Retirement
Plan Design

There is no one type plan that addresses all employer and employee needs. There are a number of plan types and each has their own design features that respond to needs and process of achieving a plan sponsor’s goal. CrossPlans will work with you to understand your goals, your business structure, your employee demographics and build the Plan that scales with your business and your objectives.

The right plan is one that advances your goals as a plan sponsor and supports the vision of your business. We start by understanding those goals. Then we design a retirement strategy that helps you reach them with clarity and purpose.

The SECURE & SECURE 2.0 Acts were some of the most comprehensive and sweeping legislation in the history of ERISA. Many of the provisions for new and enforce Plans have been or are being phased in through 2026 and will be formally adopted in Plan Documents with the forthcoming Cycle 4 Restatement.

For more information about these topics, review the following comprehensive overviews:

• What Employers Need to Know About SECURE Act 2.0

• Simple to Safe Harbor

• Catch Up provisions

The SECURE Act and SECURE 2.0 Act expanded several tax credits to small businesses to encourage them to establish and maintain Qualified Retirement Plans for their employees. These credits can significantly reduce the costs associated with starting and operating a retirement plan. You can find great information on those Startup and Employer Contribution credits here.

While State sponsored solutions are available at no cost for Plan Sponsors uninterested in offering a Qualified Retirement Plan or concerned with the costs, administrative challenges or testing requirements, the reality is they are burdensome with soft costs in time, questions and challenges with their generic solution. Offering a custom plan crafted around your business, your tax goals and your employee demographics will increase engagement, deductions and employee utilization.

The passing of the SECURE Act opened up a new functionality under ERISA – specifically the ability to create a Retro-Active Qualified Retirement Plan after the Plan Year ends. There are practical considerations to ensure a Retro-Active Plan is right for your business, but CrossPlans can help your business with a solution during the effective Plan Year or after the year end. Feel free to submit an inquiry or proposal request.

The SECURE Act and then SECURE 2.0 introduced a new classification of Employee – namely a long-term, part-time Employee. This is an employee who works 500 or more hours for a certain number of years but has failed to meet statutory entry and eligibility requirements in their workplace 401(k) Plan. LTPT employees must now be tracked, accounted for and considered in many (but not all) elements of Compliance Testing, Non-Discrimination Testing and Annual Reporting. More information can be found here.