Set up your SIMPLE IRA
in minutes, not weeks.
Answer a few questions. We prepare the paperwork and walk you through every step, free, with guidance from a Chartered Retirement Plans Specialist.
Answer a few questions. We prepare the paperwork and walk you through every step, free, with guidance from a Chartered Retirement Plans Specialist.
Starting a SIMPLE IRA satisfies CalSavers and most state mandates. File the exemption and the notices stop.
Read the guide →How the two plans compare on cost, contribution limits, filings, and testing.
Read the guide →The October 1 setup wall, the 7-day deposit clock, and the notice date, in one place.
Read the guide →Every guide cites the primary source, IRS forms, statutes, and DOL guidance, so you can verify each rule.
Read the guide →Four dates run the plan, on the same schedule every year. Tell us where you are and we email you before each one, in time to act.
November 1
Annual 60-day notice to every employee
January 31
W-2 retirement coding verified
Match employee contributions up to 3% of pay, or pay 2% of pay to every eligible employee. Announce the choice in the annual notice.
Send each payroll's employee money to the custodian within 7 business days. The clock runs separately for every pay period.
Give every eligible employee the 60-day notice by November 1 each year, before the election window opens.
That is the whole list. There is nothing to file. There is no Form 5500. There is no annual testing. You never touch the money. Contributions move from payroll to accounts each employee owns at the custodian.
You
About ten minutes to set up. We remind you before every deadline after that.
IRAPilot
Every document and deadline, tracked on our calendar.
See every rule we track for you →Two caveats come first. The SECURE 2.0 startup credit counts only employees who are not owners or high earners, and the 100% rate applies to businesses with 50 or fewer employees (51 to 100 get 50%). Within those limits it covers plan costs up to $250 per eligible employee per year for three years, and a second credit adds up to $1,000 per employee toward your contributions.
$250
per eligible employee per year, plan costs
$1,000
per employee, contribution credit
3 yrs
at 100%, businesses of 50 or fewer
What Is a SIMPLE IRA? A Plain-English Guide for Employers
A SIMPLE IRA is a retirement plan for businesses with 100 or fewer employees: pre-tax employee savings, a required employer match, no Form 5500, no testing.
SIMPLE IRA Rules for Employers: The Complete 2026 Checklist
Every SIMPLE IRA rule employers must follow in 2026: the 100-employee limit, eligibility, 7-business-day deposits, the 60-day notice, and W-2 reporting.
SIMPLE IRA Contribution Limits for 2026
The 2026 SIMPLE IRA contribution limits: the $17,000 deferral limit, the higher limit for small employers, age 50 and ages 60 to 63 catch-ups, and match rules.
SIMPLE IRA Employer Match Rules: 3% Match vs. 2% Nonelective, Explained (2026)
SIMPLE IRA employers must fund a dollar-for-dollar match up to 3% of pay or a 2% nonelective contribution for everyone. Formulas, deadlines, true-ups.
SIMPLE IRA Eligibility Rules: Who You Must Cover
SIMPLE IRA eligibility rules for employers: the $5,000 two-year pay test, the 100-employee cap, which part-time workers you include, and who you can exclude.
Form 5304-SIMPLE vs. 5305-SIMPLE: Which One Do You Sign?
Both IRS model forms create a SIMPLE IRA plan. The only real difference is who picks the financial institution, and neither form ever gets mailed to the IRS.
You answer ten questions about your business. We generate your filled Fidelity adoption packet as one PDF, plus the employee notices and the enrollment instructions each employee uses to open their own account. You print the packet, sign in ink, and mail it to Fidelity. After that we show you exactly what to enter in payroll, track every deadline, and remind you before each one. Setup takes about 10 minutes of your time.
Not us. Every employee owns their own SIMPLE IRA at a qualified, IRS-approved custodian, and contributions go from your payroll directly to those accounts. IRAPilot never holds or touches the funds. We prepare the documents, track the deposit deadlines, and keep the records.
IRAPilot is built and run by Guido Trevisan, a Chartered Retirement Plans Specialist who also owns Menlo Insurance Services, a licensed California insurance brokerage. The software costs nothing because the payoff is reputation: doing visibly good work on SIMPLE IRAs is how a specialist earns the trust of small business owners, and some of them choose to work with Menlo later on their own. There are no ads, no hidden fees, and your data is never sold, never used for ads, and never shared with Menlo.
You must have 100 or fewer employees, contribute either a match up to 3% of pay or a 2% contribution for everyone, deposit employee money within 7 business days of each payroll, and give employees a 60-day notice each year. Nothing is filed with the IRS: you sign the plan document and keep it in your records.
Employees can defer $17,000+ (higher limits apply for businesses of 26 to 100 employees that elect them), plus a catch-up at age 50 and a larger one at ages 60 to 63. Every limit applies per calendar year, and the figures reset each January.
Under roughly 25 employees, usually yes: same pre-tax savings and employer match, but no annual Form 5500 filing, no nondiscrimination testing, and a fraction of the cost. When you outgrow it, federal law lets you convert to a safe-harbor 401(k) mid-year.
IRAPilot works alongside any payroll system, or none. There is no payroll integration and contributions never move automatically: your payroll withholds the deferrals and you send each deposit to the custodian. IRAPilot shows you exactly what to enter for each employee, tracks each payroll's 7-business-day deposit window, and reminds you until the money is in.
October 1, 2026 for existing businesses. Start after that and the plan generally counts for the following year (new businesses formed after October 1 get an exception).
No. SIMPLE IRAs were designed for exactly this, and one W-2 employee is enough to start (and enough to trigger most state mandates). The startup credit covers 100% of plan costs up to $250 per eligible employee per year for three years. Note it requires at least one employee who isn't an owner or high earner, and it offsets taxes you owe rather than paying cash.