FAQs: What Is The SECURE Act?

  • Estate Planning
FAQs: What Is The SECURE Act? | Attorney Mario Godoy | Lombard Estate and Probate Legal Group

The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019, better known as the SECURE Act, includes 29 provisions to increase access to tax-advantaged accounts and preventing older Americans from outliving their assets. The U.S. retirement system requires most workers to supplement Social Security with personal savings. The SECURE Act offers lifetime income options to participants. Many Illinois employees do not have a retirement plan at work and need to create enough savings and assets in their estate to fund their retirement.

Key Points of the SECURE Act

• The SECURE Act would make it easier for small business owners to set up “safe harbor” 401(k) retirement plans that are less expensive and easier to administer, from 10% of wages to 15%.

• Provide a maximum tax credit of $500 per year to employers who create a 401(k) or SIMPLE IRA plan with automatic enrollment

• Many part-time workers would be eligible to participate in an employer retirement plan under the bill

• The Act would push back the age at which retirement plan participants need to take required minimum distributions (RMDs) from 70½ to 72

• The legislation passed overwhelmingly in the House in May 2019 417 to 3 but remains tied up in the Senate

Illinois enacted a state-sponsored mandated retirement plan for employers that don’t sponsor a plan called Illinois Secure Choice to provide an IRA to employees who do not have access to a retirement savings plan through work. The latest attempt to pass SECURE ACT failed on November 7 in the Senate, with lawmakers unable to reach an agreement on potentially adding amendments to the bill.

Meeting with an estate planning attorney helps you prepare for the unknown and the unexpected. Though it may be tempting to put off, creating an estate plan can help prevent serious issues down the road. When you work with an attorney to decide what will happen to your assets after you die, they can create an estate plan that gives you peace of mind today. To talk to an estates and probate attorney contact the Estate & Probate Legal Group in Lombard Illinois at 630-800-0112.