I passively watched quarterly statements. Since the change to Fidelity, I've enjoyed reading Fidelity's Insights and Viewpoints. The convenient access to Research tools is also great. These tools have broadened my knowledge about investment planning and made me a much more educated investor. Fideliy's mobile apps for Android and iPad are also great. June 17, 2014
Rated 5 out of 5 by Lots of offerings, easy to use We have recommended Fidelity's Simple plan to clients. The fees are reasonable, and the investment choices excellent. February 18, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5 by One of the best systems going We are a small business with under 20 employees. We found this product and compared it to one our payroll service tried to sell us and are saving thousands of dollars. It does everything that the payroll service offered us, and we are able to place a considerable amount of tax-differed money aside. Its easy to use, the Fidelity Staff set this up in record time, and our staff loves the ability to review their accounts. I recommend it highly to anyone looking to set up an employee pension plan. February 15, 2013
Rated 4 out of 5 by Best statements Monthly statements are clear and have all the information you need easily accessible. One of the best designed statements I've seen. Choice of investments very varied. Easy to do online research. February 15, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5 by Efficient and cost effective I established a Fidelity Simple IRA plan for my business as I believed it was the most efficient and cost effective method of providing a meaningful retirement savings plan for my workforce. The Fidelity Simple IRA plan provides substantially the same benefits as a 401K without the administrative burden and cost. I wish the government would increase contribution limits to match 401K contributions limits, really no logical reason for there to be a difference. February 15, 2013
Rated 4 out of 5 by Slow start I had some trouble with some of the forms needed when setting up the account. Customer service could have done a better job explaining exactly what was needed to finish opening the account and transferring assets. Once the account is up and running it is very easy to manage monthly deposits with plan manager, and to link the simple account to other investment accounts I have with Fidelity. September 21, 2016
Rated 2 out of 5 by SIMPLE IRA The SIMPLE Plan was not easy to get started and the service team lacked knowledge to assist. September 13, 2016
Rated 4 out of 5 by Looks Like A Great System - How Can I Start Using It? I have money in my account to invest but am not familiar with the stock market, market websites, or how to do anything with the money. July 18, 2016
Rated 5 out of 5 by valuable links I value the accessibility of literature from the Fidelity website at my fingertips and the knowledge of educated Fidelity employees who are just a phone call away. In addition, the visual graphs and photos, scenario examples, explained terminology, advanced email notification of seminars, training & videos have been useful. May 16, 2016
Rated 4 out of 5 by Good Secure and helpful for people who don't have a lot of time for this. May 2, 2016
Rated 4 out of 5 by Happy First Time User I am a new user to Fidelity and overall I am very satisfied. The only suggestion I would currently make would be to make the fund allocation available online. I currently fund my simple every other week with an automatic deposit. I would like to be able to easily change the allocation of those funds. May 2, 2016
Rated 4 out of 5 by Simple Review I have been pleased with Fidelity's simple IRA. Your website is easy to navigate. I am always up to date on what is going on with my IRA. March 7, 2016
Rated 5 out of 5 by great phone and email support If I have any questions, your staff responds quickly and efficiently. December 19, 2015
Rated 3 out of 5 by Hard to figure out how to invest The resources on how to invest the money I am putting into my IRA are not easy to find and use. October 6, 2015
Rated 3 out of 5 by Not as easy to just pay into and see results The site is a little daunting, and I would have preferred talking to a live person to go through my set up. August 31, 2015
Rated 4 out of 5 by "Self Directed"??? The one problem I have with the simple plan is that I must call into a representative to alter my allocation % of my contributions. This should be online August 17, 2015
Rated 4 out of 5 by Good Product For the most part everything is pretty smooth. Readding employees that come back needs to be easier. July 14, 2015
Rated 2 out of 5 by Can't setup automatic purchases... What a waste. Just love how I have to login each time we do a deposit, then I have to MANUALLY purchase what I want...Only reason I use Fidelity is because it's what the Company uses [ugh!]. July 13, 2015
