I'm currently looking for a retirement plan option for my small business (5 employees, including myself and DH). It's pretty confusing. Some plans require matching, some require that you contribute the same amount to your employees that you contribute for yourself, and some have high administrative requirements. I think. As I said, confusing. If someone could point me in the direction of a low administrative effort, no-required-matching plan, I'd jump on it right away. I really need to call an expert for help, but who would that be who isn't going to try to sell me on something we don't need?
Corporate 401k plans offer a lot of tax benefits to individuals who own the company, especially owner/operators.
Currently last I checked, you can put up to 51k per year in a corproate 401k as compared to the standard 17.5k.
Additionally they also offer IRA benefits as well through SEP-IRA.
From what ive seen so far, you can do up to 25% matching of standard salary, which is much better than 4%. (Free money is free money though).
Since employee payrolls are tax deductible, as well as you can artificially decrease your pay by putting into your 401k, Id say definitely go for the 401k, especially since the owners control the 401k plan itself. It gives you a lot of flexibility, especially if you are looking to buy rental properties with it.
