Pub. 8 2018-2019 Issue 6

O V E R A C E N T U R Y : B U I L D I N G B E T T E R B A N K S - H E L P I N G C O L O R A D A N S R E A L I Z E D R E A M S May • June 2019 15 These plans offer many of the same advantages of other plans, but are easier and less expensive to maintain profit sharing or 401(k) plans. SEP plans benefit both employers and employees in the following ways. Employers • Less expensive to maintain • Relief from fiduciary liability for investment performance • No nondiscrimination or coverage testing • Deductible employer contributions • Discretionary employer contributions • Start-up tax credit • Owners receive contributions Employees • Opportunity to save for retirement • Tax-deferred contributions and earnings until distributed • Employer funds contributions to the employee’s Traditional IRA • Employee owns the Traditional IRA contributions immediately Easy for Employers One of the most common questions we receive at Ascen- sus® is “Howdifficult is it to establish a SEP plan?” The answer is: the process is generally easy. The bank can provide to the employer a plan document based on IRS Form 5305-SEP, Simplified Employee Pension-Individual Retirement Accounts Contribution Agreement. The employer makes a few elections on the document before their tax return due date plus exten- sions, and the plan is created. The employer then provides their employees with the required notice containing SEP rules and plan provisions. Eligible employees, including the business owner, must also establish Traditional IRAs to receive contributions. This is the key opportunity to obtain new or cross-sold clients as employees may establish the Traditional IRAs wherever they choose. Your bank may coordinate with the employer to pro- vide education and streamline the Traditional IRA establish- ment process to encourage enrollment with your organization. Easy for Banks There is little investment you need to make to enter or enhance this market. Your bank likely already has much of what you need to offer SEP plans. • SEP Plan Document for Employers – The bank can secure a SEP plan document to provide to employers. The bank can elect to charge for initially providing the document, or annually for maintaining it. • Traditional IRA Document for Employees – These IRA opening documents are the same documents used for all Traditional IRAs the bank services today. • Required Reporting –The bank must report SEP contribu- tions to the employee’s Traditional IRA just as they do for all Traditional IRAs. There is no additional reporting required; the difference is properly coding the contributions as SEP contributions for the correct tax year. Most bank data pro- cessing systems already have this coding option. The key differential for a bank will be their willingness to educate both their staff and small businesses. You should be able to provide employers with baseline education about the rules and benefits of a SEP plan. But most importantly, you should educate employees on the value of the SEP plan and what it means for their futures. Assisting employers and em- ployees by providing helpful informationwill lead to successful SEP plans and stronger bonds with your bank.  About Ascensus Ascensus delivers technology and expertise to help millions of people save for what matters most—retirement, education, and healthcare. With more than 35 years of experience, the firmoffers tailored solutions that meet the needs of asset managers, banks, credit unions, state governments, financial professionals, employers, and individuals. Ascensus supports over 75,000 retirement plans, more than 4.3million 529 education savings accounts, and a growing number of ABLE savings accounts. It also administers more than 1.6 million IRAs and health savings accounts. As of September 30, 2018, Ascensus had over $205 billion in total assets under admin- istration. For more information about Ascensus, visit ascensus.com. 1 Bureau of Labor Statistics, “The Employment Situation—February 2019,” February 2019, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf 2 David John and Gary Koenig, AARP Public Policy Institute, “Workplace Re- tirement Plans Will Help Workers Build Economic Security,” October 2014, https://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/ppi/2014-10/aarp-workplace-retire- ment-plans-build-economic-security.pdf. 3 Morningstar,“Small Employers, Big Responsibilities: HowPolicymakers Can Address the Small Retirement Plan Problem,” November 2017, https://www.morningstar . com/content/dam/marketing/shared/pdfs/policy/SmallEmployersBigRespon- sibilities.pdf. Ascensus® and the Ascensus® logo are registered trademarks of Ascensus, LLC. Copyright©2019 Ascensus, LLC. All Rights Reserved Steven Christenson is Executive Vice President of the Ascensus Retirement Products and Solutions (RPS) Group. Based in Brainerd, MN, RPS carries a 35-year history of providing pre- mier products, expert consulting services, and total business solutions to financial organizations seeking to achieve and maintain compliance, and to capture market share in the IRA and health savings account industry. As Executive Vice President of RPS, Mr. Christenson is responsible for managing and developing Ascensus’ product lines and services, which includes web-based technology, education and resource development, forms and documents, tele- phone and on-site consulting, and enrollment meeting support. Mr. Christenson’s background before joining Ascensus includes nine years of management experience in the financial services market where he was employed by a large national bank in Minneapolis, MN. While there, he successfully man- aged and grew three different “brick and mortar” branches in the Minneapolis/ St. Paul area, opened and managed one of the first and fastest growing in-store branches in the bank’s history, and developed a management and branch staff commission and incentive program used throughout the branch system. He also obtained his Minnesota Life/Health Insurance license and his Series 6 and Series 63 securities licenses.