Private Pensions: Better Agency Coordination Could Help Small Employers Address Challenges to Plan Sponsorship (open access)

Private Pensions: Better Agency Coordination Could Help Small Employers Address Challenges to Plan Sponsorship

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Based on available data, about 14 percent of small employers sponsor some type of retirement plan. Overall, GAO found that the likelihood that a small employer will sponsor a retirement plan largely depends on the size of the employer’s workforce and the workers’ average wages more than on the industry in which the employer operates and the geographic region in which the employer is located. GAO found the greatest likelihood of plan sponsorship was among small employers with larger numbers of employees and those paying an average annual wage of $50,000 to $99,999. GAO also found that the most common plans sponsored by small employers are 401(k)s and Savings Incentive Match Plans for Employees (SIMPLE) Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRA)—an employer-sponsored IRA designed for small employers—at 46 percent and 40 percent, respectively, of total plans. However, IRS currently does not have the means to collect information on employers that sponsor another type of IRA plan designed for small employers, the Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) IRA plan, which limits what is known about employers that sponsor these plans."
Date: March 5, 2012
Creator: United States. Government Accountability Office.
System: The UNT Digital Library