Let’s take a look at how it works and what options you have as a small-business owner who wants to help their employees save more for a secure retirement and strengthen your business’s standing at the same time.

401(k) Plan Sponsor Options

Even if you aren’t a savvy financier, you are likely aware of the difference between traditional and Roth 401(k) plans. With a traditional 401(k) plan, employees (and business owners) make pre-tax contributions to their retirement accounts, putting off paying taxes on these earnings until they begin drawing on them after retirement. With a Roth 401(k), contributions are made after payroll taxes are taken out, meaning no taxes will be paid on these funds upon withdrawal. This second option is often more appealing to the youngest workers, who are likely to be in a higher tax bracket upon retirement, and thus stand to lose more to Uncle Sam. Regardless, there are pros and cons to each option for employees of every age.

Whether you handle your own payroll or you outsource this task to another company, it’s easy to get up and running with 401GO, and once you do, your job is done! 401GO provides seamless payroll integration, so once you finish setting up your 401(k) plan, you never have to think about it again. Our technology syncs with ADP, Rippling and all the leading payroll providers. Additionally, we offer True360 Integration for small-business owners who use smaller payroll platforms, and we provide the same great service for them.

Employers Can Save on Their Personal Taxes

Once you enroll with a 401(k) plan provider, you will be able to make contributions to your own personal 401(k) account as well. Even if you have an IRA, a 401(k) offers benefits you can’t get with an individual retirement account, not the least of which is the ability to contribute much more each year. Additionally, if you’re over 50, you can make catchup contributions so you can feather your nest a little more thickly as you glide toward retirement.

As the business owner, you have the ability to make the call about whether you offer a traditional 401(k), a Roth 401(k) or both (or a SEP or SIMPLE IRA), and you can choose the one(s) that suits your personal situation best. Prefer to make pre-tax contributions? Choose traditional. Want to pay your taxes now? Then a Roth is for you.

With a traditional 401(k), employers usually have to be careful about how much they are contributing to their personal 401(k) accounts in relation to how much their employees are contributing. The IRS has rules (surprise!) about the ratios in order to prevent employers and highly compensated employees from contributing large amounts to their personal accounts if no company matches are being made to other workers’ accounts. Some employers can get around this issue by sponsoring a Safe Harbor 401(k) instead. With this type of plan, businesses don’t have to submit to yearly government testing and audits to ensure fairness and equity, but they are required to make matching contributions to employee accounts.

Saving Tax Money on Employer Contributions

Not only can you save tax money on your own personal 401(k) account, but your matching contributions to employee accounts are tax-deductible as well. Although there is a limit to the total matching funds you can contribute and deduct on your taxes, some of the excess may be carried over to the next year.

Many small-business owners are thrilled to learn about these benefits, because they just lengthen the list of reasons to offer employees a 401(k) plan. You know that as your company grows and becomes more profitable, one of the best ways to secure and retain top talent is by offering better benefits than the next guy, and that includes a 401(k) plan, whether you make matching contributions or not.

If you’re on the fence about matching because you aren’t sure you can afford it, consider the tax deduction we mentioned above, plus the savings you get if you go with a Safe Harbor plan, meaning you won’t have to pay an auditor to conduct the tests others are required to undergo.

Other options include a SEP (Simplified Employee Pension) and SIMPLE IRAs. With either option, your contributions to your employees’ accounts are tax-deductible as with other types of retirement savings vehicles, but with a SIMPLE IRA, you must contribute equally to employees’ accounts and yours — no one can get a different percentage. With a SEP, employers are not required to contribute to workers’ accounts and employees can’t contribute to their own accounts either, but with a SIMPLE IRA, they can.

These types of retirement savings plan have had some popularity with small-business owners looking to avoid the administrative hassles that accompany opening and managing a 401(k), but 401GO has made many of these concerns moot. You can now become a sponsor for your company’s 401(k) plan in 15 minutes and never do another page of paperwork again (unless you want to make changes).

If you need some time to mull these options over or to consult with your financial advisor, give yourself a deadline for doing so — don’t put off this important move that will make such a difference in your life and the lives of your employees.

The post How a 401(k) Helps with Payroll Taxes appeared first on Fast and Affordable 401k for growing businesses.

Why Partner with 401GO?

As an accountant, you like having small businesses as clients, and you want to do your best by them. Outside of filing their tax returns, you may handle a variety of other tasks for them as well, including creating profit-and-loss statements and balance sheets, conducting audits and preparing and filing reports. But one other important task you can undertake to serve your small-business clients is to hook them up with 401GO. 401GO is one of the leading technological solutions helping small-business owners who want to offer their employees a 401(k) retirement plan.

As it stands, millions of Americans — many who work for small businesses — are unable to take advantage of a 401(k) plan because one simply isn’t offered at their place of employment. And while some small-business owners legitimately can’t afford to offer this benefit, for the vast majority, the stumbling block is the investment of time and money it takes to get the company 401(k) plan up and running. 

That’s the pain point that 401GO has solved with our proprietary fintech solution. We make 401(k) setup for small businesses easy, and owners can do it infinitely faster and cheaper than they could with a big bank or other 401(k) provider. Plus, we never charge a setup fee.

As a 401(k) provider, we work directly with small-business owners to get them started with a 401(k) retirement plan, and we also work with financial advisors who help them to manage the plans. As helpful as financial advisors are with respect to small-business 401(k) plans, the truth is that some companies are too new or too small to have a financial advisor they can turn to for advice and assistance. These owners may rely on their accountant or bookkeeper to provide the advice they need for finding a 401(k) company to partner with. Below, we go over some distinct advantages our fintech solutions can provide small-business owners looking for a 401(k) provider.

