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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 $12,000 for 2013 and 2014 ($14,500 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 4.2 out of 5 by 55 reviewers.
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 1 out of 5 by Not a scale-able solution for small business After completing reams of repetitive paperwork, you can set up an online payment system. You can not determine which payments you made previously. You are not able to reconcile payments if you have a problem with your accounting system. The system doesn't not talk to QuickBooks, the most commonly used small business accounting system. It takes ages to find the right payment amounts in the paychecks and enter them into Fidelity. More employees make this process even slower. There's a lot of potential for errors. February 24, 2014
Rated 3 out of 5 by Fees are too high Fidelity is pretty average in most ways except one: They charge account fees that I have never seen in my other retirement accounts. There are better options out there. March 7, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5 by great fund Fidelity Customer Service very responsive. Always helpful and willing to talk through questions. Nice to have personal contact, not just internet feedback. March 6, 2013
Rated 4 out of 5 by A few execptions Not being able to specify the funding account with each payment is kind of annoying. As a small business owner the ability to use a different account as needed would be appreciated. No option to receive online statements and plan reports. I am swimming in paper and get a minimum of 6 pages per month. (Although I think this is a government requirement and not Fidelity's) No option for the company to pay the $25 per person annual fee. The excellent customer service makes up for a few of the shortcomings I can find with the Simple Plan. Although I do not really have anything to compare it to (The only plan our company has ever participated in), I think overall it is a good plan for a small company. February 26, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5 by Reliable and Intuitave Access via the web interface was simple and easy, also easy to sync the balances and transactions with Quicken (R). February 21, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5 by Excellent Retirement Plan for Very Small Business The Fidelity SIMPLE IRA meets my retirement needs perfectly. I am a very small business and very much like the very low administrative costs and lack of hassel in using this plan. I am not able to contribute a lot toward retirement, so the low contribution limits are not now a problem for me. I also very much like the online ability to make contributions and monitor my investments. I am very satisfied with the plan and will continue to use it. February 20, 2013
Rated 4 out of 5 by Fine but would like faster execution Admittedly I'm buying small lots but would love faster execution of trades...that may not be an issue specific to Fidelity but more about the markets, but still would be a welcome change for the small investor. February 19, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5 by Simple review I like the wide choice of investments and ease of online access. I also have a Roth IRA, rollover IRA and brokerage account with Fidelity. They all display together when I log onto Fidelity's web site, but the monthly account statement for the Simple IRA is separate from that of my other accounts. It would be more convenient and save paper/postage if all of my accounts were on the same statement.. February 19, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5 by FIDELITY SALARY REDUCTION FORM Everything works without flaw except the salary reduction agreement form is not sent with the annual letter to have it filled out and signed by each employee. I have had to copy an old one each year and the maximum salary reductions are not current. It would also be nice when sending in the monthly contributions if the date picked was a holiday there was some notice that it is not a good day instead of just an error message. February 19, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5 by Easy for Small Businesses Used to have a 401K but got tired of all the fees and additional IRS filings. Then went to another brokerage firm for a Simple IRA but got tired of paying approximately 6% load for all investments, in addition to annual account fees. Finally switched to Fidelity with low account fees and no loads. Only deficiency is they have no means for employers reimbursing annual fees in employee accounts without the reimbursement being reported as a contribution. February 19, 2013
Rated 3 out of 5 by Conveneince I don't have to depend on my employer to get to the details and change my asset allocation. February 19, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5 by Easy to change/add new funds I like being able to make changes in funds, amounts, and do my own research. This is my investment and I like to tweak the fund myself. The funds are easy to change allocation and add/move money/shares around either on-line or on the phone. February 19, 2013
Rated 4 out of 5 by Easy Access Convvenient and easy access. It is easy to make adjustments to my portfolio February 19, 2013
Rated 4 out of 5 by Sound product The account structure is great and easy to administer. The customer service and company understanding of our wishes is lacking. February 18, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5 by Easy to Use Never a problem accessing or entering information. February 18, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5 by SIMPLE IRA feedback Sirs, I think your SIMPLE IRA program must be one of the best. I've had no issues and your team made it so easy to get started. If I had one suggestion to offer you can provide a table of contribution limits each year. Each end of year I need to go on-line and sort through your pages to find whet the limit is each calendar year. May I suggest that a better way forward would be for Fidelity to e-mail or snail mail this information to active users. That would make things super convenient. February 18, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5 by Owner/VP It works well for myself and my husband. We are a small business and do not have a lot of time to be monitering everything February 18, 2013
Rated 4 out of 5 by Allow to hide or delete former employees Please allow administrator/employer to hide or delete from view former employees. I am always afraid I am going to accidently deposit money into the wrong account (a former employee). Thanks February 18, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5 by Business Manager Should be able to change future contribution on internet. We should not need to call and stay on phone to change contributions. February 18, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5 by Management I would like to know more about managing the account on my own. February 18, 2013
Rated 1 out of 5 by Way too expensive!! A charge of $75 for a mutual fund trade is ridiculous! I had over $1M in retirement savings that I moved out of Fidelity when you implemented the $75 trade fee. When I am eligible to rollover the Simple IRA and get it out of Fidelity, I will do it. Your competitors charge a small fraction of what you charge! A charge of $75 for a mutual fund trade is ridiculous! February 18, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5 by owner Don't change anything if it ain't broke don't fix it!!! February 18, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5 by Better than a 401K The Fidelity Simple IRA allows for investing in all equity types, not just a selection of a dozen mutual funds as most 401Ks offer. February 18, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5 by Administrator I love using the Fidelity Simple IRA. Its very easy to go online and enter the necessary data. The only thing I would change is that when an employee leaves, I would like to be able to at least hide their name off of the monthly data entry. February 18, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5 by Great!!! Great product! Love the flexibility it allows me to have. Also pretty "dummy proof". Really tough to make B A D miatakes here! I feel like I am well looked after here. February 18, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5 by Simply SIMPLE Offerring this simple account for my employees and myself has been easy to set up and in conjunction with my accounting company, funding is completed electronically with every pay period. February 17, 2013
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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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