How to Properly Take Advantages of 403b Retirement Plans

By John Lawole

Employees of public schools, tax-exempt organizations and self-employed religious ministers benefit from 403b retirement plans as an alternative to the 401k plans provided to employees by businesses and corporations. Despite the existence of limitations in the system, 403b retirement plans also have great advantages not only for employees and employers.

First of all, the matching benefits of 403b retirement plans become tools that companies use to attract valuable employees. Then, the contributions to the plan can be written off the taxes both for the hiring company and the employee that contributes money. Tax deferment is thus possible for decades, while your account savings increase. Taxes will be paid only when you start withdrawing money.

Loans can be accessible against the savings in the 403b retirement plans, but you also have the possibility to withdraw cash if you experience financial difficulties. However, if you make this kind of loan, your taxes could be seriously imbalanced. And this is where limitations of such retirement plans begin. There is a maximum potential contribution to the 403b retirement plans set per fiscal year. And only employees from very profitable companies manage to get a total maximum contribution.

Once you are 59.5 years old, you can start withdrawing money from the 403b retirement plans. There are penalties charged before this age. If you meet the age condition, you'll just pay taxes for the withdrawn sum. Younger users get a 10% penalty on top of this tax per income. Different rules are set by the IRS for employees that own more than 5% of the company that they work for. This is a measure against very wealthy people who could be accumulating lots of tax-free money in their accounts.

Depending on the life expectancy, you will have all the savings in the 403b retirement plans distributed evenly. The IRS also charges penalties for excess accumulation if you do not start to take the required minimum distribution, then you will be charged with a very high tax. You should look further into the matter of capital gains, interest and dividends too in order to know what further savings you can make with 403b retirement plans. - 30547

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