Every plan, side by side — what fits you
Adjust your situation below. Plans you no longer qualify for dim out, and each card updates with your estimated 2026 maximum contribution, the federal tax it could save, and whether a Roth version exists.
Self-Employed Retirement Planning
Who counts & who you must cover
Each plan has its own legal test for which workers must be included. The hours and service thresholds below are what trigger coverage — track them carefully, because missing an eligible employee is one of the most expensive plan errors to fix.
401(k) — who must be allowed in
1,000 hrs/yr · or 500 hrs × 2 yrs- Standard rule: anyone age 21+ with 1,000+ hours in a year (~20 hrs/week) must be eligible after one year of service.
- Long-term part-time rule: anyone with 500+ hours in 2 consecutive years must be allowed to make their own deferrals — though you can exclude them from employer/profit-sharing money.
- Your profit-sharing dollars must pass non-discrimination testing across eligible staff (safe-harbor designs simplify this).
SEP-IRA — who must get contributions
No hours test · service-years based- Any employee who is 21+, worked for you in 3 of the last 5 years (any amount of time — even a few hours counts as a year), and earned $800+ in 2026.
- Eligible employees must receive the same percentage of pay you contribute for yourself.
- Contributions are 100% vested immediately — the money is theirs even if they quit next week.
SIMPLE IRA — who must be included
No hours test · $5,000 earnings test- Any employee who earned $5,000+ in any 2 prior years and is expected to earn $5,000+ this year.
- You must either match deferrals up to 3% of pay or give 2% to every eligible employee whether they defer or not.
- Only available if you have 100 or fewer employees and no other retirement plan.
Solo 401(k) — why it's off the table
Disqualified at 1,000 hrs- A solo plan only works while your only employees are you and a spouse.
- The moment a non-spouse employee crosses 1,000 hours/year — or qualifies under the 500-hour part-time rule — they must be covered, converting it into a full 401(k) with testing.
- Keeping helpers under these thresholds (true part-timers, contractors) preserves solo status — but misclassifying employees as 1099 contractors is an audit magnet.
Tell us about your employees
The plans
How profit sharing fits in
In a 401(k), your contributions come from two buckets. The employee deferral is money you choose to set aside from your own pay (up to $24,500 in 2026, plus catch-ups). The employer contribution is a separate profit-sharing contribution the business makes on top — up to 25% of compensation (about 20% of net income for a sole proprietor).
In a solo 401(k), you wear both hats, so you stack the deferral and the profit-sharing piece up to the combined cap. That's exactly why a solo 401(k) usually beats a SEP-IRA at moderate incomes: a SEP only has the profit-sharing 25% bucket and no employee deferral.
Once you have employees, profit-sharing contributions generally must be spread across staff under IRS non-discrimination rules (a plain pro-rata formula, or a "new comparability" design that can weight more toward owners — but that needs a third-party administrator). That's the trade-off: more saving power for you, more cost and paperwork for the business.
Who you'd have to cover
SEP-IRA: every employee who is 21+, has worked for you in 3 of the last 5 years, and earned $800+ in 2026 must get the same contribution percentage you give yourself — and it vests immediately. SIMPLE IRA: you must either match deferrals up to 3% of pay or contribute 2% for everyone. 401(k): employees who are 21+ with a year of service (and certain long-term part-timers) become eligible to participate.