Partners in a partnership and members of an LLC, taxed as a partnership, cannot have individual SEP IRAs (Simplified Employee Pension Individual Retirement Account) plans, according to the IRS.
Only employers are capable of implementing SEP plans for their employees. Because partners are employees of the partnership for retirement plan purposes, they cannot have an individual SEP plan. If partners in a partnership wish to use a SEP plan, the partnership as an entity must maintain and contribute to the plan for the partners.
Read this complete analysis of the impact at AdvisorFX (sign up for a free trial subscription with full access to all the planning libraries and client presentations if you are not already a subscriber).
For previous coverage of IRAs in Advisor’s Journal, see Qualified Charitable Distributions from an IRA (CC 11-03) & How Are IRA Owners Investing Their Money? (CC 11-112).
For in-depth analysis of SEPs, see Advisor’s Main Library: IRAs and SEPs.
William Byrnes' Tax, Wealth, and Risk Intelligence 