Rated 5 out of 5 by its an IRA I am fairly young (20s) and do not know anything about investing other than the basic courses in High School. The Simple IRA is well, simple to use for me and easy to set up, though it took a bit to figure out how to navigate it... My employer set up the account. June 29, 2015
Rated 5 out of 5 by Wonderful Features online I love the traditional way companies do employee retirement options, but when we moved to this I have learned so much more about finances in the retirement area and I love this even more. May 26, 2015
Rated 1 out of 5 by Lack of Direct Withdrawal to My IRA My employer neglected to put money into my IRA for 3 months while deducting money from my paycheck. It should have been a way to force my employer to directly deposit money from my pay instead of mailing checks by my employer. I regret I enrolled in the company IRA if I constantly nag my employer to put my money into my IRA. I'm considering canceling. January 19, 2015
Rated 5 out of 5 by Review - Simple IRA This is a great service and I am glad it's offered. I use it frequently. I wish there was a way this account was shown to my other accounts when I log in under my username. Also if there was a place that showed how much of the $12k year contribution I had met each year. October 1, 2014
Rated 4 out of 5 by DAVID I LIKE THE EASY ONLINE ACCESS AND EASY TRADING PLATFORM FOR THE BEGINNER. I ALSO LIKE THE INFORMATION AVAILABILTY TO ARTICLES AND RESEARCH TOOLS FOR ALREADY EXISTING OWNERSHIP AND PREPARATION FOR NEW INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES. August 4, 2014
Rated 4 out of 5 by unsure but confident New member so not much experience so a 6 months review may be a little premature. July 16, 2014
Rated 2 out of 5 by Problems with customer service I have had a lot of weird customer service issues with my account since I started my new job in October. When this account was created when I was hired, the first communication I got from Fidelity was an email that said "Your email address has been changed." Ummm...what? Turns out that many years ago I had an account with Fidelity but it closed when I left that job and I forgot it ever existed. Still, why was that my first introduction to my new account? Very disconcerting and worrisome. Secondly, I tried at least 6 times to get emailed statements instead of paper statements. I logged in and updated my account 3 times and had to call customer service 3 times before they could finally resolve the issue. Meanwhile, I was getting paper statements in the mail every two weeks that said "Please reduce waste and sign up for eStatements." I don't know why it was so difficult but this was very frustrating. June 2, 2014
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Although guidance is provided one-on-one, it is educational in nature, is not individualized and is not intended to serve as the primary or sole basis for your investment or tax-planning decisions.
1. While employers cannot make these eligibility requirements more restrictive, they can generally liberalize them to include more employees.
2. For employers who want to establish a SIMPLE IRA plan for the current tax year, you must set up the plan and notify your employees by October 1 of the current tax year. (An exception applies for businesses which are established after October 1. Please refer to the Fidelity SIMPLE IRA plan establishment kit for more information.)
3. Fees are the same regardless of the number of participants in your Fidelity SIMPLE IRA plan.
The initial customer ratings and reviews for this product (those dated before 3/18/2013) were provided to Fidelity through an email solicitation for feedback on the product. All ratings and reviews are provided to Fidelity on a voluntarily basis and are screened in accordance with the guidelines set forth in our Customer Ratings and Reviews Terms of Use. For additional information on which ratings and reviews may be posted, please refer to our Customer Ratings and Review Terms of Use. Featured Reviews have been selected based on subjective criteria and reviewed by Fidelity Investments. The average rating is determined by calculating the mathematical average of all ratings that are approved for posting per the Customer Ratings and Reviews Terms of use and does not include any ratings that did not meet the guidelines and were therefore not posted. Ratings and reviews are added continuously to the website (after a delay for screening against guidelines) and average ratings are updated dynamically as reviews are added or removed.
The ratings and experience of customers may not be representative of the experiences of all customers or investors and is not indicative of future success. The accuracy of information included in the customer ratings and reviews cannot be guaranteed by Fidelity Investments. Customers who post ratings may be responsible for disclosing whether they have a financial interest or conflict in submitting a rating and review.
Please contact a Fidelity representative if you have additional questions or concerns about the ratings and reviews posted here.
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