An Alternative to Auto IRAs

The so-called “auto IRAs” — government mandates that require qualifying employers to enroll their employees in a city or state-administered retirement program or provide one themselves — are a game-changer for small-business owners operating in those municipalities. Many small-business owners are facing deadlines to comply with these mandates, and may be worried and even scared about their role and how to fulfill it.

As an accountant, you can explain to your clients that 401GO’s fintech solutions offer a superior alternative to state-run IRA plans. With 401GO, small-business owners have more options and choices of available 401(k) retirement plans for them and their employees. Additionally, our 401(k) company uses our proprietary technology to get your clients’ retirement plan set up in minutes, versus weeks with a traditional 401(k) provider. Learning this will be a huge relief to small-business owners who were dreading the approaching deadline, fearing they would never have time to get their retirement plan off the ground.

Help with Tax Burden

Small-business owners (and even big-business owners) count on their accountants to know the best ways to legally reduce their tax burden. Sometimes spending money helps a company save money, and starting a small-business 401(k) plan can be one way to do that.

A small-business 401(k) can be a vehicle for profit sharing, which is 100% tax deductible for the business, including contributions to employee accounts as well as the costs of starting up, operating and maintaining the small-business 401(k) plan. It can be a cheaper and smarter way to undertake profit sharing, and it means the employees pay less in taxes as well. The beauty of profit sharing is that owners can change the amount from year to year based on how well the company has done — they aren’t locked into a specific contribution.

Additional tax benefits can be realized through the establishment of a 401(k) retirement plan, including for the rank-and-file employees, highly compensated employees, the employers and the business itself.

The Bottom Line

Depending on who you ask and what type of job it is, hiring and training a new employee can cost anywhere from $1,000 to $20,000, so it is in an employer’s best interest to put effort into retaining top talent. One way to do that is to offer coveted benefits like a good 401(k) retirement plan. And the best 401(k) company for small businesses is 401GO. When your clients are looking for the best and easiest way to start a 401(k) for small businesses, tell them to contact 401GO. Our fintech solutions put us at the front of the pack.

The post How Fintech Solutions Help Accountants Help Their Clients appeared first on Fast and Affordable 401k for growing businesses.

Yet, one feature has been a frustration for many fintech users, and that is customer support. When questions arise or plans go wrong, automated support is rarely an ideal solution for end users.

The best fintech providers understand this problem, and are laying aside technology where human understanding is needed.

Robots Aren’t Good at This

Automated support can be provided in several ways. Most commonly, companies offer an extensive knowledge center with a good search function so that users can search for—and find—answers to their questions. For common questions, or after-hours inquiries, a knowledge base of articles or videos can be a good starting point. 

Another common strategy is a chat bot or phone tree, with pre-programmed questions and answers. Chat bots can be effective at helping users get to the correct answers or discover the terminology they need to use to find a better answer, and phone loops always answer.

However, if you’ve ever used either of these solutions yourself, you’ll recognize why they are frustrating. Because they aren’t human, they don’t function or think as humans do, so humans tire of them quickly. Bots can’t handle complex or sensitive problems, they don’t understand the nuances of language, and they can’t think strategically if the problem is unusual or the answer is not readily available. 

Plus, humans are just friendlier than robots! 

Not Just Human, But Useful Human Support

Robots are better than humans at many jobs, but for some tasks, there is no satisfactory substitute for human interaction. 

But even live support can be frustrating if support agents don’t have enough knowledge or authority to solve problems, or if the underlying technology is so limited or difficult to navigate that no good solutions exist.

That’s why it’s imperative that excellent support and excellent technology are able to work together.

At 401GO, we offer live support for all participants, as well as a dedicated relationship manager for plan sponsors and partners. Our agents are trained in all aspects of 401(k) management, and they are dedicated to making sure all participants and plan sponsors have a good experience. 

We take customer feedback seriously, and we plan many of the updates to our technology around what our users and partners ask for.

During business hours, clients are able to call our main line or use the chat bot on the website for live help. At any time, they are able to email us, or leave their email address with a question on the chat bot, and receive a reply the following day. 

Experience the Difference

We frequently receive feedback from our clients about how great their experience has been, thanks to our helpful team. 

Read these examples:

“It was easy to set up with all the support provided… The 401GO team has been fantastic to work with every step of the way!” 

President of small business

“They have great real phone support in the US which many of their competitors do not provide. They are not just some AI firm who has a robot do it all.”

Partner of small business

“Every step of the onboarding and execution process has been a breeze. I was a little confused regarding 401k rules and regulations but their support team answered my questions quickly and knowledgeably.” 

President of small business

“The 401Go staff is incredibly responsive and helpful. They seem to genuinely listen to user feedback to improve their platform and services.”

Owner of small business

“I have enjoyed working and learning with Jared and Kelly over the past six months. Their response time is quick and fast. They solve any problem for our clients or me within hours… The benefits that I have realized are the quick response time and answers to any questions.”

Benefits manager of small business

“Their customer service is dynamite.”  

Owner of small business

Best D*** Retirement App

The best retirement platforms pair excellent automation technology with excellent live customer support, and do it without overcharging customers. 

To learn more ways fintech 401(k) providers are changing the game for small businesses, read the full list.

The post The Future of FinTech: An Automated 401(k) with Live Human Support appeared first on Fast and Affordable 401k for growing businesses.