Page 6Form 5305A-SEP (Rev. 6-2006)
Instructions for the Employee
What Is A SEP?
A SEP is a written arrangement (a plan) that
allows an employer to make contributions
toward your retirement without becoming
involved in more complex retirement plans. A
SEP may include a salary reduction
arrangement, like the one provided on this
form. Under this arrangement, you can elect to
have your employer contribute part of your pay
to your own traditional individual retirement
account or annuity (traditional IRA), set up by
you or on your behalf with a bank, insurance
company, or other qualified financial
institution. The part contributed is tax
deferred. Only the remaining part of your pay
is currently taxable. This type of SEP is
available only to an employer with 25 or fewer
eligible employees.
Your employer must provide you with a
copy of the SEP agreement containing
eligibility requirements and a description of the
basis upon which contributions may be made.
All amounts contributed to your IRA belong
to you, even after you quit working for your
employer.
Elective Deferrals
The maximum amount that you may defer to a
SEP for a calendar year is limited to the
smaller of 25% of compensation or the section
402(g) limit. The 25% limit is reduced if your
employer makes nonelective contributions on
your behalf to this or another SEP for the year.
In that case, the total contributions on your
behalf to all such SEPs may not exceed the
smaller of $44,000 (this is the amount for
2006; for later years, it may be increased for
cost-of-living adjustments) or 25% of
compensation.
For a highly compensated employee, there
may be a further limit on the amount you can
defer. Figured by your employer and known
as the deferral percentage limitation, it limits
the percentage of pay that a highly
compensated employee can elect to defer to
a SEP-IRA. Your employer will notify any
highly compensated employee who has
exceeded the limitation.
Tax Treatment
Elective deferrals that do not exceed the
limits discussed above are excluded from
your gross income in the year of the deferral.
They are not included as taxable wages on
Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement.
However, elective deferrals are treated as
wages for social security, Medicare, and
unemployment (FUTA) tax purposes.
Excess Amounts
There are three situations which will result in
excess amounts in a salary reduction
SEP-IRA.
1. Making excess elective deferrals (for
example, amounts in excess of the section
402(g) limit). You must determine whether you
have exceeded the limit in the calendar year.
2. Highly compensated employees who
make excess SEP contributions (for example,
amounts in excess of the deferral percentage
limitation referred to above). The employer
must determine if an employee has made
excess SEP contributions.
3. Having disallowed deferrals (for example,
more than half of your employer’s eligible
employees choose not to make elective
deferrals for a year). All elective deferrals
made by employees for that year are
considered disallowed deferrals, as discussed
below. Your employer must also determine if
there are disallowed deferrals.
Excess Elective Deferrals
Excess elective deferrals are includible in your
gross income in the calendar year of deferral.
Income earned on the excess elective
deferrals is includible in the year of
withdrawal from the IRA. You should
withdraw excess elective deferrals and any
allocable income by April 15 following the
year to which the deferrals relate. These
amounts may not be transferred or rolled over
tax-free to another IRA.
Income earned on excess elective deferrals
is includible in your gross income in the year
you withdraw it from your IRA. The income
should be withdrawn by April 15 following the
calendar year in which the deferrals were
made. If the income is withdrawn after that
date and you are not 59
1
⁄2 years of age, it
may be subject to the 10% tax on early
distributions. Report the tax in Part I of Form
5329. Also see Pub. 590 for a discussion of
exceptions to the age 59
1
⁄2 rule.
Excess SEP Contributions
If you are a highly compensated employee,
you may have excess SEP contributions for a
calendar year that may have to be withdrawn
from your SEP-IRA. If you have excess SEP
contributions that do not have to be
withdrawn (because you had unused
catch-up elective deferral contributions), the
following rules on including the contributions
in income, withdrawing the contributions, and
penalties if you don’t withdraw them do not
apply to these excess SEP contributions.
Your employer must notify you of any excess
contributions, whether or not they must be
withdrawn. This notification should show the
amount of the excess SEP contributions, the
amount that must be withdrawn, the calendar
year to include any excess contributions in
income, and the penalties that may be
assessed if the contributions that must be
withdrawn are not withdrawn from your IRA
within the applicable time period.
Your employer must notify you of the
excess SEP contributions by March 15
following the calendar year for which you
made the excess SEP contributions.
Generally, you include the excess SEP
contributions in income for the calendar year
in which you made the original deferrals. This
may require you to file an amended individual
income tax return. However, any excess SEP
contribution less than $100 (not including
allocable income) must be included in income
in the calendar year of notification. Income
earned on these excess contributions must
be included in your gross income when you
withdraw it from your IRA.
The following instructions explain what a
simplified employee pension (SEP) is, how
contributions to a SEP are made, and how to
treat these contributions for tax purposes. For
more information, see the SEP agreement on
pages 1 and 2 and the Instructions for the
Employer beginning on page 2.
Forms and Publications You May
Use
An employee may use either of the two forms
and the publications listed below.
● Form 5329, Additional Taxes on Qualified
Plans (including IRAs) and Other Tax-Favored
Accounts. Use Form 5329 to pay tax on
excess contributions and/or tax on early
distributions.
● Form 8606, Nondeductible IRAs. Use Form
8606 to report nondeductible IRA
contributions.
The traditional IRA must be one for which
the IRS has issued a favorable opinion letter or
a model traditional IRA published by the IRS
as Form 5305, Traditional Individual
Retirement Trust Account, or Form 5305-A,
Traditional Individual Retirement Custodial
Account. It cannot be a SIMPLE IRA (an IRA
designed to accept contributions made under
a SIMPLE IRA Plan described in section
408(p)) or a Roth IRA.
You must withdraw these excess SEP
contributions (and allocable income) from
your IRA. You may withdraw these amounts
without penalty, until April 15 following the
calendar year in which you were notified by
your employer of the excess SEP
contributions. Otherwise, the excess SEP
contributions are subject to the IRA
contribution limits of sections 219 and 408
and will be considered an excess contribution
to your IRA. Thus, the excess SEP
contributions are subject to a 6% excise tax
reportable in Part III of Form 5329 for each
year the contributions remain in your IRA.
Annual Limitation
● Pub. 590, Individual Retirement
Arrangements (IRAs).
Section 402(g) limits the maximum amount of
compensation you can defer in each calendar
year to all salary reduction SEPs, SIMPLE IRA
plans under section 408(p), section 403(b)
salary reduction arrangements, and cash or
deferred arrangements under section 401(k),
regardless of the number of employers you
may have worked for during the year. This
limit is $15,000 for 2006 and later years. After
2006, the $15,000 amount may be increased
for cost-of-living adjustments. If you are 50 or
older before the end of the calendar year, you
can defer an additional amount of
compensation (“catch-up elective deferral
contributions”) during the year. The limit on
catch-up elective deferral contributions is
$5,000 for 2006 and later years. After 2006,
the $5,000 amount may be increased for
cost-of-living adjustments.
Section 402(g) Limit
If you do not withdraw excess elective
deferrals and any allocable income by April
15, the excess elective deferrals will be
subject to the IRA contribution limits of
sections 219 and 408 and will be considered
excess contributions to your IRA. Such
excess deferrals are subject to a 6% excise
tax for each year they remain in the SEP-IRA.
The excise tax is reported in Part III of Form
5329.
If you do not withdraw the income earned
on the excess SEP contributions by April 15
following the calendar year of notification by
your employer, the income may be subject to
● Pub. 560, Retirement Plans for Small
Business (SEP, SIMPLE, and Qualified Plans).