A SEP IRA is designed to help self-employed individuals and small business owners and their employees save for retirement. “SEP IRAs provide the self-employed business owner the ability to contribute a potentially larger amount than a traditional or Roth IRA,” says Archie Ponce, a certified financial planner and executive vice president of Optima Asset Management in Dallas. For 2019, the maximum amount an employer can contribute is set at $56,000 or 25 percent of compensation. That's significantly more than the $6,000 to $7,000 limit for traditional and Roth IRA contributions.

SEP IRAs can provide significant tax savings to small business owners. “The tax benefits to the employer are tax-deduction and tax-deferral benefits for the self-employed individual personally,” Ponce says. Employers can also take tax deductions on a business level for contributions made on behalf of employees.

Before offering a SEP IRA to workers, you’ll want to check if they meet certain criteria. To be eligible for the account, employees must be at least 21 years old and have earned at least $600 in compensation during the current year. They also will need to have performed services for the company during three of the previous five calendar years. “Employers can be less restrictive on the eligibility but may not set requirements to be more restrictive,” Ponce says. So, if your employees meet the criteria, you’ll need to have an account for them. If they aren’t eligible and you still choose to include them in the plan, you may do so.

The article in it's entirety can be found here.