You built the practice. You're the worst-funded person in it.
In 2026 a properly designed plan can move up to $83,250 off your taxable income — far more with a cash balance plan. If you're running a SIMPLE IRA from a decade ago, you're capped at $17,000.
The four sentences we hear most.
Usually from someone whose business is doing well and whose own retirement account doesn't reflect it.
"We set up the SIMPLE years ago when we were small. Nobody's looked at it since."
"My CPA files the return, but nobody has ever designed a plan around what I'm actually allowed to contribute."
"I'm 58, the practice is worth something, and my retirement account isn't where it should be."
"I'd contribute more, but I don't know what it would cost me to cover my employees."
There is no best plan. There's a best plan for your census.
Which structure fits comes down to your headcount, ages, compensation and how much you're willing to contribute for people who aren't you. Same revenue, different staff — completely different answer.
$72,000
Minimal administration, maximum year-to-year flexibility. But employer contributions only, and with staff you generally fund the same percentage for everyone.
$72,000–$83,250
Owner and spouse only. One eligible employee and it stops being a solo plan.
$72,000–$83,250
You have staff and want to defer the full amount without failing testing. Requires a mandatory, immediately vested employer contribution.
Skews to owners
When owners are older than the general workforce, allocation can legitimately tilt toward them. Census-dependent — it either works or it doesn't.
Well beyond DC limits
For an owner 45+ with durable profit. The highest-capacity structure available — and a funding obligation, not an option.
Controlled groups
Own more than one entity, or share services with another practice? They may have to be treated as one employer. Checked before design, not after.
Four credits sit on one form most owners never file.
Form 8881 carries four separate credits — dollar-for-dollar against tax owed, not deductions. Most owners who file it claim one and assume that's the whole thing.
Startup costs
1–50 employees: 100% of qualified startup costs. 51–100: 50%. Capped at $5,000/year for three years.
Employer contributions
Up to $1,000 per employee across the plan's first five years, stepping down 100%, 100%, 75%, 50%, 25%.
Auto-enrollment
$500/year for up to three years — available for adding the feature to an existing plan, not just a new one.
Military spouse
$200 per qualifying spouse plus up to $300 of employer contributions, for up to three successive years.
Eligibility generally requires no more than 100 employees earning $5,000+ in the prior year, with at least one non-highly-compensated eligible employee. Credits are non-refundable, and startup costs deducted must be reduced by the credit claimed. Per Instructions for Form 8881 (rev. 12/2025).
The §199A threshold is where plan design pays for itself twice.
Physicians, dentists, attorneys and other specified service trades or businesses lose the qualified business income deduction entirely above an income threshold — it doesn't phase down gently, it disappears.
For an owner sitting just above that line, a plan contribution large enough to bring taxable income back underneath it can restore a deduction that was otherwise being lost completely. In that specific situation the effective benefit is considerably larger than your marginal rate alone would suggest.
This has to be modeled on your actual return — it depends on entity type, W-2 wages paid, filing status and where your income sits relative to current thresholds. It is not a rule of thumb, and thresholds are subject to legislative change.
A design review, not a sales meeting.
Download the owner's guide
Plan structures, the 2026 limits, the four credits, and exactly what data a design review needs.
Send the census
Dates of birth, hire dates, compensation and ownership for each employee. It pulls from payroll in minutes and contains no Social Security numbers.
We model several structures
You see what each design would actually produce for you, what it costs to cover staff, and what the credits offset.
You get a comparison in writing
Including the option of leaving your current plan exactly as it is — and what any implementation would cost, before you commit.
Implementation, if it makes sense
A third-party administrator handles the plan; a defined benefit design adds an actuary. Separate engagements, disclosed costs.
Two disclosures you should have up front.
| Where I'm paid | Plan design analysis, identifying the Form 8881 credits, and recommending you change nothing all pay me nothing. I earn a commission from the carrier when an insurance or annuity product is purchased through me. You'll get that conflict disclosed in writing no later than the time of any recommendation. |
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| If you're a JV CPA client | JV Financial Services LLC is a separate entity from JV CPA INC. Where a business or its owners are attest or audit clients of the CPA firm, professional independence standards — including rules on commissions and contingent fees — may restrict or prohibit some of what's described here. Say so at the outset and we'll determine permissible scope before anything proceeds. |
"What Your Business Can Do for Your Retirement"
Eleven pages: 2026 limits, six plan structures compared, the four Form 8881 credits, what changed on January 1, and the census checklist a real design review runs on.